Suggesting that Americans inject disinfectants into their veins. Declaring that people believe he’s been treated worse than Abraham Lincoln. Claiming wind turbines are killing whales. Saying environmental regulations are forcing people to flush their toilets “10 times, 15 times as opposed to once.” Over the course of Donald Trump’s 77 years on earth, he’s had a lot of uniquely bizarre comments come out of his mouth. That streak continued over the weekend, as he reportedly suggested to a group of billionaires that Joe Biden had literally sh*t on a piece of White House furniture.
Yes, The New York Times reports that at a fundraiser in Palm Beach on Saturday night, the de facto GOP presidential nominee told a crowd of extremely wealthy guests that Biden had made many bad decisions around the Resolute Desk, which has been used by two dozen US presidents, starting with Rutherford B. Hayes. “The Resolute Desk is beautiful,” Trump said. “Ronald Reagan used it, others used it.” Then, according to one attendee who talked to the Times, Trump spoke in reference to Biden: “And he’s using it. I might not use it the next time. It’s been soiled. And I mean that literally, which is sad.” The person who witnessed the remarks told the Times that guests laughed—and that, per the outlet, “Trump’s remark was interpreted as the former president saying that Mr. Biden had defecated on the desk.”
The Trump family has a very strange history when it comes to bowel movements. In her book Confidence Man, Maggie Haberman reported that while living in the White House, Trump would invite visitors to check out his bathroom and then brag that he had remodeled it, including the toilet, after Barack Obama moved out. In the last week of Trump’s presidency, The Washington Post reported that the Secret Service agents assigned to protect Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were forced to rent a nearby studio so they could have access to a toilet, as the couple did not allow them to use one of the six in their home; the rental cost the government $3,000 per month. (However, a spokesperson for the Secret Service insisted, “Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have not denied Secret Service personnel access to their home to include use of the restroom.”)
In addition to making his truly weird—and almost certainly untrue!—claim re: Biden, Trump used the Palm Beach dinner to demonize immigrants, saying, “These are people coming in from prisons and jails. They’re coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster.” Appearing to refer to a controversial event during his presidential term—when, in reference to African countries and Haiti, he asked a group of lawmakers, “Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here?” and said he’d prefer people from places like Norway—Trump told his dinner guests, “When I said, you know, Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries, I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know, like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?” He added: “And you know, they took that as a very terrible comment, but I felt it was fine.”
Commenting on migrants specifically from Yemen, the ex-president described their country as a place “where they’re blowing each other up all over the place.” As for those from Latin America: “They’ve been shipped in, brought in, deposited in our country, and they’re with us tonight. In fact, I don’t think they’re on this island, but I know they’re on that island right there. That’s West Palm,” Trump said, apparently pointing across the water. “Congratulations over there. But they’ll be here. Eventually, they’ll be here.” (As the Times notes, Palm Beach, where the fundraiser took place, is 93.8% white. By contrast, West Palm Beach, the area Trump was gesturing toward, is nearly one third Black and one quarter Hispanic.)
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Trump gathering if it didn’t include some kind of apocalyptic threat (“This could very well be the last election this country ever has,” he warned). And it definitely wouldn’t be one of Trump’s billionaire gatherings if rich people’s bottom lines weren’t addressed: The ex-president “highlighted the tax cuts under his administration,” per the Times, “and asked attendees about whether they had a preference for that measure or his regulations that allowed them to take advantage of specific write-offs.”
A Trump campaign official did not address any of the candidate’s specific remarks when asked for comment by the Times, instead pointing to an official readout of the event. “Trump spoke on the need to win back the White House so we can turn our country around, focusing on key issues including unleashing energy production, securing our southern border, reducing inflation, extending the Trump tax cuts, eliminating Joe Biden’s insane [electric vehicle] mandate, protecting Israel, and avoiding global war,” a campaign official told NBC News.
