President Trump mocked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday night with a video he said showed her as inarticulate but which had been deliberately altered.
“Pelosi stammers through news conference,” Mr. Trump triumphantly yelled in all capital letters while linking to a video from the Fox program “Lou Dobbs Tonight” showing her stumbling over words.
“PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE” pic.twitter.com/1OyCyqRTuk
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
However the video of moments from her Thursday afternoon press conference had been altered in some fairly obvious ways — split-second jump cuts, repetition, playing with the soundtrack, stringing together of non-consecutive phrases — to make Mrs. Pelosi sound foolish.
Such editing is a staple of light-hearted news segments mocking political opponents but usually is acknowledged as such.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Trump had attacked Mrs. Pelosi’s intellect, saying about the trade deal he had struck with Canada and Mexico that “she’s got to get up to snuff, learn the bill. She’s a mess. I don’t think Nancy Pelosi understands the deal — it’s too complicated [for her].”
The video Mr. Trump tweeted out is not, however, one of several deceptively edited “drunk Pelosi” videos that had gone viral in recent days and been pulled down from social-media sites, according to a Washington Post report earlier Thursday.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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