President Donald Trump on Friday railed against communism during a bizarre speech at Mount Rushmore.
But as critics were quick to point out, his definition of what “communists” do sounds a lot like what he, his family and his associates have been accused of doing since he returned to the White House last year.
“Our American ancestors did not shed their blood at Concord and Trenton, Gettysburg and Shiloh, Midway and Normandy, just so that a band of thieves, radicals and lunatics could come in and loot, pillage our nation,” Trump said days after financial filings showed he earned more than $2 billion last year.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board this week accused Trump and his family of “profiting off the presidency in ways that demean the office.”
The president has also struck gold by buying stocks in companies just before his administration announces decisions favorable to those firms.
“The Trump clan is cashing in on the Presidency in big and sketchy ways,” the Journal said.
Trump’s speech was full of other lines about supposed “communists,” a word he is turning to with increasing frequency. The president has been falsely calling everyone who disagrees with him a “communist” as he tries to drum up Red Scare tactics. The move comes amid a deep plunge in his approval ratings and an increasing likelihood that his party will lose the House and possibly even the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
But it was his line about looting and pillaging ― which comes amid his own massive increase in wealth ― that had everyone pointing the finger right back at the president: