Skip Navigation
Breaking News
Breaking News
from Washington and beyond

Trump Goes on Bonkers Five-Minute Rant Over a Simple Question

Donald Trump melted down when asked about Tim Walz and Project 2025.

Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event
Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

Donald Trump went on an absurdly long and winding tirade Thursday when asked to respond to Tim Walz’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.

During a morning appearance on Fox & Friends, Trump was asked to respond to the Democratic vice presidential nominee’s speech linking Trump to Project 2025, which has been proven time and time again.

“Their Project 2025 will make things much much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives,” Walz said. “They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know—and trust me on this—when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

When asked to respond to Walz, Trump took off on a winding rant that touched on a little bit of everything. Although it is broken up below into more digestible chunks, it should be understood as a wall of uninterrupted text.

“Well, first of all, he’s a total lightweight. And he shouldn’t be even having any access to possibly being president. The guy, he’s been a terrible governor. They’ve had nothing but problems in their state. He has no capability. They call him coach. He’s a semi-coach. You coach some football for a little while. This guy is a lightweight, and he shouldn’t have access,” Trump ranted.

“And for him to say about Project 25 is disgraceful. They know I have nothing to do with it. I had no idea what it was. A group of people got together. They drew up some conservative values, very conservative values, and in some case, perhaps they went over the line. Perhaps they didn’t. I have no idea what Project 25 is, but they use it, and they know it.”

Then began Trump’s rapid-fire word association rant, which has been painstakingly edited for brevity. The Republican nominee claimed that, like his controversial comment about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which was often touted by President Joe Biden as his reason for running, his links to Project 2025 had been “totally discredited.”

Trump lamented the so-called “coup” against Biden, who was probably sitting on a beach in “crime-ridden” California, where everything Kamala Harris “touched turned bad,” with its “terrible, terrible crime trouble, and every other form of trouble.”

“You go into Los Angeles and you can’t walk down the streets,” and “San Francisco is unlivable,” Trump said. If Harris is elected, he said, “this country would turn out to be a big version of San Francisco.” Gentle reminder, he was supposed to be responding to Walz.

Trump then complained that Democrats had wrongly claimed he called veterans “losers” and “suckers” after he had done so much for the military, and the Biden administration had abandoned “$85 billion” in equipment in Afghanistan, although it was more like $7 billion. Trump was briefly interrupted by Brian Kilmeade, who said Harris had been “the last one in the room, and she was the last one in the room when that decision was made.”

Trump then managed to speak uninterrupted for another three minutes, about Afghanistan, China, and people falling off of planes. He mentioned crime rates, the border, and a recent report that found that U.S. employers added 818,000 fewer jobs in the year ending in March than initially reported.

“They thought they were going to keep those numbers until right after the election, when they could announce a revision. But they weren’t able to do that because they had a leaker and somebody leaked the numbers. They were fraudulent job numbers, just like they have fraudulent crime numbers,” Trump said. Another gentle reminder, he was supposed to be responding to Walz.

Trump Launches Antisemitic Attack on Josh Shapiro Over DNC Speech

Donald Trump went after Shapiro and Jewish Democratic voters.

Josh Shapiro speaks at the Democratic National Convention
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Still fresh off of a scandal in which he was accused of advising against peace talks between Israel and Palestine, Donald Trump claimed that he had done more for Israel than “any person.”

“The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for Comrade Kamala Harris for President, yet she hates Israel and will do nothing but make its journey through the complexities of survival as difficult as possible, hoping in the end that it will fail,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Thursday. “Judge only by her actions!”

“Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had,” Trump continued. “I have done more for Israel than any President, and frankly, I have done more for Israel than any person, and it’s not even close.”

It’s far from the first time that Trump has claimed he’s done more for minority groups than the individuals involved in their actual liberation movements. In November, Trump rattled Black voters while attempting to make inroads with them by swearing that he had “done more for Black people than any other President,” including President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery.

“Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will,” Trump continued on Thursday. “Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less. Israel is in BIG trouble!”

Harris has been fielding fire from both sides of the strenuous issue. Monday saw the quiet launch of a new, self-proclaimed progressive and pro-Israel nonprofit, Zioness, with a Democratic political lineup to beat the band, reported Slate. Meanwhile, attendees inside the DNC were caught hiding and even hitting protesters waving a banner that read “Stop Arming Israel.”

Meanwhile, a pro-Palestine protest that was expected to draw upwards of 50,000 attendees brought just 2,000 people to the footsteps of the DNC. On Wednesday, Harris’s campaign told the Uncommitted Movement that they would not be inviting a speaker to discuss Palestine on the convention stage, sending the movement reeling.

“I’ve had some pretty crushing days, but to be honest today took the cake,” wrote Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, who is Palestinian American. “I do not understand how there’s room for an anti choice Republican but not me in our party.”

Tim Walz Torches Republicans’ “Weird” Project 2025 in DNC Speech

Tim Walz brought his “weird” quip full circle in an electric DNC speech.

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz before speaking during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicag
Ron Haviv/VII/Redux for The New Republic
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 21

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s speech at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday espoused hope, urging middle-class America to peel control of the government back from the hands of MAGA Republicans. But the uplifting messaging didn’t stop short of chopping down Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s reported plans for a second term.

“Their Project 2025 will make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives,” Walz said. “They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I’ve coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this, when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

“It’s an agenda nobody asked for,” Walz continued. “Is it weird? Absolutely. But it’s also wrong. And it’s dangerous.”

Trump recently tried to brush off the “weird” comments—which Walz is credited with originating—that have plagued his and Vance’s campaign. Trump insisted to a small crowd in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday that Walz was, actually, the weird one.

“We’re like you, we’re exactly like you,” the Epstein-socializing, family-separating, woman-hating, millionaire former reality TV star and convicted felon said about himself and his vice presidential pick Vance, who became the target of an online joke that he had screwed a couch.

“He is weird,” Trump continued, referring to Walz. “Did you ever see him go on the stage and go, like, crazy? Between his movement and her laugh, there’s a lot of crazy. I’d say a step further than weird, weird is a nice word by comparison.”

Speaking after Walz’s speech, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker shared his interpretation of the “weird” label.

“The truth of the matter is that Donald Trump is going to show us who he is. There’s a wackiness and a weirdness going on in that candidacy,” Booker told CNN. “We all have our weirdness. I don’t like talking down to anybody. The reality is I believe they’re trying to say that this behavior is not the kind of behavior you want to see in the White House.”

Before exiting the stage, the former football coach had one more pep talk for “team” America.

“It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal,” Walz told the crowd, “but we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball. We’re driving down the field, and boy do we have the right team.”

Queue Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Oprah Absolutely Wrecks J.D. Vance in DNC Speech

Oprah mocked Vance’s comment about “childless cat ladies” on stage.

Oprah waves as she walks onstage at the Democratic National Convention
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

In an unexpected clash of American personalities, Oprah went after Ohio Senator J.D. Vance at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, cutting the Republican vice presidential pick down to size for his disturbing, sexist beliefs.

“Despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors,” Oprah said. “When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No, we just try to do the best we can to save them.”

“And if the place happens to belong to a ‘childless cat lady,’ well, we try to get that cat out, too,” she added to wild screams from the crowd.

The former daytime talk show host was referring to a 2021 interview in which Vance argued that childless Americans don’t have a “direct stake” in the future of the country, deriding Democratic Party leaders as “childless cat ladies.”

“It’s just a basic fact—you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Voters didn’t react well to the misogynistic, divisive tone. A pair of polls conducted weeks apart by centrist Democratic pollster Blueprint indicated that Vance’s favorability had fallen from -7 to -11 by August 12. Approximately 50 percent of respondents said they were aware of Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, while 55 percent said they were bothered by it.

Kenan Thompson Perfectly Skewers Project 2025 at DNC

The comedian exposed how dangerous and ridiculous Project 2025 is.

Kenan Thompson speaks into a microphone while holding a copy of Project 2025 at the Democratic National Convention
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Saturday Night Live actor Kenan Thompson had a whole new take on Project 2025 at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday: make it ridiculous.

Appearing on stage with a gigantic copy of the 920-page Christian Nationalist manifesto, the sketch comedian spoke with several Americans over video call, highlighting how the conservative agenda’s proposals would immediately and negatively impact peoples’ quality of life.

“You ever see a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time? Well here it is,” Thompson quipped.

“You know how, when you download an app and there are hundreds of pages there that you don’t read, it’s just the terms and conditions and you just click agree?” he continued. “Well, these are the terms and conditions of a second Trump presidency. You vote for him, you vote for all of this.”

“Let’s take a look,” he said.

After seamlessly improv-ing through a sound issue during an interview with, ironically, an A/V technician, Thompson spoke with a married gay woman, an OB/GYN, and a Department of Education civil servant who doubled as a union president. Flipping through pages of the giant book, Thompson cited exact sections of Project 2025 that would uproot not just their personal liberties, but also their livelihoods.

The sketch threw the stadium into laughter, but Thompson wound down the bit with a dose of reality.

“Just remember, everything that we just talked about is very real, and it’s in this book,” he said, directing people to check out the full text of the document at Harris’s website.

Watch the full bit below.

Trump Is Totally Not Still Mad That Biden Dropped Out

The Republican nominee, without an ounce of self-awareness, is claiming that the president is “an angry man.”

Trump, red in the face
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump still can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that Democrats have chosen Vice President Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee.

“I watched Joe Biden Monday night, and was amazed at his ANGER at being humiliated by the Democrats,” Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to the president’s appearance on the first night of the Democratic National Convention. “I was happy to have played a part in his demise in that it all began on the evening of June 27, 2024, THE DEBATE, which I think was heavily pushed and promoted by Comrade Kamala Harris.”

Trump claiming that Biden’s ousting after his abysmal performance in his first presidential debate against Trump was the “first ever COUP of the President of the United States,” which sounds a little like sour grapes given the failure of Trump’s own attempted coup on January 6.

“The good news is that I believe Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, who served with the Worst Vice President in the History of the United States, is now seething,” Trump added. “I don’t know why he gave up, I don’t know why he quit. He got 14 Million Votes, she got NONE. He’s an angry man now, and he should be!”

But Biden didn’t appear angry as he delivered his address on Monday. Instead, he quipped that he started his 50-year tenure serving the country by being “too young to be in the Senate” and ending it “too old to stay as president.” In an emotional farewell, Biden shared that he had “made a lot of mistakes” in his career but “gave [his] best” to the country.

Rather, it’s Trump who has been an angry, seething man since Biden’s withdrawal from the race. For days after Biden’s announcement, Trump kept attacking him as though Biden were still his opponent. It’s only gotten worse for Trump since then, as Harris and running mate Tim Walz continue to get under his skin. In a news conference last week, Trump admitted as much, saying of Harris, “I’m very angry at her.”

Trump’s Election Threat Reveals a Dangerous Power Grab in the Works

Donald Trump isn’t joking when he says he doesn’t need votes to win the 2024 election.

Donald Trump speaks at a mic
Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images

Donald Trump keeps making the same weird claim to his supporters that he doesn’t need more votes. On Wednesday, he repeated the idea at a rally in Asheboro, North Carolina, telling his supporters that “our primary focus is not to get out the vote.”

Trump emphasized that his goal was “to make sure they don’t cheat,” adding that Democrats “are going to cheat like hell to win the election because they have no bounds, they have no bounds.”

Trump has been using this odd message for weeks, saying on Fox and Friends last month that his instructions to his supporters are: “We don’t need the votes, I have so many votes.” Less than a week later, he told a group of supporters, “You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.” He then doubled down on those claims to Fox’s Laura Ingraham after she pressed him for clarification. Even going back to October, he said something similar at a New Hampshire rally.

It seems that the former president and convicted felon wants to cast doubt on the coming election, especially if results don’t appear to be going his way. Considering that he lost the popular vote in both 2016 and 2020, that is a strong possibility. Trump may be thinking of riling up his supporters early and then turning them loose like he did at the Capitol in 2021.

Or, as he said in North Carolina, he’s been so fooled by all of the Trump signs he’s seeing that he really thinks he has the votes locked up. That could be another sign of cognitive decline.

Trump Whines About His Campaign Trying to Keep Him on Message

Donald Trump isn’t even trying to talk about policy anymore.

Donald Trump speaks as he arrives at a campaign event
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump complained about his own campaign asking him to please stay on topic, during a meandering speech on Wednesday that was meant to be about national security.

Trump went off on a wild tangent whining about his campaign’s new strategy during a campaign stop in Asheville, North Carolina. He strayed off topic to lament about Barack Obama’s address Tuesday night, which included a jab at Trump that’s likely to stick with him: a comment on Trump’s so-called “crowd size.”

“Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night, take loose shots, he was taking shots at your president,” Trump cried on stage Wednesday.

“You know they always say ‘Sir, please stick to pah-licy, don’t get personal,’” Trump said mockingly.  “And yet, they’re getting personal all night long, these people! Do I still have to stick to pah-licy?”

The crowd cheered “No!” in reply.

But it’s not Trump’s devoted fans who are asking him to cut down on the personal attacks and stay on message—it’s everybody else.

Earlier this month, the Trump campaign launched a new tactic to get Trump to curb his tendency to give speeches littered with off-script asides, which are more personal attacks against his opponents than actual policy ideas, by having him appear at smaller “messaging events” focused on one specific topic.

It’s not just Trump’s team that sees the problem. Republican lawmakers have also begun to sound the alarm that Trump’s scattered speeches and lame, ad hominem attacks could lose them votes in November as well.

So far, the Trump team’s new approach hasn’t been going all that well—a sleepier Trump, deprived of the energy of a larger audience, has been rotely delivering similar remarks at every speaking event. Tuesday’s press conference was meant to be about crime and safety, but Trump still managed to deliver most of the same talking points he did during his speech on economic issues the day before. No matter the size of the audience, or the stated topic, Trump manages to find a way to say everything that pops into his head.

For example, on Wednesday, Trump continued his imagined conversation with some aide warning him to stay on topic: “‘Sir, you must stick to policy. You’ll win it on the border, you’ll win it with inflation, you’ll win it with your great military that you built—that they gave away $85 billion dollars worth of it to Afghanistan. Sir, you’re going to win it on crime. The crime is running through the streets like never before. You’re going to win it on all of these things ...’” Trump rambled on.

Later in the speech, Trump continued to air his frustration with his team again, noting that Obama had been “very nasty last night.”

“I try and be nice to people, but it’s a little tough when they get personal. ‘Please’ again, remember? ‘Please, sir don’t get personal, talk about policy,’” Trump said. “Let me ask you about that. We’re going to do a free poll. Here’s the two questions: Should I get personal, should I not get personal?”

“Should I get personal?” Trump asked, to a roaring cheer from the crowd. “Should I not get personal?” he asked, and the response was far more muted.

“I don’t know, my advisers,” Trump mused, “are fired.”

“No, [I] would rather keep it on policy,” he said, dismissing the response from the crowd. “But sometimes it’s hard when you’re attacked from all ends.”

Read more about Trump’s campaign strategy:

Trump Complains That He Can’t Find a Good Nickname for Kamala Harris

Donald Trump is upset that none of his nicknames are sticking to Kamala Harris.

Donald Trump makes a weird face while speaking before a mic
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Despite bragging loudly and proudly that he “calls people names” like a childhood bully, Donald Trump admitted that he is struggling to find a nickname for Kamala Harris.

“I really didn’t find one with her,” he said at a rally in Asheboro, North Carolina, even as he announced his newest nickname for his opponent: Comrade Kamala.

After trying out “Lyin’ Kamala,” “Crazy Kamala,” “Kamabla,” and “Kamala Krash,” Trump is desperate to make his new name for the vice president stick. He has spent the last week trying it out and continuing to try to paint Harris as a “radical left” candidate. 

“I think her name will be ‘comrade’ because I think that’s the most accurate name,” said Trump in his Wednesday speech. “You know all my names. They’ve all worked, they’ve all been very successful.”

Screenshot of Donald Trump on Twitter

AI-generated photo of the back of a woman's head, who we assume is Kamala Harris, standing before a crowd of soldiers waving red flags. A giant red flag with the communist hammer and sickle is hanging from the ceiling. The word "Chicago" is also seen in the crowd, likely alluding to the DNC.

No caption on the photo

7:50 AM August 18, 2024 79.3M Views

Nicknames and personal attacks have been a large part of each one of Donald Trump’s campaigns with such hits as “Crooked Hillary,” “Sleepy Joe,” and “Meatball Ron.” It seems like even Trump can acknowledge that “Comrade Kamala” might not be perfect but he hopes it will at least mentally paint a picture of a far-left candidate.

This past Sunday Trump even went so far as to post an A.I.-generated photo of so-called Communist Chairman Harris speaking at the Democratic National Convention to a militant proletariat with a hammer and sickle flag. But both this weird image and the nickname don’t make Harris seem less cool and don’t erase her more moderate policies on the border, crime, and fracking.

RFK Jr. Is Finally Going to Drop Out—and May Give Trump a Helping Hand

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly planning to end his presidential campaign by the end of the week.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has decided to end his quixotic independent campaign for president, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.

The move will come by the end of this week, with Kennedy leaning toward endorsing Donald Trump for president, but that has not been finalized and could still change, according to ABC. One source said that Kennedy hopes to make things final fast in order to put a damper on Democrats’ momentum from their convention in Chicago.

Kennedy plans to speak to the nation on Friday about “his path forward,” his campaign announced earlier Wednesday.

Twitter screenshot Stefanie Spear @StefanieSpear: Independent Presidential Candidate @RobertKennedyJr will address the nation live on Friday about the present historical moment and his path forward. 🇺🇸 (with a link to the news on kennedy24.com)

Kennedy reached out to both the Kamala Harris and Trump campaigns in the past few weeks in the hope of trading an endorsement for a cabinet position, but only received a response from Trump, albeit with no agreement. In recent days, Kennedy’s wealthy running mate, Nicole Shanahan, has floated the idea of either dropping out and joining forces with Trump, or staying in the race and laying the groundwork for a stronger presidential run in 2028.

Kennedy’s campaign was always on the margins, but had no shortage of dull moments, particularly with revelations from the political scion’s life. He was found to have once had a worm in his brain, he dumped a bear carcass in Central Park a decade ago, and he faces allegations of sexual assault and serial womanizing. His famous family as well as his fellow environmentalists disavowed his candidacy, which was backed by many right-wing donors hoping to hurt the Democratic ticket. Until October, Kennedy was still flirting with challenging President Biden as a Democratic primary candidate.

In the end, Kennedy’s small support base of environmentalists, fans of the Kennedy family dynasty, and wealthy new age hippies doesn’t seem to be enough to keep his campaign going. Not to mention the fact that even after cutting back on events, the campaign is still losing a lot of money.

This story has been updated.