7 Scarily Stupid Moments From Trump’s Interview With Laura Ingraham

tremendous content 7 Scarily Stupid Moments From Trump’s Interview With Laura Ingraham Portrait of Margaret Hartmann By Margaret Hartmann, senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012 2:05 P.M.

Laura Ingraham’s interview with Donald Trump, which aired on Monday night, was a little unusual for her. When the Fox News host interviewed the president last spring, she fawned over his gaudy Oval Office renovations and simply nodded as he claimed you can’t make a gold paint. This time, she actually pushed back on a few points, such as his claim that “costs are way down” and Americans’ concerns about the economy are some kind of Democratic conspiracy. On Trump’s end, the interview was full of all his usual nonsense, like calling Chuck Schumer a Palestinian and claiming he’s going to replace Obamacare with some hazy alternative he can’t really describe. But quite a few moments stood out for their terrifying absurdity. Sure, a decade into this thing, we all know Trump says some bizarre stuff. But it’s still chilling to hear the man with the nuclear codes confidently declare that “nobody knows what a magnet is” on national television. Below, the seven stupidest moments from Trump’s interview on The Ingraham Angle. Cost-of-living concerns are a fake-news conspiracy In response to a question about voters in last week’s elections citing the economy as their top concern, Trump floated a conspiracy theory about Democrats feeding negative talking points to every major news network. His evidence: nobody uses the archaic word “manufactured” anymore! “More than anything else it’s a con job by the Democrats,” Trump said. “You know they put out something, ‘say today, costs are up.’ They feed it to the anchors of ABC, CBS, NBC, and a lot of other, you know, CNN, etc. And it’s like a standard. I’ll never forget, they used a word like ‘manufactured.’ Remember the word ‘manufactured’? ‘It’s a manufactured economy!’ Nobody uses that word. Every anchor broke in, ‘manufactured.’ They do exactly what they say. It’s such a rigged system.” Trump on affordability: It’s a con job. Costs are way down. Ingraham: So you are saying voters are misperceiving how they feel? pic.twitter.com/Cs8s4UBoqM — Acyn (@Acyn) November 11, 2025 The president insisted that contrary to what you may have heard or experienced first hand, “costs are way down.” Later in the interview he dismissed voters economic concerns for an entirely different reason. Americans aren’t worried about the cost of living because they’re falling victim to a Fake News “con job,” they’re actually happy with the economy but the “polls are fake.” Ingraham: Why are people saying they are anxious about the economy? Trump: I don’t know that they are saying that. I think the polls are fake. pic.twitter.com/ffhUmp4zbT — Acyn (@Acyn) November 11, 2025 50-year mortgages are not a “big deal” (if you don’t know how long they usually are) Ingraham noted there was a lot of pushback after the administration floated 50-year mortgages to making houses more affordable, since that could add 86 percent more interest over the life of the loan. Trump wasn’t concerned, seemingly because he thinks 40-year mortgages are typical. And anyway, it’s one little suburban starter home. What could it cost, $10 million? Ingraham: Is a 50 year mortgage really a good idea? Trump: It’s not even a big deal. You go from 40 years to 50 Ingraham: 30 pic.twitter.com/W07mMUjz97 — Acyn (@Acyn) November 11, 2025 “There’s always money in the banana stand” is now government policy So where, exactly, is Trump going to find the money to give air traffic controllers who worked through the shutdown $10k bonuses? “I don’t know. I’ll get it from someplace,” he said. TRUMP: The ones who stayed, I'm sending them a $10,000 bonus INGRAHAM: Where's that money coming from? TRUMP: I don't know. I'll get it from someplace. pic.twitter.com/zrj6pshyT4 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 11, 2025 China, NATO ally France, what’s the difference? Trump defended letting Chinese students enroll at U.S. universities by taking a shot at the French. “They’re not the French. They’re the Chinese. They spy on us. They steal our intellectual property,” Ingraham argued. “Do you think the French are better?” the president retorted. “Yeah,” Ingraham said. “I’m not so sure,” the president responded. Ingraham: "So we're dependent on China to keep our universities going?" Trump: "No. I think it's good to have outside countries." Ingraham: "They're not the French. They're the Chinese." Trump: "What you think the French are better?" Ingraham: "Yeah." Trump: "Really…I'm not… pic.twitter.com/Obe5pQeI5g — The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) November 11, 2025 What did the French ever do for America, except help us win the revolution and remain one of our closest allies, even after the idiotic “Freedom Fries” incident? The demolished East Wing “looked like hell” anyway Trump said that while Melania “loved her little, tiny office,” she’s now coming around on his decision to demolish it along with the rest of the East Wing to make way for his White House ballroom — and Americans shouldn’t mourn the hideous East Wing either. “It was [made] out of common brick, little, tiny windows. It looked like hell,” Trump said. “It had nothing to do with the original building,” he added, “and I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an okay ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle.” Trump: First of all, the East Wing… was a poor, sad sight. I could have built the ballroom around it but it would have not have been -- we are building one of the greatest ballrooms in the world pic.twitter.com/RhAxYgYlZ2 — Acyn (@Acyn) November 11, 2025 Gold paint doesn’t exist, though Trump is surrounded by it In a call back to his March interview with Ingraham, Trump asserted, “You can’t imitate gold. There’s no paint that imitates gold,” while standing in an Oval Office chock full of golden-hued frames, trophies, and other baubles. But this time, Ingraham pushed back at Trump’s grandiose claim, asking, “So these aren’t, like from Home Depot or something?” (BuzzFeed reported that Trump’s golden wall medallions are almost identical to cheap wall appliques you can buy at the home improvement store.) “No, this is not Home Depot stuff,” Trump insisted. Trump shows off all the gold he has in the Oval Office pic.twitter.com/V5kR2DKqVi — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 11, 2025 “Nobody knows what a magnet is,” according to Trump While most people have some familiarity with those things that stick to the fridge, it has become glaringly obvious that a certain leader is totally baffled by them. Trump: "Nobody knows what a magnet is" pic.twitter.com/3ewctqR4qF — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 11, 2025 But hey, Trump did get one thing right in this interview. “We’re dependent on having a smart president,” he said. “If we have a smart president we’re going to have no trouble.”