Trump says California sent 'gallons of water to Pacific to take care of fish', Internet asks 'how high is he?'
After just a week into quarantine following his Covid-19 diagnosis last week, President Donald Trump went after all his favorite political targets after phoning in to Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday, October 8, in between respiratory problems and coughs. One of the things he ranted about was the Democrats in California redirecting “millions of gallons” of drinking water into the Pacific Ocean to help "tiny fish" survive.
"California is gonna have to ration water. You wanna know why? Because they send millions of gallons of water out to sea, out to the Pacific. Because they want to take care of certain little tiny fish, that aren't doing very well without water," Trump claimed, adding, "Number one, [California] should let water come down from the north, and accept it instead of throwing it out to the Pacific. But you always have to have forest management." He insisted that under such leadership, America would soon become a “ninth-world country.”
Clips of the bizarre interview were posted by Vox reporter Aaron Rupar on Twitter.
"California is gonna have to ration water. You wanna know why? Because they send millions of gallons of water out to sea, out to the Pacific. Because they want to take care of certain little tiny fish, that aren't doing very well without water." -- Trump pic.twitter.com/g0PrXZRgOq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 9, 2020
"Number one, [California] should let water come down from the north, and accept it instead of throwing it out to the Pacific. But you always have to have forest management" -- Trump's climate change plan (Hannity doesn't seem to know how to respond to this) pic.twitter.com/1Y3ej5Vy3A
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 9, 2020
The lack of evidence to support the POTUS' claims was not lost on people of the social media, most of whom were convinced that the cocktail of steroids and drugs being given to Trump as the treatment to the novel coronavirus had started to affect his mental capabilities. "How high IS he?" one user asked, while another enquired, "These drugs seem dangerous?"
Others mocked the president saying the conditions in which the aquatic animals were living were much better than the White House, which has recently become a hub for the virus outbreak. "The tiny fish are doing better than the White House," one wrote while another surprised user remarked, "He’s proposing to shut off California’s rivers entirely before they reach the sea?" One person could not believe what they were hearing. "I just heard him say this on Hannity and had to search Twitter to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating this batshitness," the user said. Another added, "I am no ichthyologist, but it is indeed my understanding that fish do not do well without water"
The tiny fish are doing better than the White House. https://t.co/e5qz1jF5RJ
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) October 9, 2020
He’s proposing to shut off California’s rivers entirely before they reach the sea? https://t.co/6xx1JolAoQ
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 9, 2020
I just heard him say this on Hannity and had to search Twitter to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating this batshitness https://t.co/AF0hFtGUDI
— Lydia Belanger (@LydiaBelanger) October 9, 2020
I am no ichthyologist, but it is indeed my understanding that fish do not do well without water https://t.co/ueR6bQxU9P
— Laura Lorson (@prairielaura) October 9, 2020
During the interview, Trump avoided questions about whether he had tested negative for the virus yet and went on to discuss his plans for a busy weekend schedule for someone who was in quarantine. “I think I’m going to try doing a rally on Saturday night if we can, if we have enough time to put it together,” he said. “But we want to do a rally in Florida, probably in Florida on Saturday night, might come back and do one in Pennsylvania, on the following night.”
And it wasn't just members of his rival political party that he attacked. He even went after members of his own administration. The president declared that Attorney General William P. Barr would go down in history “as a very sad, sad situation” if he did not indict his rivals like Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama. He also ranted about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, complaining that he had not released former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails. “I’m not happy about him for that reason," he said.