Let’s Play “What the Hell Did *That* Mean” With Today’s Guest, Donald Trump

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I remember we used to play this game with Sarah Palin, and now we can play it with Donald Trump. The game is “What the Hell Did That Mean?” Today’s edition comes from a speech in Atlanta. Donald is in the middle of his usual whine about how other countries don’t pay us enough tribute for protecting them, when he turns to Saudi Arabia:

We defend them. We defend them. Every time somebody maybe makes a threat, there go the ships, there go the planes, there goes everything. And every time you turn on one of those aircraft carriers it costs you probably a million bucks. I’d say, don’t turn it on. The captain would say, we want to show you how great these engines are working. No, I don’t want to hear it, just don’t.

Wut? We’ll never find out what he meant, though. In the same way that we’re all still wondering where Ronald Reagan was headed on his trip down Highway 1 when time ran out in the 1984 debate, Donald got distracted by a protester he wanted to toss out. So that’s all there is.

By the way, you should listen to it. I tried to figure out how to transcribe his bizarre tone and body language during this harange, but it was beyond me.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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