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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Joe Sommerlad

Eric Trump says his dad was ‘locked in’ for rambling Bloomberg interview. The internet disagrees

Fox News

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Eric Trump has claimed his father Donald Trump has “never been better than he is right now” and insisted the Republican presidential nominee is “locked in” as the race for the White House enters its final weeks – an assessment that invited a storm of derision on social media.

The younger Trump appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show following the former president’s rambling interview with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday.

During Trump’s sitdown, he revived his 2011-era birtherism slur against Barack Obama when asked a straightforward question about tariffs and, at another moment, grew angry with Micklethwait for asking about his plans for the US economy – furiously claiming that both Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal had been repeatedly “wrong” in their forecasts.

The GOP candidate elsewhere denied that anything other than a peaceful transfer of power had taken place as he left the Oval Office in January 2021 and had to be interrupted in the middle of a rant about the alleged politicization of the Justice Department to be reminded he had actually been asked whether he considered Google a monopoly that ought to be broken up.

While Trump faced much mockery for his performance, one man insisted he liked what he saw: his son Eric Trump.

“My father has never been better than he is right now. He is so locked in. He is working so incredibly hard. The man is absolutely on point,” Eric told Hannity.

He continued: “You saw what he did with Bloomberg today at that conference.

“I mean, the entire place – and a place that you wouldn’t have otherwise thought would’ve been friendly to him – was literally eating out of his hands.”

A clip of the segment was posted on X and social media users quickly mocked Eric’s take on the event.

“These people live in an alternate reality. Everyone can see that Trump’s mental health is rapidly declining,” one user wrote.

“Sorry to tell you this Eric, but your dad sounded like the fool. And deranged. Vote blue,” said another.

“Even if my father was Gandhi, I would never praise my dad like this,” a third person wrote. “This family is not well.”

“Eric has been partying too much with Junior or has lost his damn mind listening to Lara sing,” a fourth person suggested, making a joke about the former’s wife Lara Trump and her ambitions of becoming a country singer.

Eric Trump appears on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Tuesday October 15 2024 (Fox News)

The anti-Trump Republican outfit the Lincoln Project meanwhile responded to the clip by quoting the younger Trump’s “never been better” phrase over a particularly unflattering recent photograph of the former president in which he appears pensive, sweaty and excessively spraytanned.

Trump’s middle son is a regular guest advocating for his father on Hannity’s show and the frequent butt of jokes by late-night comics prone to teasing him about what they argue is a desperate appeal for affection.

Another Trump surrogate, Stephen Miller, also attracted derision when he took to the same platform to hail the Bloomberg Q&A “the greatest live interview any political leader or politician has done on the economy in our lifetimes.”

“You are high AF.  That rambling mess was a dementia disaster,” Miller was told by an X user.

Another person replied: “You are such a f***ing clown. The money train is coming to an end.

“Your relevance is drying up in real time like your withered and desiccated soul.”

Trump’s appearance in Chicago came the morning after a bizarre town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, which descended into a surreal listening party.

Two members of the audience fell ill and required medical attention, prompting Trump to play a series of his favorite songs while he bobbed and swayed on stage.

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