Trump says the lesson he learned from impeachment is that 'Democrats are crooked'

It turns out Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was right — President Trump said he did, in fact, learn some lessons from his impeachment.

Trump was asked Wednesday if he had any takeaways from the experience now that he's been acquitted and he certainly did, though his answer was probably not quite what Collins had in mind when she said she believed the process would prove to be a teachable moment for the commander-in-chief. The president said, first and foremost, he learned congressional Democrats are "crooked" and "vicious," and that they should not have "brought impeachment." So, not much in the way of self-reflection.

Additionally, he said he learned his poll numbers jumped up, which he attributed to what he baselessly called the "dishonest" reporting of news outlets like NBC.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

Trump has repeated these claims many times throughout and even before his tenure in the Oval Office, though, so it's worth wondering whether he really gained this perspective because of impeachment.