In what NBC News reporter Katy Tur, who covered Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, called “the stream of consciousness from man who hasn’t talked to anybody in a few weeks,” as quoted by TPM , Trump concluded a meeting with his top cabinet officials on Wednesday with a 90-minute, impromptu press conference in which he criticized the late Arizona Senator John McCain, claimed that he “could be the most popular person in Europe,” and declared, “I’d make a good general.”
In one especially unusual moment from the Wednesday afternoon off-the-cuff press conference, as quoted by Vox.com reporter Aaron Rupar on Twitter , Trump claimed that he had “a meeting at the Pentagon with lots of generals” to discuss issues related to Iran and the Middle East, though Trump did not specify when he actually visited the Pentagon, which is located in Arlington, Virginia, about two miles from the White House.
Nonetheless, Trump was able to describe in glowing terms the room where the meeting took place, and the appearance of the generals with whom he claims to have met there, as Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale reported via Twitter — generals who appear to have impressed Trump as especially handsome and turning out for the meeting in large numbers.
“They were like from a movie. Better looking than Tom Cruise, and stronger,” Trump told the White House press pool reporters. “And I had more generals than I’ve ever seen, and we were at the bottom of this incredible room. I said, ‘this is greatest room I’ve ever seen.’”
Trump also noted that in the “incredible room” at the Pentagon, he saw, “more computer boards than they make today.”
Trump’s attention bounced between a wide variety of topics at the unfocused press briefing, at one point adding that if not for his trade policies, he “could be the most popular person in Europe. I could run for any office if I wanted to. I don’t want to.”
Trump also addressed relations with North Korea, as Rupar reported, waving a piece of paper which he said was a letter from North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un.
“I just got a great letter from Kim Jong-un. The few people that I’ve shown this letter to — they’ve never written letters like that. This letter is a great letter,” Trump said, adding that he expected to meet in person with Kim again, following their meeting on June 12 of 2018, and complaining that he receives “no credit” for his “good relationship” with Kim.
“If another administration came in other than this administration,” Trump said, “you’d be at war right now. You’d be having a nice big, fat war in Asia.”
