Donald Trump’s teleprompter is back from vacation to denounce racism
After a weekend of violence in Charlottesville prompted by rallying white supremacists, President Donald Trump went on camera Monday to... read off a teleprompter.
Trump isn't known for his extemporaneous speaking (or tweeting) skills. On Saturday his lukewarm tweet condemning violence in Charlottesville from "many sides" was swiftly and strongly critiqued for its failure to address white supremacist ideology, the KKK and neo-Nazis directly.
SEE ALSO: You can honor Heather Heyer and other Charlottesville heroes starting today
So, on Monday, Trump gave a statement from the White House, this time reading prepared remarks directly from a teleprompter which, after three days of silence on racism, struck many as too little, too late.
Trump has a famously tenuous relationship with the teleprompter. Though he frequently criticized Hillary Clinton for her use of them during the 2016 campaign, he has since made use of it himself, which is par for the presidential course. But when it takes you three days and a prepared script to say, "the KKK is bad," you might have a problem.
It's also a bold reversal for a man who, per CNN, said at a 2015 rally: "I've always said, if you run for president, you shouldn't be allowed to use teleprompters ... Because you don't even know if the guy's smart." Take from that what you will.
Naturally, Trump's ability to read on command has left Twitter unimpressed.
so it appears trump read a teleprompter statement, with no ad-libs. takes no questions & ignores shouted ones as he leaves.
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) August 14, 2017
He literally cannot deliver this without a teleprompter. Sad! https://t.co/b48PW9xl3n
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) August 14, 2017
I hate when Trump throws in his really obvious ad-libs when he's reading the teleprompter. "so sad," "I know," "it's about time"
— built to shrill (@theshrillest) August 14, 2017
He can't even read the teleprompter normally. These words are killing him. And no you haven't said anything about the color of skin.
— ProfB (@AntheaButler) August 14, 2017
Trump looks like a hostage reading the teleprompter. We don't believe you, you need more people.
— Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) August 14, 2017
"please, sir, for the love of god, read the teleprompter and walk away, no improv" — every aide
— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) August 14, 2017
Its striking that he has to carefully read it off a teleprompter. He railed against prompters yet he can't speak from the heart about racism https://t.co/olP7gXjR80
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) August 14, 2017
Renouncing racism off a teleprompter 72 hours too late, after endless prodding, kinda just proves that you're both a racist and a wimp, no?
— Ben Reininga (@BenReininga) August 14, 2017
It felt like @realDonaldTrump read the TelePrompTer message condemning hate groups like a hostage forced to read a statement by his captors.
— Bryan Cranston (@BryanCranston) August 14, 2017
