Donald Trump flipped out on Maggie Haberman and New York Magazine over a pair of stories about his bizarre behavior regarding the attacks of September 11, and the annual commemorations of the tragedy.
Trump is set to give a speech at the Pentagon on September 11 after he reportedly blew off the Ground Zero memorial in part because they wouldn’t let him speak, a report that triggered him into a vicious attack on Maggie Haberman.
More recently, Trump gave a bizarre speech on The Ellipse Tuesday that sent fact-checkers into overdrive when he dropped this whopper.
I’ll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen — big, strong guys, and I’m not the smallest guy in the world — they grabbed me under the arms, said, “Gotta get out of here,” and they literally lifted me up. This isn’t easy to do. I’m big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, “Fellas, I can run myself.”
Among the many articles debunking the tale was an Intelligencer piece by Nia Prater and Chas Danner entitled “Trump Repeats Disputed Yarn About His 9/11 Role.”
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Both articles sent Trump into a lather Wednesday night, when he blurted out a 476-word diatribe on Truth Social. Here it is, with my notes added in italics:
The Failing New York Magazine wrote a story that I wasn’t down at the World Trade Center after the Tragedy of September 11th, because nobody saw me there. (Trump will literally confirm this in half a second)
Well, I don’t think I would be the first thing on anyone’s mind but, I was there, obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter, with a large group of Construction Workers. (News outlets have tried to confirm this for decades, including by asking Trump and his officials for evidence. Nobody saw this crew and Trump’s people have never provided evidence.)
I discussed it today during my Remarks on the Ellipse, in Washington, D.C., for Tunnel to Towers. Everything I said was exactly accurate and, to prove the point, I am attaching clips of me there with numerous of my people, including my then Head of Security, Matthew Calamari, who has confirmed that very sad trip to Lower Manhattan, many times, to many different Journalists, but it’s a story that just won’t die. (There’s no record of this, and Calamari hasn’t returned a request for comment by People Magazine).
The Fake News doesn’t want to listen, even when they know their story is false. That’s why their approval ratings are at an All Time LOW, but mine are VERY HIGH! (They are definitely not)
On another September 11th front, Maggot Hagerman continues to say that I did not go to the New York World Trade Center event, but the Pentagon instead, because they wouldn’t let me speak in New York.
Maggot knows that this is a lie! (Maggie stands by her story and has poked gaping holes in Trump’s excuses.)
I have been to the New York solemn ceremony numerous times, and nobody speaks. It is a stated fact that, “Politicians and public officials are not permitted to deliver speeches or remarks at the official September 11 anniversary remembrance ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York.” Certainly I would not want to violate that, even if I could. I speak enough, and it just so happens that the strong request was made for me to be at the Pentagon instead, with VP Vance handling our Administration’s representation in New York. (Trump is in charge of JD Vance)
Hagerman, unattractive both inside and out, fully knows that her story is made up. She knows less about me than the average reporter “on the beat.” (Maggie has covered him for decades and regularly gets unsolicited phone calls from him)
I haven’t spoken to her in a long time, (see above) and certainly there was no “fact checking” for her story — There never is! (He sat for a lengthy fact-checking interview for Maggie’s book. Natalie was there.)
Let her reveal her sources, because they don’t exist. (This is Trump thinking he can bait Haberman with childish shit that would definitely work on him.)
Again, speeches are not made at the New York event and, even if they were, I never asked to speak. Fake News is getting worse and worse in the U.S.A. It’s very important to comment so that people understand what liars and scoundrels these so-called “journalists” are. They’re angry, and sick, over the fact that I won the Presidential Election three times! (He won twice.)
I hereby demand a retraction from Maggot, and also, for whoever wrote the fake story for New York Magazine. Again, check out the clips of me at the World Trade Center site. I was there as soon as the Law allowed. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Trump also attached a compilation of clips that have been widely circulated and don’t show him at the Pile. They’re all from between September 13 and 18.
The Times responded to Trump’s tantrum quickly and, for an attention-vampire like Trump, in the most cold-blooded fashion imaginable: through a spokesperson.
We won’t be issuing a retraction. This is another all too common example of the president lashing out at coverage he doesn’t like and belittling journalists who report the facts.
— Nicole Taylor, a spokesperson for The New York Times
Jim Acosta slammed Trump over his remarks on Tuesday in a blistering commentary.
You are a fraud. You are a phony. And anybody who commits that kind of stolen valor when it comes to September 11th — it’s absolutely just disgraceful. It’s despicable. It’s the lowest level of human behavior that I can imagine, stealing the valor of our 9/11 heroes.
Is there no line that he won’t cross? We know that the answer to that is of course he will cross any line. He has no decency. It’s not worth it for me to say, “Have you no decency?” He has no decency.
And this is yet another disturbing example of that, and I can’t let it go by without it being noted. And this is why I’m not on cable news all the time anymore, folks, because if you were to go on and say this kind of thing — maybe other than my friend Lawrence O’Donnell, folks like that — they’d haul you off the air.
But I have this platform and I am going to say: Have you no decency? Have you no shame? Is there no bottom that you won’t sink to to spread your lies? At long last, when do these lies end? When do they stop? When do they stop?
We will also not be retracting.
Thank you, Jim. You were always one of my favorites on CNN, and you remain so on this platform. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Tommy and Trump with his stolen valor shows the world that he is a vile, sickening poor excuse of a human being.