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 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
-
The problem with diagnosing profound autismThe Explainer Experts are reconsidering the idea of autism as a spectrum, which could impact diagnoses and policy making for the condition
-
What to know before filing your own taxes for the first timethe explainer Tackle this financial milestone with confidence
-
The biggest box office flops of the 21st centuryin depth Unnecessary remakes and turgid, expensive CGI-fests highlight this list of these most notorious box-office losers
-
Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Kelly over videoSpeed Read Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for the senator to be demoted over a video in which he reminds military officials they should refuse illegal orders
-
Trump’s EPA kills legal basis for federal climate policySpeed Read The government’s authority to regulate several planet-warming pollutants has been repealed
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
-
Bondi, Democrats clash over Epstein in hearingSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi ignored survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump
-
El Paso airspace closure tied to FAA-Pentagon standoffSpeed Read The closure in the Texas border city stemmed from disagreements between the Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests
-
Judge blocks Trump suit for Michigan voter rollsSpeed Read A Trump-appointed federal judge rejected the administration’s demand for voters’ personal data
-
US to send 200 troops to Nigeria to train armySpeed Read Trump has accused the West African government of failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks
-
Grand jury rejects charging 6 Democrats for ‘orders’ videoSpeed Read The jury refused to indict Democratic lawmakers for a video in which they urged military members to resist illegal orders
