Trump's Personal Lawyer And Campaign Manager Both Going To Prison

[Final-Fan]

EricHiggin said:

Final-Fan said:

I watched it.  It seemed to me that after his boast, there was a commotion in the background noise that could well be people starting to laugh or otherwise react incredulously.  This prompts Trump to pause and then go off script and say "so true", which causes more laughter.  (Don't you think he seems to be reacting to something here?)  Frankly, I think he played it off about as well as he could; I've never said Trump doesn't know how to work a crowd.  The only problem is later when he says things like he purposely meant it as a laugh line when that definitely doesn't appear to have been the case, going by his own comment at the time. 

Heck, I bet a lot of the UN guys are listening through their interpreters, so a delay before the laughter would be totally expected in that case for a lot (but not all) of the listeners.  What do you think of that—agree or disagree that this is highly plausible? 

To me, anyone who thinks Trump was actually saying "America's so true" as a statement is being foolish.  It seems clear in context that he interrupted himself.  After he resumes his speech, it goes, "America's economy blah blah blah".  It seems clear to me that he began that sentence ("America's"), then interrupted himself and said "So true", probably referring to his earlier statement about accomplishing more than almost any other U.S. administration.  I'd like to know who, if any, of you guys disagree with that assessment. 

Background noise is pretty hard to hear but well before he get's to the phrase, you do hear what seems to be a couple coughs in the background. It's hard to distinguish what it is exactly. Could be people chatting, which may be about anything. To assume each and every person is focused solely on what Trump is saying is unlikely. As for going off script, he sure looks to be reading off the teleprompters, especially when he says "America's" but turns away and leans a little and tilts his head twice quickly facing the same direction when he says "so true", as if to point out he's not being genuine. Trump tends to stand tall and firm when he's being honest and direct and only tilts his head slightly when he's changing teleprompters. The way I see it, if they were laughing at him, and then he mentions he apparently wasn't expecting that response, to which he gets even more laughter and a big applause as he chuckles, says to me they are laughing with him and not against him. If they hated him, laughing with him doesn't fit. You could also say Trump is laughing with them as they laugh at him, but that doesn't fit because that's surely not how he is portrayed to the world. He's a mean guy that everyone hates apparently.

Sure it's possible some people are listening to their interpreters but to assume most of them can't speak English, or would rather have a translator so they can hear it in their native language, which would leave room for error, seems unlikely. It would also be extremely coincidental for the majority of the laughter to all come immediately at the same time, right after "America's so true". To assume all of the different translators ended their explanation close enough to allow for timing that perfectly between the majority makes it even less believable. Possible? Maybe, but a less likely scenario in my opinion.

He could have planned it to be a joke and pretended he didn't mean it that way, probably so the media wouldn't rip his head off for implying fake news once again, but it's hard to say. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. One way or another, that laughter was going to be used against him, or wouldn't be shown at all if it catered to him. As straightforward as he usually is, at times he can be hard to read, which makes sense, since he's a billionaire businessman. You don't get rich if you can't bluff. If he by chance had gone off script, there's no way he meant what he said. It most likely was a joke. Which would also make sense. When your about to give a generalized speech, especially like where his speech went afterwards for the duration, lightening up the room isn't exactly a bad idea early on. This way when he starts saying tough things that other countries aren't going to like, they can refer back to the fact that he's not a total dick and has another side to him.

I hardly have a lot of knowledge about U.N. bigwigs but I'm imagining that although a lot of them speak English to some extent, they would get a better understanding of complicated speeches by listening to a professional translator.  But I could be wrong; do you have evidence that most delegates listen to English speeches with their own skills?  Either way, we could debate all day about Trump's mannerisms but I would like to keep this as concrete as possible given the subject matter. 

[edit:  So, let's put this in two broad categories:  one, the audio cues; and two, what Trump actually said that is under discussion.  If you really want to get into Trump's teleprompter habits and the rest of what you mentioned similar to that, let me know and we can make that three. 

[1.  I listened very carefully and I don't think the coughs that are audible like 30 seconds prior have anything to do with anything.  They are isolated noises and did not continue.  I do hear a pickup of noise at about the time he is saying "in the history of our country".  I am extremely skeptical that this is a total coincidence when he just happens to be saying "In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than ... almost any administration ... in the history of our country.  America's ... so true."  In my opinion you can distinctly hear it in the pause between "country" and "America" and NOT in the two preceding pauses.  If you disagree, let me know, with any specifics you can—and if you agree, please also let me know.  If the noise precedes "America's ... so true", do you think it's a total coincidence and it's not the beginning of the laughter you hear later?  If so, please elaborate.  If they are laughing, then clearly they are laughing at something other than (in addition to) "America's ... so true". 

[2.]  Do you think "America's so true" was intended as a distinct statement, or do you think he said "America's", then broke off from what he was about to say and instead said "So true" as a different statement?  If you think it was a single statement, do you have an idea in your head as to what it actually means?  In other words, what's the joke?  Secondly, when he said "Didn't expect that reaction", do you think he was being facetious as part of the joke (i.e. he was expecting it, but was pretending he didn't as part of the joke)?  If so, what part did that play in the joke?  If not, why did he later say he was aiming to get laughter with what he said? 

See, part of the reason I don't see it as a joke as you do is that I don't know what the joke would even be.  There are people all too eager to say, "Trump is the joke", but that's missing the point. 

Last edited by Final-Fan - on 30 September 2018