The 29 most outrageous lines from Donald Trump's New Hampshire victory speech
Here we go again.
Remember 9 days ago when some people — yes, they still exist! — were commenting on how Donald Trump had really changed his tone following his monstrous win in the Iowa caucuses? That he was more magnanimous. More genteel. More — wait for it — presidential.
Yeah, that pretty much went out the window following Trump’s New Hampshire victory on Tuesday. The speech he delivered was decidedly ornery — the words of a man who couldn’t understand why Nikki Haley hadn’t kissed the ring just yet. (Just wait!)
I went through his speech and pulled out the lines you need to see. They’re below.
“You know, we won New Hampshire three times now. Three, three. We win it every time. We win the primary. We win the generals.”
Trump lost New Hampshire to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and to Joe Biden in 2020. And away we go!
“But then, somebody ran up to the stage, all dressed up nicely, when it was at seven. But now, I just walked up and it's at 14.”
Trump is referring to Haley here (obviously). And he’s not wrong. Haley clearly wanted to speak when the margin was close(r) so that she could attempt to wring some momentum from the result. As for the “all dressed up nicely”? Well, yeah, this is Trump we are talking about.
“And she was up, and I said, wow, she's doing like a speech like she won. She didn't win. She lost. And you know?”
She did not win! He’s right!
“She was talking about most winnability, who's going to win. And I had one put up. I don't know if you see it. But I have one put up.”
“I have one put up.” WHAT?
“We've won almost every single poll, in the last three months, against crooked Joe Biden, almost every poll.”
This is an exaggeration. It is true that the bulk of the polling — national and in swing states — have shown Trump ahead of Biden. Not all. The Real Clear Politics average gives Trump a 3.8 point lead.
“This is not your typical victory speech.”
No, not it is not.
“And you -- you have the -- you have the very -- the now very unpopular governor of this state. This guy, he's got to be on something. I've never seen anybody with energy. He's like a hopscotch.”
In which Trump implies that New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is “on something” because of his energy level. Proof? Ha!
“And I'm watching this guy. And two weeks ago, he said, we're going to win, we're going to win in a landslide, we're going to win.”
Sununu DID say that. “She’s gonna win in a landslide and that’s not an exaggeration,” he said in December.
“But I walked out just now, we're 14 points up. And I don't know what it's going to be.”
I never saw the margin as high as 14 points. Trump won by 12.
“Ron came in second, and he left. She came in third, and she's still hanging around.”
Trump is talking about the Iowa caucuses. And, yes, he is annoyed.
“The other thing, she only got 25 percent of the Republican votes.”
Also true! (This has to be some sort of truth telling record for Trump.) Trump took 74% of Republican votes to 25% for Haley.
“Because if you remember, we won in 2016. And if you really remember, and if you want to play it straight, we also won in 2020.”
Just to be clear (and repeat myself): Trump lost New Hampshire in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.
“And we did much better in 2020 than we did in 2016.”
He did not. At least in New Hampshire. In 2016, he lost to Clinton by less than a point. In 2020, he lost to Biden by 7 points.
“I said, I can go up, and I can say to everybody, oh, thank you for the victory. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Or I can go up and say, who the hell was the imposter that went up on the stage before, and like claimed a victory?”
I wonder which one he will choose…oh wait…
“But I don't get too angry. I get even.”
“I'm not going to have time for retribution.” — Donald Trump, earlier this month
“But Vivek, one minute or less. Go do it, Vivek.”
In which Trump tells Vivek Ramaswamy, who spent a year running for president, that he has one minute to speak. Good times.
“So this is an evening that I will not forget because it's the third time, but more importantly, I think it's going to be -- I think it's going to be the most important time.”
It is NOT the third time he has won the state. He won the 2016 primary. And this primary. He lost both general elections in New Hampshire. Why lie about such dumb stuff?
“When you win Iowa and you win New Hampshire, they've never had a loss. There's never been.”
True! No Republican to win Iowa and New Hampshire has ever gone on to lose the nomination.
“We don't forget -- you can never forget history, because if you forget, you never -- you never recover from it, and you repeat, you repeat. And we're not going to repeat.”
What Trump was reaching for here (but not getting) was this quote from the philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Either that or: “Because if you forget, you never -- you never recover from it, and you repeat, you repeat.”
“If you took the worst presidents and put them together, the 10 worst, absolutely 10 worst, I used to say five, remember I said, I say five, then I said, wait a minute, we can add another five.”
“Then I said, wait a minute, we can add another five.”
“And just a little note to Nikki, she's not going to win. She's not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes, and I could tell you five reasons why already -- not big reasons, a little stuff that she doesn't want to talk about, but she will be under investigation within minutes, and so would Ron have been, but he decided to get out.”
So, Trump has “five reasons” why Haley would be investigated if she won the nomination? Do tell!
“And I'm pleased to announce we just won Nevada. We just won, 100 percent.”
Trump is the only serious candidate on the ballot in the Nevada caucuses on February 8. Forces loyal to him worked the process so that the caucus would award delegates, not the primary. (Haley is on the primary ballot.)
“Did you ever think that -- she actually appointed you, Tim. And think of it, appointed and you're the senator of his state, and she endorsed me. You must really hate her.”
Yes, Haley, as governor, appointed Scott, who was in the House, to the Senate. And, of course, Trump uses that fact against her. (By the way, Scott responded to this by saying “I just love you!” Ahem.)
“I think we're 50 points up, 5-0, 5-0, 50 points up, on a person that was governor. That tells you something.”
Trump is ahead of Haley by 30 points in South Carolina, according to the Real Clear Politics average. Which is a lot! But is not 50.
“But I felt I should do this, because I find in life, you can't let people get away with bullshit, okay? You can't. You just can't do that.”
He’s not wrong!
“When I watched her, the fancy dress, it probably wasn't so fancy, come up, I said, what's she doing? We won.”
Donald Trump’s snobbery is, I think, an under-covered (and unattractive) quality of his.
“And I made a pledge. I made a pledge to your state that you have the highest energy costs in the country.”
Hawaii has the highest energy costs in the country. New Hampshire is #2.
“In the first year, they're going to be reduced by 50 percent, because we are going to drill, baby, drill. Drill, baby, drill.”
“Drill baby drill.” Yeah this feels like a good place to end.
The exchange between Trump and Scott was the most cringe-worthy moment ever. Any dignity that Scott had left is now gone forever. Sad!
I think it's hilarious that Trump is annoyed that Haley won't drop out. Like he would ever drop out of a race if he was behind? He still has yet to concede the 2020 election that he lost by 7 million votes!
Here's the bit I liked the most. When Cheeto Head said of Haley, something like, she lost! and she got up and said she won!
Gosh almighty. who else did that in our recent past, like since 3 years ago?
Really, truly, irony is dead.