Donald Trump made more inflammatory social media posts on his way to China on Tuesday, picking up where he left off the night before.
Trump flew to Beijing on Tuesday for two days of talks which are set to include trade, AI and Taiwan. It is the first visit to China by a U.S. president in nearly a decade.
On his way, Trump took issue with several targets on Truth Social, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, along with the media. He posted 19 times since 3 pm EST, including a handful of standardized congratulatory messages about Republican allies winning primaries.
He spoke of his trip to Beijing, assuring supporters, “I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level! In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request. I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!“
Among the string of posts, Trump, 79, addressed the over-budget renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Hours earlier, when a reporter pointed out that the project he initially pegged at $1.8 million was now expected to cost $13.1 million, he angrily called her a “dumb person.” The night prior, at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, Trump bragged about his efforts, but with incorrect numbers to make himself look better.
On Truth Social while flying to Asia, Trump at least seemed to acknowledge the difficulties of the endeavor, but not without making a false assertions about his predecessors.
His administration was doing “an excellent job on a very complex, but solvable, problem,” he claimed.
“When it is complete, there will be no leakage, which there was since its 1922 construction, and it will SPARKLE magnificently as the water is put in, and begins to rise,” he added. “A very tricky and difficult construction job will yield a beautiful result!”
Trump also claimed baselessly, “Obama and Biden, they say, spent over 100 Million Dollars, with years under construction, and it never worked.”
Neither president did so. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation from 2010 to 2012 under the Obama administration cost roughly $30–38 million.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast about that post.
While airborne, Trump also did some characteristic complaining about press reports he doesn’t like, in this case about his war against Iran.
“When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement,” he wrote. “They are aiding and abetting the enemy! All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist. These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country.”
Trump appeared to be referencing a New York Times report on Tuesday that classified assessments conducted earlier this month show that Iran has control of most of its missile sites, despite Trump claiming Iran was “no longer” a threat. Iran has restored access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, 70 percent of its missile launchers, and 70 percent of its missile stockpile, according to the assessments.
The DOJ, meanwhile, is moving to target reporters covering the war after Trump gave acting Attorney Todd Blanche a stack of articles with a sticky note on top saying “treason.” The Wall Street Journal on Monday revealed that it had received grand jury subpoenas for its reporters.
In addition to posting the resignation text message from former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and listing some of the tech and business leaders also going to China, Trump picked out a third candidate for the “51st state,” after having selected Canada and Greenland earlier in his term: Venezuela.
That came a day after Fox News anchor John Roberts reported that Trump was “seriously considering” it.
Roberts’ colleague, Bill Melugin, wrote in his own post on X that Roberts had told him that Trump said, “There is $40 trillion in oil there and ‘Venezuela loves Trump.’”
The U.S. conducted an operation in January to capture the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, both of whom are imprisoned and facing charges in the U.S. Afterward, Trump claimed the U.S. would “run” the country and take its oil, adding, “We’re not afraid to have boots on the ground.”
Trump, perhaps with that in mind, minutes later chose to glamorize himself as Uncle Sam from the 1917 Army recruitment poster by American artist James Montgomery Flagg.
“I WANT YOU!” he captioned the image of himself pointing at the viewer.
Since Trump began the war against Iran in late February, 13 U.S. service members have been killed, and hundreds have been wounded.
In another post, Trump also defended 84-year-old Senator Mitch McConnell after a staffer had to remind him during a hearing on Tuesday that more senators still had questions to come, after he attempted to end proceedings early.
The president said the incident made “Mitch look foolish and completely out of it,” and blamed Robert Karem, the former assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Trump, posting an image of Karem, who he called “a Never Trumper,” claimed he was responsible for whispering in McConnell’s ear. “FIRE THE BUM!”
The president also posted a 2010 video of Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal reacting to a report he had falsely claimed to have served in Vietnam, stating “I regret that, I take full responsibility.”
Trump’s post seems to be in reaction to a clip of Blumenthal at a Federal Judiciary Committee at the end of April, where he asked nominees who won the 2020 election. Most refused to say Joe Biden won the election, and merely stated Biden had been “certified the winner.”
