In many ways, it summed up his entire presidency.
Sitting at a comically tiny desk with an oversized presidential logo and next to a Christmas tree without any decorations, President Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum when a reporter had the audacity to ask him a question.
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“Don’t talk to me that way,” Trump said after sending a Thanksgiving message to the military. “I’m the President of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way.”
Of course, Trump is not used to answering reporters’ questions in the wake of his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden.
When he responded to a question at 5:20 p.m. ET on Thursday, it was the first question Trump had answered from a reporter in 23 days, 4 hours, 7 minutes — the longest gap in answering press questions of his presidency, according to Factbase, a project to track every word Trump utters.
When he did get around to answering questions, he appeared to give the clearest indication yet that he would be willing to leave the White House without a fight if the Electoral College votes for Biden on Dec. 14.
“Certainly I will, and you know that,” Trump said, before repeating: ‘I will and, you know that.”
But almost within the same breath, Trump reverted to type and once again began banging the drum for some entirely unproven conspiracy theory about widespread electoral fraud.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud,” Trump said, without providing any evidence. “As to whether or not we can get this [legal] apparatus moving quickly — because time isn’t on our side, everything else is on our side, facts are on our side, this was a massive fraud.”
Later, back in his residence inside the White House, Trump was clearly not happy with the way the media was reporting his own words, appearing to back away from saying he would leave the White House.
As well as watching TV, Trump was also looking at Twitter and was equally displeased with what he saw.
What had annoyed the president so much? Well, at the time he sent out that tweet, the term “Resolute Desk” was trending as Twitter users mocked Trump’s appearance at the tiny desk used during the press conference.
And for a man who puts so much stock in how he looks, these mocking tweets were probably tough to take. Here are some of the best:
The desk in question is typically used by presidents to sign significant pieces of legislation. Its small size allows large groups of people to gather around and gaze adoringly at the president, something that isn’t as easy at the huge Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
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