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- Trump complained to radio show host Todd Starnes that the media was covering Hurricane Ida all weekend.
- He added that news channels were not discussing the “great agreement” he had with the Taliban.
- The former president singled out CNN and MSNBC in particular but called the latter “MSDNC” instead.
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Former President Donald Trump went on a radio show on August 30 and complained at length about how the media was spending too much time covering the devastating Hurricane Ida, instead of his “great agreement” with the Taliban.
“All they talked about was the hurricane. You look at CNN and you look at MSDNC, these are horrible. Unfortunately, they’re way down in ratings, but all they wanna talk about is the hurricane or anything else they can talk about,” Trump told conservative radio show host Todd Starnes on Monday, intentionally mixing up MSNBC’s name.
“Afghanistan is not even something that can even be discussed in a rational way. The level of stupidity – and we had a great agreement,” Trump said.
One million homes along the Gulf Coast may have been damaged or destroyed after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday. At least one person has died, and one million Louisianans may now be left without power for close to three weeks.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated, but are still unable to return to their homes, even after Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm on Monday.
The former president continued to talk about how the media was not reporting on how he had an understanding with the Taliban and “Abdul” – likely referring to Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar – not to kill Americans.
“We would have hit them so hard, and they knew that, Abdul knew that,” Trump said. “I would have taken the equipment out, I would have taken the people out, and then we would have bombed every base but Bagram,” the former president said.
In a video of the exchange, Starnes is seen attempting to get a word in, but Trump continued talking about the media.
“The media, which is fake and crooked and corrupt, they’re the worst people, they’re the most corrupt people. The only thing I don’t understand is why. They’ve got to hate our country. And they are, in fact, the enemy of the people. But the corrupt media shows the hurricane all night long,” Trump said.
Trump has weighed in about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan several times over the last two weeks.
Referring to the deal the Trump administration brokered with the Taliban that said the US would withdraw its military presence within 14 months, President Joe Biden said on August 14 that his predecessor left the Taliban “in the strongest position militarily since 2001.”
The next day, Trump responded to Biden, blaming him for not “following the plan (the Trump) Administration left for him.” On August 16, Trump released six statements blasting Biden for the way he handled the crisis in Afghanistan, saying that the outcome “would have been totally different” with a Trump administration in charge.
Trump then praised the Taliban during an appearance on Fox host Sean Hannity’s show on August 17, calling them “smart” and “good fighters.”
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