President Donald Trump whipped up a tweetstorm on Thursday morning in defense of his speeches this week, just days after claiming—in one of those very speeches—that he doesn’t go on tweetstorms.
Trump attacked the “fake news” media for criticizing his speech in Phoenix, Arizona, earlier this week, where he went off script several times at the campaign-style event to defend his widely-criticized response to the violence Charlottesville, Virginia; his perceived unfairness in the media; North Korea; and other topics.
During the speech, Trump denied that he does “Twitter-storms,” and called those in the media who say he does “sick.”
“And do you ever notice, when I go on and I’ll put, like, out a tweet or a couple of tweets, ‘He’s in a Twitter-storm again!’ I—I don’t do Twitter-storms,” Trump said. “You know, you’ll put out a little tweet: ‘I’m going to be with the veterans today.’ They’ll say, ‘Donald Trump is in a Twitter-storm.’ These are sick people.”
Earlier in the week, Trump gave a speech about the ongoing war in Afghanistan, telling Americans that he would be sending more troops into the region despite his “first instinct” to pull them out of what has become the United States’ longest war.
In the midst of the flurry of tweets, Trump also used the wrong form of “there” and “too,” which he later attempted to correct.
“The Fake News is now complaining about my different types of back to back speeches,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets. “Well, their (sic) was Afghanistan (somber), the big Rally…….(enthusiastic, dynamic and fun) and the American Legion – V.A. (respectful and strong).To (sic) bad the Dems have no one who can change tones!”
Trump’s speech in Arizona was the most criticized of his recent appearances, with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper calling it “disturbing” and questioning the president’s ability to serve as the leader of the United States.
“It’s hard to know where to start,” Clapper said while speaking with Don Lemon on CNN. “It’s just so objectionable on so many levels. You know, I’ve toiled in one capacity or another for every president since, and including, John F. Kennedy through President Obama, and I don’t know when I’ve listened and watched something like this from a president that I’ve found more disturbing.”