“Quiet! Quiet, piggy!”
On Air Force One recently, Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey asked President Trump about the release of Epstein files that might involve Trump. The President of the United States snapped at her: “Quiet! Quiet, piggy.”
It would be easy to just say well, that’s our Trump. There has certainly never been another president who called reporters nasty names. I’m not even sure there have been governors or senators who did that since the Jim Crow days ended.
But let’s be fair.
As obnoxious as Trump has always been, including in his first term, I don’t recall him ever saying anything like this directly to anyone. Add to that his braggadocio about “acing” what are clearly dementia tests, and it’s pretty obvious the 79-year-old president is declining mentally.
His barely competent teenage press secretary Karoline Leavitt — she’s actually 27 — didn’t do him any favors when someone asked her about it later.
“The president being frank and open and honest to your faces, rather than hiding behind your backs, is, frankly, a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration.”
There is an ancient Chinese curse wishing that you live in interesting times.
Thanks to Trump, things are getting way too interesting.