Donald Trump’s Critics Think He's 'Rambling and Slurring' Yet Again at the Chicago Event

Former president Donald Trump recently attended the Economic Club of Chicago for an interview with John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg. Micklethwait did not mince words when he quizzed the Republican leader on his plans for the US economy. Soon the interview turned sour after Trump got engaged in a heated argument with the veteran journalist. According to OK Magazine, he rambled erratically and became defensive when confronted with substantive questions about the economic policies. Trump's rambling responses were ridiculed by the netizens after a video from the event was dropped on social media. 

"You are making all these promises. The latest ones are car loans. I was actually quite kind to you. I used 7 trillion. The estimate is 15 trillion?" Micklethwait questioned. "The Wall Street Journal is hardly a communist organization. They criticized you for this too." Trump interjected, "But we're going to grow. What does The Wall Street Journal know? They've been wrong about everything. So have you, by the way." "You're trying to turn this into a debate," Micklethwait responded, to which Trump said, "You're wrong. You've been wrong all your life on this stuff."

Netizens soon labeled the event a 'disaster', "Holy shit this is an unmitigated disaster. Rambling, slurring, incoherent, low-energy, gibberish. He’s a complete mess," an X user criticized. "John Micklethwait got rolled. He let Trump ramble on and on with sir stories, anecdotal lies, all the standard nonsense. Pathetic performance," another one chimed in. "Why do they applaud for every ridiculous thing he says?" one internet user asked. Another one slammed, "Just word salad. No substance. He’s throwing promises out to get elected — promises he can’t, and won’t, keep." 

An X user mocked, "When Trump is faced with someone intelligent he looks like such a fool." "Crosses his arms and throws a tantrum when given a simple question about driving up the debt which he did in his last presidency," another person wrote. "Give it a few hours and Trump willing be calling John Micklethwait, an Oxford graduate and former editor-in-chief of The Economist, an uneducated loser who treated him unfairly. Calling it now," a netizen said. 

The GOP nominee indeed responded to the backlash by calling Micklethwait a 'Trump hater'. In a video shared by Republican Voters Against Trump, the former president can be heard saying, "He was a Trump hater and brilliantly my staff didn't tell me that. It really showed the plan we had because he was unable to dispute it." 

As per Reuters, Trump denied claims that his protectionist trade policies and fiscal engagements could increase the national debt, enrage allies, or hurt the American economy during the heated exchange. According to fiscal analysts, Trump's projected policies would increase the national debt by $7.5 trillion through 2035, more than twice as much as those supported by Vice President Kamala Harris. 

However, Trump insisted that his trade policies, which include high tariffs on goods from allies like the European Union as well as competitors like China, would boost American manufacturing and generate enough income. Beyond the economy, the interview touched on a wide range of subjects, and Trump, as usual, avoided answering some questions directly, changed the topic, went on long digressions, and criticized Micklethwait.