Somewhere on the way to a refueling stop in Alaska, President Trump started tweeting from Air Force One Wednesday evening about the first Democratic presidential debate before it even started.
The president urged supporters to follow his campaign team on Twitter for fact checking and “the TRUTH!”
“Sorry, I’m on Air Force One, off to save the Free World!” Mr. Trump tweeted as he headed for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, which begins Thursday.
When Air Force One landed for refueling at an Air Force base near Anchorage, Alaska, Mr. Trump greeted troops on the tarmac and noted that the Democratic debate had begun. He quipped to the troops, “I had my choice between you and them, and I chose you.”
Asked by reporters how he thought the Democrats would perform on stage in Miami, Mr. Trump replied, “I think they all are going to do very poorly.”
When the debate began, the Trump campaign quickly pushed back at Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for saying the economy is “great for those with money and is not doing great for everyone else.”
Trump campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied on Twitter, “30 seconds into the #DemDebate and we already have our first lie from Elizabeth Warren, who clearly has no idea — Paychecks are growing at the fastest rate in a decade and TWICE AS FAST for LOW- & MIDDLE-INCOME AMERICANS!”
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh added, “Tough sell for Elizabeth Warren right out of the gate, trying to tell people the Trump economy is not great (which it, in fact, is).”
Mr. Trump said he’d be watching the debate aboard the presidential aircraft “because I have to,” not because he thought it would be interesting.
He also blasted former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, the frontrunner who will participate in a second debate on Thursday night, for his role in passing major crime legislation as a senator that resulted in higher levels of incarceration.
“Ever since the passage of the Super Predator Crime Bill, pushed hard by @JoeBiden, together with Bill and Crooked Hillary Clinton, which inflicted great pain on many, but especially the African American Community, Democrats have tried and failed to pass Criminal Justice Reform,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
He said Democrats last year “came to me asking for help, and I got Criminal Justice Reform passed, with help from both Republicans and Democrats.”
“Many said that nobody but President Trump could have done this,” he said. “All previous administrations failed. Please ask why THEY failed to the candidates!”
Wages growing at the fastest rate in a decade, and twice as fast for those in the bottom half of earners as compared to the top half.
As Air Force One took off from Alaska with its televisions tuned to the debate, the president weighed in again.
“BORING!” he tweeted.
When an audio glitch interrupted the debate for several minutes at the start of the second hour, Mr. Trump said sponsors NBC News and MSNBC “should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate.”
“Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!” he tweeted.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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