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50 Alarming Trump Quotes From His First 50 Days

by Chris Tognotti
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Well, you can now check off the first big, round number of the Trump era. Unless you were eagerly marking down the ten-day mark, which hey, why not? But regardless, Friday marked the new commander-in-chief's 50th day in office (though not in the White House, what with his every-weekend sojourns to his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate). And let's just say he's been no less talkative and inflammatory than he was as a candidate, regularly airing his thoughts and grievances in chaotic, public fashion. Here are 50 alarming things Trump's said in his first 50 days, showing that he's still every bit the controversial and inflammatory word-spewer that he was as a candidate.

Make no mistake, though some of Trump most mentally searing lines and were first heard during his primary and general election campaigns ― back when he was calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" and calling for the use of torture, and of course, everything he said on the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape ― his presidential candor has not been much better.

To the contrary, when you consider how much more impact a president's words carry compared to a candidate's, you can easily make the case it's been worse. Here are 50 lines he's dropped since becoming commander-in-chief that ought to set off your alarms.

1. Giving It Back To You

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... we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.

Trump teased his old swamp-draining message in the opening moments of his inauguration speech, just minutes after being sworn-in as president. While the quote alone doesn't sound that alarming, the gap between the promise and the reality sure is ― to the contrary, the swamp is now overflowing.

2. American Carnage

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This American carnage stops right here, and stops right now.

If Trump's inaugural speech is remembered as anything, it'll likely be "the American Carnage speech."

3. When You Open Your Heart To Patriotism

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When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.

Is it really true that someone can't be both patriotic and prejudiced? A stroll through world history might help with this one.

4. Nobody Feels Stronger About The Intelligence Community

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We’re not talking about the balls, and we’re not talking about even the speeches. Although they did treat me nicely on that speech yesterday. I always call them the dishonest media, but they treated me nicely. But, I want to say that there is nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump. There’s nobody.

Standing in front of the CIA's revered Memorial Wall, Trump rehashed the media coverage of his inauguration speech, all while saying he wasn't.

5. I'm Like, A Smart Person

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Now, I know a lot about West Point. And I'm a person that very strongly believes in academics. In fact, every time I say I had an uncle who was a great professor at MIT for 35 years, who did a fantastic job in so many different ways, academically, he was an academic genius. And then they say, is Donald Trump an intellectual? Trust me, I’m like, a smart person.

Also during his CIA speech, Trump defended his own intellect by way of his uncle's intellect ― former MIT engineering professor John G. Trump.

6. A Million And A Half People

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... we had a massive field of people, you saw them. Packed. I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I said wait a minute, I made a speech, I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, a million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there. And they said Donald Trump did not draw well. I said, it was almost raining, the rain should have scared them away, but God looked down and he said, we’re not going to let it rain on your speech.

In reality, his crowd size was dwarfed by President Obama's in 2009, with estimates placing it most optimistically at less than 600,000.

7. Peaceful Protests Are A Hallmark

A mere two days following his inauguration, Trump offered this noticeably non-combative response to the massive Women's March protests throughout the country. This is far from his typical Twitter tone, showing the chaotic element of following the new president's ever-shifting moods and messages.

8. I Will Send In The Feds

While it's impossible to know for sure, Trump seemed to tweet this in response to a segment by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

9. Ungrateful Traitor Chelsea Manning

Needless to say, Trump disagreed with his predecessor's decision to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence.

10. A Lot Of Bad Dudes Out There

If only he were doing this to ween himself off of "bad hombres," but alas.

11. Fake Tears Chuck Schumer

I noticed Charles E. Schumer yesterday with fake tears. I’m gonna ask him who is his acting coach because I know him very well, I don’t see him as a crier. If he is, he’s a different man. There’s about a five percent chance that it was real, but I think they were fake tears.

Trump has claimed multiple times that Sen. Chuck Schumer faked his tears over immigration and travel ban executive order.

12. Call It What You Want

Notably, this tweet came after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer vigorously insisted the executive order was not a ban.

13. I Will Study This Dumb Deal

This tweet came following Trump's first phone call with Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, widely reported to have gone terribly.

14. The Leaks Are Real

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The leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake, because so much of the news is fake.

Even well before being sworn-in, Trump began to appropriate the "fake news" label. He continued that in his widely scrutinized press conference in mid-February.

15. Keep "Evil" Out

Trump's often-curious use of scare quotes is a familiar sight on his Twitter timeline, and sometimes it raises questions ― is "evil" a euphemism for something? What gives?

16. Russia Is A Ruse

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How many times do I have to answer this question. Russia is a ruse. I know, you have to get up and ask your questions, so important. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven't made a phone call to Russia in years. Don't speak to people from Russia ― not that I wouldn't, I just don't have people to speak to.

Trump continues to deny that he has anything to do with Russia, amid ever-widening scrutiny of both confirmed and alleged links with different members of his campaign staff.

17. Ivanka Has Been Treated So Unfairly

This was the president's response after department store Nordstrom stopped carrying his daughter's line.

18. This Thing Called Nuclear Weapons

You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons, and other things, like, lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things.

In a press conference, Trump mused about all the "bad things" uranium can be used for, showing a less than refined knowledge of the topic, let's say.

19. Easy D!

Ultimately, Trump's original executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven majority Muslim nations was ruled against unanimously, 3-0. Not so Easy D.

20. See You In Court

Incidentally, this is the same thing that the ACLU is always saying to Trump.

21. Bernie Sanders Was Cut Off

This is not an accurate description of what happened. In fact, Sanders was just joking, mocking Trump for labeling CNN "fake news."

22. The Biggest Electoral College Win

I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.

Clocking in at 306 electoral votes (of which he ultimately received 304), Trump's electoral vote total actually put him towards the bottom end of the list of winning margins, 46th out of 58.

23. I Was Given That Information

I was given that information, I don't know, I was just given ― we had a very very big margin. ... I don't know, I was given that information. Actually, I've seen that information around.

When Trump was called out for his false claims about his electoral college win, he deflected the blame, saying he "was given that information," and that he'd "seen that information around."

24. The Real Story Here

Trump's war with leakers has been running throughout his early administration, and he's frequently argued that should be "the real story."

25. Given Out Like Candy

Needless to say, the president has had leakers on the brain for weeks now.

26. Condemning Hate And Evil

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Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers, and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.

Amid weeks of criticism for his silence regarding anti-Semitic threats and incidents of racist violence, Trump front-loaded a few words in his first-ever joint address to Congress. However ...

27. Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement

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I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. The office is called VOICE — Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests.

... contrary to the part about combating racial hatred, Trump also announced the creation of VOICE, a DHS office which will publicize crimes committed by undocumented immigrants ― who, it must be noted, commit crimes at a lower rate than American citizens.

28. We All Bleed The Same Blood

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This is our vision. This is our mission. But we can only get there together. We are one people, with one destiny. We all bleed the same blood. We all salute the same great American flag. And we all are made by the same God.

To say "we all bleed the same blood" and "we all are made by the same God" is dissonant with Trump's unveiling of VOICE, and his immigration policies more generally, would be an understatement.

29. Fox & Friends Is Great

Reports have suggested that Trump does not have a particularly diverse media diet.

30. The Russian Connection Nonsense

Trump has frequently insisted that Democratic scrutiny of both confirmed and alleged ties between Russian and his presidential campaign is actually about distracting from his victory.

31. Enemy Of The American People

Trump took his disdain and public castigation of the media to intense new heights in this Feb. 17 tweet, calling five major outlets "the enemy of the American People!"

32. Fake Media Calls It Differently

Trump has consistently elevated conservative news outlets and right-wing pundits as inherently credible, while disparaging bigger outlets and more explicitly journalistic voices.

34. What's Happening Last Night In Sweden

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You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this, Sweden, they took in large numbers, they're having problems like they never thought possible.

In fact, nothing of note happened in Sweden that night, though Trump was seemingly convinced otherwise by a Fox News segment.

35. Give The Public A Break

Trump later changed the terms of his argument on Twitter, ignoring his specific claim ("last night in Sweden") in favor of a general discussion of immigration in the Scandinavian nation.

36. Find Now

Once upon a time, this wasn't how the president interacted with the FBI, much less publicly on Twitter. Those days are over.

37. 122 Vicious Prisoners

As was revealed by fact-checkers shortly after Trump sent this angry tweet, 113 of the 121 former Guantanamo detainees he was referencing were released by the Bush administration.

38. We Are Getting Along Great

Trump has consistently downplayed rumors of acrimony or disharmony within his administration.

39. I Have Tremendous Respect For Women

Trump's presidential message for International Women's Day was a stark contrast from his comments about groping women without consent captured on tape in 2005, behavior he was later accused of by more than a dozen women (Trump has denied these claims, calling his accusers "horrible liars" and saying "the events never happened").

40. You Think Our Country's So Innocent?

A lot of killers, we got a lot of killers. What, you think our country's so innocent?

In his Super Bowl interview with Bill O'Reilly, Trump offered this sharp response to the Fox News host questioning his respect for a "killer" like Russian president Vladimir Putin.

41. It's A Really Bad Situation

Look, Bill, we can be babies, but you take a look at the registration. You have illegals, you have dead people, you have this — it’s really a bad situation. It’s really bad.

Prior to his inauguration, Trump maintained he would've won the popular vote if not for at least 3 million "illegal" votes. He's never provided any evidence for this claim, which has been repeatedly debunked by multiple major journalistic outlets. When asked about it by O'Reilly, Trump shifted the goal posts, arguing incorrect voter registration was the real problem.

42. We Should Start An Investigation

After Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from any investigation of alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, thanks to his testimony at his senate confirmation hearing about not having met any Russian officials while a campaign surrogate, the president tweeted this photo, attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as a hypocrite for having met with Putin more than a decade ago. However, Schumer met with him in public, and never denied doing so under oath.

43. Obama Had My Wires Tapped

In a tweet that set off a still-raging media firestorm, Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. Trump offered no evidence to support this claim, which reportedly originated from a Breitbart article and has left Republicans struggling to respond ― Obama reportedly "rolled his eyes" upon hearing the accusation.

44. Bad (Or Sick) Guy

Trump also accused Obama of being a "bad (or sick) guy" amid his utterly unsupported wiretapping claims, likening it to the Watergate scandal that ultimately brought down former President Richard Nixon. Again, Trump has offered no supporting evidence for this extreme accusation, which has also been denied by former director of national intelligence James Clapper.

45. The Face Of Your Party

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Pocahontas is now the face of your party.

According to sources inside a meeting between Trump and members of Congress, the president dusted off his racist moniker for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, calling her "Pocahontas." He did this repeatedly throughout his campaign, despite urging to stop.

46. Schwarzenegger Isn't Voluntarily Leaving The Apprentice

Within a couple hours of telling the world about Obama's wiretapping plot, Trump was back to antagonizing Arnold Schwarzenegger on Twitter.

47. Russia Ran Over President Obama

Facing intense scrutiny for his own campaign's ties to the Russian government, Trump sent this tweet to Fox News' Fox & Friends morning show this week, insisting that Obama is the one who got "ran over" by Putin.

48. Getting Rid Of State Lines

Trump also sought to reassure Fox & Friends that he'd be "getting rid of state lines" in his health care proposal. Because, of course, keeping the hosts of the Fox News morning show satisfied is what's most important for a president.

49. It's Very Real Now

They may have been phony in the past, but it's very real now.

According to Spicer, who told reporters the president said to "quote him very clearly," the above is Trump's answer to why he trusts the Bureau of Labor Statistics' jobs numbers now, despite having claimed they were fake under Obama. In other words, true when I say so, fake when I say so.

50. Healthcare Is Coming Along Great

If there's one thing Trump's mastered, it's the "nothing to see here" tweet ― even though some of them definitely evoke the "This Is Fine" dog.

Well, there you have it. It's not the prettiest list to look through, considering just how serious and massively challenging a job president of the United States is, and how not seriously Trump often seems to take it. One can only guess just how much longer this list will be once his first 100 days are up, but all of us are now halfway to finding out.