Is it TACO Time Again? Trump: ‘Am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening?’
Trump: ‘Am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening?’
Trump questioned perception of Portland before approving military plan: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?'
By Dan Froomkin/Press Watch
September 29, 2025 3:07 pm EDT
Why is one of the most extraordinary, revelatory quotes ever uttered by Donald Trump being ignored by the national media?
I’ll tell you why: Because it raises all sort of questions about his mental functioning and agency that the access-dependent Washington press corps would rather not acknowledge.
It confirms that Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. And it suggests he is either easily deceived, or manipulated, or both.
The quote in question came from a telephone interview Trump held on Sunday morning with NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
Alcindor herself ignored it, filing two unrelated stories instead.
Indeed, the quote only saw the light of day thanks to a sharp-eyed investigative reporter at KGW TV in Portland, the NBC affiliate there.
I haven’t been able to reach the reporter, Evan Watson, but clearly affiliates were sent a full transcript of the phone interview. (NBC News could not be reached for comment, either.) This is what Watson wrote:
During a Sunday morning phone interview with NBC White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, though, Trump made some remarks that seemed to indicate he might be backing off his military plan for Portland.
Trump referenced a weekend conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and he alluded to being told by Kotek that the reality in Portland is different from what’s being portrayed to him.
“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place…it looks like terrible.”
Think about that. Trump — in a brief moment of lucidity, perhaps — wonders out loud if maybe he’s been deceived by what he’s seen on television, and what his aides have told him.
It doesn’t last long, of course. But it’s still incredibly telling.
The fact is, of course, that Trump is completely, ludicrously wrong about what’s going on in Portland. He has been for nearly a month, ever since he watched a deceptively edited Fox News segment that depicted the city as a war zone. And his advisers have apparently been complicit in his hoodwinking.
Indeed, if you publish that quote, you have to start asking:
Is he a confused old man?
Is he being manipulated by his staff?
Is he delusional?
Is he gaslighting us?
Who’s in charge?
Keep in mind that other than a noisy nightly protest outside an ICE facility, Portland is calm. Arguably idyllic.
And yet ever since Trump watched a Sept. 4 segment on Fox News’s “Special Report with Bret Baier,” he’s been spouting outrageous fever dreams about the place.
The segment includes at least two scenes that date back to the much more widespread and aggressive Black Lives Matter protests of five years ago. One of the scenes from 2020 shows a man getting tear-gassed in the face; the other shows the burning of the base of a downtown fountain.
But Trump fell for it bigly – and then ran with it. (The Guardian’s Robert Mackey, to his credit, reported it at the time.)
Here’s what Trump said. I’m quoting him at length because the White House no longer posts transcripts of his comments:
Trump: But I will say this, I watched today and I didn’t know that was continuing to go on, but Portland is unbelievable. What’s going on in Portland, the destruction of the city.
Q. Are you going into Portland?
Trump: Well I’m gonna look at it now because I didn’t know that was still going on. This has been going on for years. So we’ll be able to stop that very easily, we’ll be able to stop, but you know, that was not on my list, Portland, but when I watched television last night, this has been going on –you wouldn’t be standing, if you were the mayor, you wouldn’t be, can you imagine what they’re doing? They’re walking and throwing smoke bombs into stores. These are paid terrorists, OK? These are paid agitators, these are profess — I watched that last night. I’m very good at this stuff — these are paid agitators.”…
These are paid agitators and they’re very dangerous for our country, and when we go there, if we go to Portland, we’re gonna wipe ’em out. They’re gonna be gone and they’re gonna be gone fast — they won’t even stand to fight. They will not stay there. They’ve ruined that city. I have people that used to live in Portland, they’ve left, most of them have left, but what they’ve done to that place is just, it’s like living in hell.
On September 25, he was at it again, this time with vice president JD Vance nodding along:
Trump: When you go out to Portland and you see what’s happening in Portland, this is like —
Vance: Crazy.
Trump: — nobody’s ever seen anything like it every night and this has gone on for years. They just burned the place down and, you know, the shop owners, most of them have left. But the few shops that are open, they just use plywood and just like, three quarter inch plywood. They don’t put storefronts up because they know it’s going to be burned down. These are professional agitators.
Vance: That’s right.
Trump: These are bad people and they paid a lot of money by rich people, some of whom we know. I’m sure I know some. I don’t — if I knew, I wouldn’t associate because I’ll be in trouble. Because Pam will say, why are you associating with this person? But I will tell you that these are bad, bad people and they’re paying a lot of money, millions of dollars.
But take a look at Portland, sometime. These are wild — these are crazy people and they’re trying to burn down buildings, including federal buildings. And on my list of things that I want to do before we finish up with the cities, because I think we’re going to whip the cities back into shape. We have to. We cannot let our cities — and that’s a small example, but it’s the most violent example.
It’s every night and they’ve done it for years. You think maybe at some point they made their point and what are they doing? But we’re going to get out there and we’re going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland that are doing that. They’re professional agitators and anarchists. They’re actually anarchists.
And on Sept. 27, in a post on his social media channel, he announced:
At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Just how far Trump will go in Portland is not yet clear. KGW’s Watson, for his part, speculated Trump might be having second thoughts.
Task and Purpose reports that the Pentagon has ordered 200 Oregon National Guardsmen to be placed under federal command for operations in the state, ostensibly to “protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”
But they apparently haven’t been deployed yet. Meanwhile Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has filed a preliminary injunction against the move, arguing that it violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
If Trump goes into Portland, it will be a hugely significant news story. It would continue his attempt to normalize the presence of military troops on blue-city streets – a terrifying precedent. And the people of Portland are not likely to take it lying down.
But a big part of the story should be that Trump is being completely irrational, that he is either deceived or deluded, and that he is acting on false pretenses. And maybe on some level – for just a moment — he even knows that himself.
Trump questioned perception of Portland before approving military plan: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?'
By Dan Froomkin/Press Watch
September 29, 2025 3:07 pm EDT
Why is one of the most extraordinary, revelatory quotes ever uttered by Donald Trump being ignored by the national media?
I’ll tell you why: Because it raises all sort of questions about his mental functioning and agency that the access-dependent Washington press corps would rather not acknowledge.
It confirms that Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. And it suggests he is either easily deceived, or manipulated, or both.
The quote in question came from a telephone interview Trump held on Sunday morning with NBC News White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
Alcindor herself ignored it, filing two unrelated stories instead.
Indeed, the quote only saw the light of day thanks to a sharp-eyed investigative reporter at KGW TV in Portland, the NBC affiliate there.
I haven’t been able to reach the reporter, Evan Watson, but clearly affiliates were sent a full transcript of the phone interview. (NBC News could not be reached for comment, either.) This is what Watson wrote:
During a Sunday morning phone interview with NBC White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, though, Trump made some remarks that seemed to indicate he might be backing off his military plan for Portland.
Trump referenced a weekend conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and he alluded to being told by Kotek that the reality in Portland is different from what’s being portrayed to him.
“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place…it looks like terrible.”
Think about that. Trump — in a brief moment of lucidity, perhaps — wonders out loud if maybe he’s been deceived by what he’s seen on television, and what his aides have told him.
It doesn’t last long, of course. But it’s still incredibly telling.
The fact is, of course, that Trump is completely, ludicrously wrong about what’s going on in Portland. He has been for nearly a month, ever since he watched a deceptively edited Fox News segment that depicted the city as a war zone. And his advisers have apparently been complicit in his hoodwinking.
Indeed, if you publish that quote, you have to start asking:
Is he a confused old man?
Is he being manipulated by his staff?
Is he delusional?
Is he gaslighting us?
Who’s in charge?
Keep in mind that other than a noisy nightly protest outside an ICE facility, Portland is calm. Arguably idyllic.
And yet ever since Trump watched a Sept. 4 segment on Fox News’s “Special Report with Bret Baier,” he’s been spouting outrageous fever dreams about the place.
The segment includes at least two scenes that date back to the much more widespread and aggressive Black Lives Matter protests of five years ago. One of the scenes from 2020 shows a man getting tear-gassed in the face; the other shows the burning of the base of a downtown fountain.
But Trump fell for it bigly – and then ran with it. (The Guardian’s Robert Mackey, to his credit, reported it at the time.)
Here’s what Trump said. I’m quoting him at length because the White House no longer posts transcripts of his comments:
Trump: But I will say this, I watched today and I didn’t know that was continuing to go on, but Portland is unbelievable. What’s going on in Portland, the destruction of the city.
Q. Are you going into Portland?
Trump: Well I’m gonna look at it now because I didn’t know that was still going on. This has been going on for years. So we’ll be able to stop that very easily, we’ll be able to stop, but you know, that was not on my list, Portland, but when I watched television last night, this has been going on –you wouldn’t be standing, if you were the mayor, you wouldn’t be, can you imagine what they’re doing? They’re walking and throwing smoke bombs into stores. These are paid terrorists, OK? These are paid agitators, these are profess — I watched that last night. I’m very good at this stuff — these are paid agitators.”…
These are paid agitators and they’re very dangerous for our country, and when we go there, if we go to Portland, we’re gonna wipe ’em out. They’re gonna be gone and they’re gonna be gone fast — they won’t even stand to fight. They will not stay there. They’ve ruined that city. I have people that used to live in Portland, they’ve left, most of them have left, but what they’ve done to that place is just, it’s like living in hell.
On September 25, he was at it again, this time with vice president JD Vance nodding along:
Trump: When you go out to Portland and you see what’s happening in Portland, this is like —
Vance: Crazy.
Trump: — nobody’s ever seen anything like it every night and this has gone on for years. They just burned the place down and, you know, the shop owners, most of them have left. But the few shops that are open, they just use plywood and just like, three quarter inch plywood. They don’t put storefronts up because they know it’s going to be burned down. These are professional agitators.
Vance: That’s right.
Trump: These are bad people and they paid a lot of money by rich people, some of whom we know. I’m sure I know some. I don’t — if I knew, I wouldn’t associate because I’ll be in trouble. Because Pam will say, why are you associating with this person? But I will tell you that these are bad, bad people and they’re paying a lot of money, millions of dollars.
But take a look at Portland, sometime. These are wild — these are crazy people and they’re trying to burn down buildings, including federal buildings. And on my list of things that I want to do before we finish up with the cities, because I think we’re going to whip the cities back into shape. We have to. We cannot let our cities — and that’s a small example, but it’s the most violent example.
It’s every night and they’ve done it for years. You think maybe at some point they made their point and what are they doing? But we’re going to get out there and we’re going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland that are doing that. They’re professional agitators and anarchists. They’re actually anarchists.
And on Sept. 27, in a post on his social media channel, he announced:
At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Just how far Trump will go in Portland is not yet clear. KGW’s Watson, for his part, speculated Trump might be having second thoughts.
Task and Purpose reports that the Pentagon has ordered 200 Oregon National Guardsmen to be placed under federal command for operations in the state, ostensibly to “protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”
But they apparently haven’t been deployed yet. Meanwhile Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has filed a preliminary injunction against the move, arguing that it violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
If Trump goes into Portland, it will be a hugely significant news story. It would continue his attempt to normalize the presence of military troops on blue-city streets – a terrifying precedent. And the people of Portland are not likely to take it lying down.
But a big part of the story should be that Trump is being completely irrational, that he is either deceived or deluded, and that he is acting on false pretenses. And maybe on some level – for just a moment — he even knows that himself.
