Trump Responds To Media’s Coverage Of ‘Chosen One’ Comments

On Wednesday, President Trump referred to himself as “the chosen one” to take on China while talking about the current situation:

Here’s what he ACTUALLY said:

So, the fake news, of which many of you are members, is trying to convince the public to have a recession. “Let’s have a recession!” The United States is doing phenomenally well, but one thing I have to do is economically take on China because China has been ripping us off for many years. President Clinton, President Bush, and President Obama and others should have done this long before me. My life would be much easier – although I enjoy doing it – but my life would be much easier if I just said, “Let China continue to rip off the United States,” alright? It would be much easier, but I can’t do that.

We are winning against China. They’ve lost two and a half million jobs in a very short period of time. They want to make a deal; it’s got to be a deal that’s good for the United States. When they want to make a deal, probably we will make a deal … somebody said it’s Trump’s trade war. This isn’t my trade war; this is a trade war that should have taken place a long time ago by a lot of other presidents. Over the last five or six years, China’s made $500 billion, five hundred billion, ripped it out of the United States – and not only that, if you take a look, intellectual property theft, add that to it, and add a lot of other things to it…

So, somebody had to do it. [Looks back and toward the sky] I am the chosen one. Somebody had to do it. So, I’m taking on China; I’m taking on China on trade, and you know what? We’re winning … I was put here by people to do a great job, and that’s what I’m doing, and nobody’s done a job like I’ve done.

The speech bought on a flurry of headlines. They had very little to do with the actual content of the speech:

Sky News:

Roll Call:

CNBC:

CNN:

The Root:

You get the picture.

On Friday, a reporter asked Trump about the “controversial” language:

Let me tell you, you know exactly what I meant. … It was sarcasm. It was joking. We were all smiling. And the question like that is just fake news. You’re just a faker.

He then followed up with additional teets:

When I looked up to the sky and jokingly said “I am the chosen one,” at a press conference two days ago, referring to taking on Trade with China, little did I realize that the media would claim that I had a “Messiah complex.” They knew I was kidding, being sarcastic, and just….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019

When I looked up to the sky and jokingly said, “I am the chosen one” at a press conference two days ago, referring to taking on Trade with China, little did I realize that the media would claim that I had a “Messiah complex.” They knew I was kidding, being sarcastic, and just having fun. I was smiling as I looked up and around. The MANY reporters with me were smiling also. They knew the TRUTH…And yet when I saw the reporting, CNN, MSNBC, and other Fake News outlets covered it as serious news & me thinking of myself as the Messiah. No more trust!

So let me ask you. Is the media, once again, making something out of nothing?