Trump once again uses an unserious excuse to U-turn on past comments - this time on Ukraine

It was, alongside comments about the price of groceries, something US president Donald Trump said he would address on day one of his second presidential term, but as the iconic image of the Republican sitting down with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral demonstrates, Trump certainly didn’t resolve the war in Ukraine on his first day in office.

CNN has detailed 53 instances in which Trump said he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, or even before his inauguration, after the president downplayed these commitments in an interview with Time magazine.

When asked about his ‘day one’ pledge on Ukraine, Trump replied that he said it “figuratively”.

“I said that as an exaggeration, because to make a point, and you know, it gets, of course, by the fake news [unintelligible]. Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest, but it was also said that it will be ended,” the transcript reads.

But social media users aren’t convinced:

Another attacked the claim as “absurd”:

And Robert Picardo, of Star Trek fame, pointed out that things said “in jest” are “supposed to be funny”:

It isn’t the first time that Trump has sought to play down past comments by saying they weren’t meant to be taken seriously, as he did the same when it came to his past concession that he didn’t win the 2020 election after all, despite all the time he spent insisting voter fraud took place (it didn’t).

To recap, Trump told podcaster Lex Fridman in September that he lost his first attempt at bagging a second term “by a whisker”, only to later claim he was being sarcastic.

“I did watch all of these pieces. I didn’t detect the sarcasm,” noted moderator David Muir.

And there’s been several other instances in the past where Trump has used “sarcasm” or something similar to shrug off criticism, with The Independent reporting it was also used to downplay his infamous comments about injecting bleach to fight against coronavirus.

Yikes.

Why not read…

• 'Putin apologist': Trump's 'flawed' Russia stance attacked by Tory MP
• Trump 'snubbed' by Macron in 'slick move' before Zelensky meeting

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