Trump just met with a group of black conservatives. He joked that some must be 'bad' ex-convicts.
After a quick comment about the arrest of a suspected mail bomber, President Trump swiftly moved on to making some highly questionable comments at a White House event.
During a speech to black conservatives on Friday, Trump bragged that the economy has improved so much that ex-convicts are able to get good jobs. "Incredible," he said of the newly-employed ex-convicts. But he then corrected himself to say that some of the ex-convicts aren't so incredible, and "even in this room, we probably have a couple of bad ones." The Young Black Leadership Summit crowd laughed as Trump continued to riff and ask, "Are there any bad ones? Right?"
The president also said that he thinks the African-American community appreciates these job opportunities for ex-convicts "maybe more than anything we've done," noting to himself that this is something he should bring up more often.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump went back and forth between using a teleprompter to speaking off-the-cuff during the speech, which was full of plenty of other strange remarks — like an aside expressing hope that it would one day be acceptable again to call people "beautiful" and "handsome" in public. Watch Trump's comments below. Brendan Morrow
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
How space travel changes your brainUnder the Radar Space shifts the position of the brain in the skull, causing orientation problems that could complicate plans to live on the Moon or Mars
-
How Iran protest death tolls have been politicisedIn the Spotlight Regime blames killing of ‘several thousand’ people on foreign actors and uses videos of bodies as ‘psychological warfare’ to scare protesters
-
Departure(s): Julian Barnes’ ‘triumphant’ final book blends fact with fictionThe Week Recommends The Booker prize-winning novelist ponders the ‘struggle to find happiness and accept life’s ending’
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
