CNN's Chris Cuomo says Trump's 'flagrant abuse of the truth' demonstrates his 'self-delusion'

CNN's New Day hosts Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo showed off their acting chops Thursday morning, staging a dramatic re-enactment of a speech President Trump gave Wednesday night. Speaking at a fundraiser, Trump bragged about making up information in a conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — providing the fodder for Camerota and Cuomo's Thursday theatrics.

The two hosts read from a transcript obtained by The Washington Post, where Trump claimed that the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada while admitting he said so without knowing the facts. "Donald, we have no trade deficit," Cuomo's Trudeau said, per Trump's retelling — only to be shot down by Camerota's Trump. "'Wrong, Justin, you do.' I didn't even know. I had no idea."

Cuomo and Camerota laughed at the scene, before Cuomo launched into his actual analysis. "Look, we know that the president — we, when I say we, I mean everybody but the Trump base — knows that the president flagrantly abuses the truth when it suits him," he said. "It's part of his persuasiveness, and maybe his own sense of self-delusion that he needs about what's true and what isn't."

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Camerota managed to find an upside to Trump's alternative facts: "I see it as the best window yet we have had into his style," she said. "He doesn't really care about the details or the facts. They don't matter."

Watch the re-enactment and criticism below. Summer Meza