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Trump news - live: President launches fresh attack on Parasite and Brad Pitt after defending Tulsi Gabbard at MAGA rally

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John T. Bennett,Joe Sommerlad,Alex Woodward
Friday 21 February 2020 22:38 GMT
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Donald Trump launches fresh attack on Parasite at MAGA rally

Donald Trump has resumed his attack on Democratic 2020 candidate Michael Bloomberg on Twitter and posted a bizarre all-caps rant about bailing out America's farmers with federal funding.

The president unexpectedly lashed out at this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, the South Korean thriller Parasite, at his latest campaign rally in Colorado Springs on Thursday night, only for the movie’s US distributor Neon to mock him for not being able to read subtitles.

Trump also laid into Hollywood star Brad Pitt (“a little wise guy”), teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and Fox News - angered by negative coverage about him on Neil Cavuto’s show - otherwise stumbling over his words again and getting his conspiracy theories mixed up.

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Trump inspired chants of U-S-A talking about the killing of Isis leader Al-Baghdadi.

He said: "When I came in ... Isis was all over the place. I said, 'You gotta knock it out.'"

He pivots to the impeachment investigation, saying Democrats "can take this perfect call, or out of thin air, can make something up". He slams the New York Times story about congress receiving intelligence about Russian interference, claiming that the columns have gotten smaller in the newsprint.

He said: "After I'm gone they won't have any columns."

He also said The Washington Post will be "dead as a doornail" and CNN and MSNBC will be out of business.

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 20:56
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Trump slams Mike Bloomberg for spending millions of dollars to get yelled at by Elizabeth Warren on the debate stage.

He said: "She's mean, isn't she? Did you see the anger on her face? ... She's a mess."

He imitates her, saying "You open up those agreements!"

Trump calls Pete Buttigieg Alfred E Neuman, the face of MAD Magazine: "Nobody knows who he is except for the real aficionados."

He says the former mayor's city of South Bend has "gone to hell."

"He's not a bad debater. He's probably the best up there."

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:00
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Trump called Bernie Sanders "crazy" and Joe Biden "angry", mocking him by making a gurgling sound and swinging his arms around.

Going down the line of candidates, he also knocked Tom Steyer, asking where he got his money.

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:01
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Of Mike Pence, Trump says: "I have the perfect vice president. I have the greatest in the world."

He said: "I could've picked — I could give you names. ... This is perfect casting."

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:04
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Trump claims that "the Democrats keep losing their minds, that is why millions of registered Democrat voters are leaving their party and joining our movement." (That's not the case.)

He also slammed Medicare for All plans while praising unions, following Nevada's massive hospitality union's apparent objection to Bernie Sanders' plan: "You're going to lose 180 million people off great, private healthcare." (He doesn't mention that they would all be enrolled in a public healthcare plan.)

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:14
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Trump says: "I love Hispanic! Who in this audience is Hispanic?"

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:14
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He's attacking fact checkers as he lists off employment numbers: "I can't say it because you got all these maniacs back there ... 'He didn't make that word plural therefore he lied.'"

He also says the US is "building the wall like crazy": "You know who knows crime at the border more than anybody? The Hispanics."

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:17
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Trump points out Sheldon Adelson, a mega-donor to the Trump campaign who has given millions to his super PAC and other Republicans. He also owns the Las Vegas Review Journal, over which the casino magnate reportedly has a great deal of influence in negative coverage of himself.

Trump said Adelson can call up the newspaper and tell them that Nevada's Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository is OK.

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:23
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 Trump falsely claims that before he took office, Democrats allowed "open borders" to allow "drugs to flow freely into our country."

There appears to be someone needing medical attention near the stage, so Trump has paused the rally while a doctor get there.

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:28
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He falsely claims that ICE has removed "thousands and thousands of MS-13 members" from the US.

Trump says if you want to protect your families, "you must vote Republican."

Alex Woodward21 February 2020 21:32

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