-The president and GOP leaders are insisting
that Trump's latest racist comments are not,
in fact, racist, despite the fact that
they are definitely super racist.
[ Light laughter ]
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Trump has spent the week reeling off a series of unhinged tweets
and tirades defending his racist attack
on four Democratic congresswomen of color,
in which he told them to go back and help fix
the "totally broken and crime-infested places"
from which they came.
Of course, they're Americans.
Three of them were born here,
and the fourth is a refugee and naturalized citizen.
So, if their country is broken and crime-infested,
that's on you.
Trump accidentally...
[ Cheers and applause ]
Trump accidentally burned himself.
It's like if someone said, "Man, your parents
must have really screwed you up,"
and that someone was your mom.
[ Laughter ]
So, given the fact that they're American citizens,
reporters this afternoon followed up on Trump's comments,
and he once again defended them.
-If people want to leave our country, they can.
If they don't want to love our country,
if they don't want to fight for our country,
they can.
I'll never change on that.
They are not espousing the views of our country,
the four congresswomen.
I think that they've said horrible things
that the press doesn't cover.
I think you should try covering it.
When you look at some of the things they said,
they're unthinkable.
If somebody else, or -- me, or anybody else --
said things like that, it would be historic.
So, you ought to look at some of their horrible statements,
'cause there's never been statements like that.
-Trump's brain disease won't let him backtrack,
no matter how far over the line he goes.
If he said, "I'm gonna eat this apple,"
and you said, "Dude, that's an onion,"
he would stand there and eat the whole thing
with tears streaming down his face.
[ As Trump ] "This is a really--
this is a really good apple.
[ Laughter ]
"Is this a golden delicious?"
[Cheers and applause ]
[ Normal voice ] Also, those congresswomen do love our country,
as evidenced by the fact that they've chosen
to spend their time and energy serving in Congress
despite having to deal with your bull[bleep] every day.
I mean, if I...
[ Cheers and applause ]
If I had to do their jobs for one day,
I'd be like, "[Bleep] it. I'm moving to Maine."
[ Laughter ]
"I'm gonna open up one of those trendy furniture stores
that sells tree stump coffee tables."
I mean, all I do is make fun of you,
and I'm exhausted.
This is what I looked like
when the Trump administration started.
[ Laughter ]
I mean, who needs --
Who needs FaceApp when you have Trump for a president?
[ Laughter ]
Also, you're accusing them of saying horrible things
about our country?
You spent the eight years of the Obama administration
and the 2016 campaign constantly lying
and trash-talking the country.
-The U.S. has become a dumping ground
for everybody else's problems.
We're like a dumping ground for the world.
We're a dumping ground.
The United States is becoming a dumping ground.
We used to be at the top.
Now, we're like a third-world country.
We're like a third-world country.
We're becoming a third-world country
because of our infrastructure --
our airports, our roads, everything.
The whole world is looking at us, and laughing at us.
The world is laughing at us.
They're laughing at the stupidity of our president.
[ Laughter ]
Well...
Well, I'm glad that's over.
[ Cheers and applause ]
So, Trump called America a "dumping ground,"
a "third-world country," and a "laughingstock."
I'd tell him to go back to where he came from,
but I'm pretty sure he just appeared
after a bunch of teens played with a ouija board
they found in the woods.
Of course, since it summoned Trump,
the word "ouija" was probably misspelled.
[ Laughter ]
So, Trump mounted a racist attack
on four Democratic congresswomen of color,
and then defended that attack with lies
about the congresswomen he was attacking --
which, of course, gave Republicans a chance
to courageously stand up to the president
by pulling their favorite move --
pretending they haven't heard about it,
and desperately waiting for the elevator doors to close.
Here's one senator
trying out an especially unconvincing response.
-You saw the president's tweets this weekend.
-Actually, I was out of town.
-Oh!
Well, actually --
Actually, twitter has a new feature
where you can even read the tweets out of town.
[Laughter]
The way it works is the [bleep] same.
[ Light laughter ]
Anyway, go on.
-Well, he said that these progressive congresswomen
should go back to their countries.
I'm wondering what your reaction is to that.
-I'm working hard as I can on reducing healthcare costs.
I'm not giving a daily commentary
of the president's tweets.
-But these are, you know, racist tweets.
Do you have any concerns about it?
-The president said that these minority congresswomen
should go back to their countries.
Do you have a response?
-I haven't read that, but I'll go check it out.
-Okay.
-Man, what would Republicans in Congress do
if the Capitol didn't have elevators?
[ Laughter ]
They'd have to carry around houseplants
just so they could hide behind them.
"What do you think of the president's tweets?"
"I'm sorry, I haven't seen them.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I..."
[ Laughter, cheers, and applause ]
"Is he gone?"
[ Laughter ]
Also, I'm sorry, but can we please retire this
"I haven't seen the tweet" excuse?
No one believes you.
In fact, this excuse is getting so absurd
that Trump's acting director of U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli,
tried it on CNN literally right after an anchor
read the tweet on air.
-The president sent this out yesterday at 8:00 a.m.
"So interesting to see progressive Democratic
congresswomen who originally came from countries
whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe --
the worst, most corrupt, and inept anywhere in the world --
if they even have a functioning government at all --
now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States,
the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth,
how our government is to be run.
Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken
and crime-infested places from which they came?"
What did you think of that tweet?
-Well, I didn't see that tweet, actually.
I can hear what you're reading.
-Yeah, you ca-- You just heard it.
She just read it to you.
Republicans are like your friends
who haven't seen a TV show trying to avoid spoilers
while they're watching the show.
"No, no, no. Don't give it away!"
Seriously, the only way you can support Trump without lying,
at this point, is if you have the part of your brain
that's responsible for memory
replaced with the brain of a goldfish.
"I hadn't seen the tweet."
"I just showed you the tweet."
"What tweet?" "The president's tweet."
"Sorry, one sec. I got eat these food flakes."
[ Laughter and applause ]
By the way, just to give you an idea
of how fully and completely
Republicans have debased themselves in service of Trump,
that same guy, Ken Cuccinelli,
staged a floor fight at the 2016 Republican National Convention
to change the convention rules, and even made a big show
of dramatically throwing his credentials on the floor.
And after that happened, Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.,
slammed Cuccinelli, and called him an "idiot."
-I have the same group of four people running around.
They wait for a camera to show up,
and then, they take their credentials,
and tried to dramatically throw them on the floor.
They look like idiots.
-You're talking about Ken Cuccinelli.
Are you calling him an idiot?
I'm saying these people look like idiots
when they're doing that. -Imagine --
Imagine how pathetic you have to be
to take a job in the Trump administration
after Donald Trump Jr. called you an idiot.
Donald Trump Jr.
This is a guy who doesn't even know how to stand
like a normal human being.
I mean, look at him.
He always looks like he's waiting for someone
to pin a medal on his chest.
"My father said I was getting an award for most oily."
[ Laughter ]
What all this is exposing, once again,
is the rot of intellectual bad faith within the GOP.
For years, they claimed that,
when they criticized President Obama,
they were just upholding the Constitution,
and they complained
they were being unfairly maligned as racists.
And to prove that they would be consistent,
they said they would also stand up to a Republican president.
For example, according to a new book out this week,
then-Republican Congressman Mick Mulvaney,
who is now Trump's acting chief of staff,
said back in 2016, "We're not going to let Trump
dismantle the Bill of Rights.
For five and a half years, every time we got to the floor,
and tried to push back against an over-reaching president,
we get accused of being partisan at best, and racist at worst.
When we do it against a Republican president,
maybe people will see it was a principled objection
in the first place."
Well, they didn't, because it wasn't.
Republicans are literally hiding in elevators
to avoid criticizing Trump.
If you get in an elevator with a Republican Senator,
be careful, because they might hit every button.
[ Laughter ]
"Sorry, just need a couple minutes.
Hey, can you show me how to open Twitter?
No, no, not the regular one.
Travel Twitter.
Oh. Oh, God, man, it has been a day.
It has been -- Oh, it has been..."
[ Cheers and applause ]
The last few days have exposed once again that the eight years
Republicans spent criticizing Obama
weren't actually about principled objections.
The same guys who said they'd stand up to Trump
are now working for him, or hiding in elevators
to avoid criticizing the racism and corruption and...
-Stupidity of our president.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]