Trump Completely Loses the Plot During a Press Conference

Summary

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Bulwark Takes: Trump Completely Loses the Plot During a Press Conference

Episode Date: December 16, 2025
Featuring: Tim Moore (host), Bulwark team, various co-commentators

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Episode Overview

This episode provides a brisk, incisive breakdown of Donald Trump's latest press conference, in which the former president allegedly made sweeping, illogical, and inflammatory statements regarding the drug war in the Caribbean, the designation of fentanyl as a "weapon of mass destruction," the case of Tina Peters in Colorado, and his widely criticized reaction to the murders of Rob Reiner and Michelle Reiner. Bulwark's Tim Moore and co-hosts analyze key moments, highlighting both the legal and rhetorical absurdities at play—delivering classic Bulwark candor and sharpness.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Fentanyl as a "Weapon of Mass Destruction"

[02:33 – 06:44]

• Trump announced an executive order to formally classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD).
  • Trump (quoted): "No bomb does what this is doing. 200 to 300,000 people die every year that we know of. So we're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction." (02:33)
• Commentary:
  • Tim Moore and his co-host dismiss the logic, noting fentanyl's legitimate medical uses and questioning the legal or strategic purpose of such a declaration.
    • "Fentanyl is used in hospitals. So are hospitals now using a weapon of mass destruction?" (03:07, Tim Moore)
    • "Like, it is not an atom bomb or sarin gas." (03:30, Co-host)
  • They speculate this rhetoric is designed to create a pretext for expanding military actions in the region, even though fentanyl isn’t primarily trafficked from Venezuela as implied.
    • "Assuming the land that they want to strike there is Venezuela and not Mexico, the fentanyl... is not coming from Venezuela." (05:57, Tim Moore, Co-host)
  • Overall, this is derided as legal and logical flimflam, echoing abuses of the term "emergency" for policy gains.
    • "It's kind of hard to get into their head... they don't have public support for this war. They don't really have clear rationale for it." (06:21, Tim Moore)

2. Conspiracy Framing: Drug Cartels and ISIS

[07:00 – 07:34]

• Trump’s team tries to link Central and South American cartels to ISIS and African terror groups.
  • This, it’s argued, is another attempt to justify using broad military powers drawn from anti-terrorism legislation.
    • "They're making that claim in order to... create this legal rationale or justification for treating the drug cartels the same way they would treat terrorists under the 2001 AUMF." (07:11, Co-host)
  • The hosts call out the preposterousness of these links.

3. Tina Peters, "Election Fraud," and Trump’s Narrative

[09:08 – 11:45]

• Trump rails against Colorado’s governor and defends Tina Peters, jailed for breaching election security to supposedly prove voting machine fraud.
  • Trump (quoted): "She caught people cheating on an election and... they put her in jail for nine years." (09:17)
• Clarifications:
  • Moore delivers factual counterpoints:
    • Tina Peters broke the law; her efforts were to support Trump’s electoral claims, not to expose genuine fraud.
      • "She was like trying to create a rationale for him and his stop the steal rhetoric... so he could stay in power." (11:18, Co-host)
    • The pardon issue is taken off the table (state crime).

4. Brown University Shooting and FBI’s Response

[11:45 – 14:38]

• Press questions Trump about the shooting at Brown University and erratic FBI communications.
• Trump tries to shift blame to the university and shows ongoing defense for Cash Patel, the embattled bureau chief, despite missteps.
  • "Cash has taken a lot of heat from the inside for [incorrect comments about suspects]... not great behavior for the head of the bureau." (12:48, Tim Moore)
• Tim Moore floats that Trump prioritizes loyalty over competence, as seen in his top appointments.

5. Trump’s Callous Reaction to Rob and Michelle Reiner’s Murder

[14:38 – 16:48]

• Trump, when pressed about his coarse Truth Social comment on the Reiners’ murder, doubles down:
  • Trump (quoted): "I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned... I thought he was very bad for our country." (15:15)
• Moore and co-hosts hammer the point—such behavior is singularly indecent for a president:
  • "It's impossible to imagine another president saying this... it's hard to imagine like somebody in your life, like what if you're the coach of your kid's team posted like that?" (15:45-16:11, Tim Moore; Co-host)
  • "You don't really want a person who has that poor judgment and that lack of a soul to be... in a position of responsibility. And yet... the President of the United States." (16:28, Co-host)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump declaring fentanyl a WMD:
  • "If it was easier to hit on the land, why weren't we hitting on the land from the start? You know, I mean, besides the fact that this is an illegal war, it's just not logical." (04:57, Tim Moore)
• On Trump's inflammatory rhetoric following tragedy:
  • "It's impossible to imagine another president saying this, like, you know, talking about an actor who had been murdered and saying that they were bad for the country just because they oppose them politically." (15:53, Co-host)
• On the state of White House loyalty:
  • "Does he just want incompetent sycophants who will do whatever he wants in charge? In which case... he wants to keep his option open for giving them illegal orders down the line? That's the worst case scenario..." (13:34, Tim Moore)
• On Trump’s overall performance:
  • "It's pretty depressing stuff. But you know, when you get a Trump press conference rundown, it's not going to be all laughs and giggles over here, is it?" (16:48, Tim Moore)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:41 – Start of episode content; Trump’s "deranged press conference" opens
• 02:33 – Trump’s statement declaring fentanyl a WMD
• 03:07 – Hosts’ skepticism and legal critique about WMD claim
• 04:18 – Trump on military action against drug traffickers "by land"
• 07:01 – Linking cartels to ISIS; manufacturing a terror justification
• 09:17 – Trump’s defense of Tina Peters and Colorado election claims
• 10:27 – Fact-check: Co-hosts set the record straight on Tina Peters
• 11:52 – Brown University shooting; Trump and the FBI’s Cash Patel
• 13:22 – White House internal loyalty vs. competence discussion
• 14:49 – Rob Reiner murder reaction; Trump’s callous statement
• 15:53 – Hosts reflect on the unprecedented indecency
• 16:48 – Moore’s final take: "Pretty depressing stuff..."

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Tone & Style

The podcast maintains Bulwark’s trademark: brisk, candid, slightly irreverent, and heavily fact-focused. Moore and the team mix biting sarcasm with sobering commentary, balancing dark humor with alarm over the administration’s behavior.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

• The episode unpacks Trump’s increasingly bombastic, fact-challenged, and graceless public performance.
• The Bulwark crew deconstructs legal and political rationales behind administration declarations and exposes their logical/factual holes.
• The show reserves special outrage for Trump’s callous response to tragedy and his continued elevation of loyal but incompetent officials.
• The overall verdict is a combination of disbelief, dark humor, and concerned warning about the direction of Trump-era governance—even compared to previous standards.

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Transcript

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Hey everybody, Tim Moore from the Bulwark here. Donald Trump just finished yet another one of his deranged press conferences where he explained his deluded thinking around the continued prosecution of a war that no one has officially declared in the Caribbean.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Also, his decision to fire off one.

[Tim Moore]

Of the most disgusting bleeds imaginable following the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle. He also covered a few other items. I just want to run through them with you. No one wants to watch these whole press conferences so we are going to pull a little bit from them and discuss what I found to be significant. First, the press conference was based on this declaration that he is signing historic. He said that fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction. Let's listen.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

That's why today I'm taking one more step to Protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this historic executive order. I will sign today with. We're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it is. No bomb does what this is doing. 200 to 300,000 people die every year that we know of. So we're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

[Tim Moore]

Like, here's the thing, this fentanyl is obviously terrible, but this is absurd. Fentanyl is used in hospitals. So are hospitals now using a weapon of mass destruction. And I hate to be pedantic here, but fentanyl is a pain relief opiate that has legitimate usages.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Like, it is not an atom bomb or sarin gas.

[Tim Moore]

It shows you a little bit about the rigor with which they are taking this declaration. So then the question is, I assume Donald Trump is not planning on invading America's hospitals. And so you do wonder, well, what exactly might be the rationale for making.

[Co-host/Commentator]

A declaration such as this? Fentanyl deaths are down. They're still too high, but they're down. Trump was president already once. Unfortunately, you know, there was no declaration of this nature then.

[Tim Moore]

So, like, what is it about now.

[Co-host/Commentator]

That makes him want to do this? I think we had a little bit of a clue as he talks further about the drug crisis that he sees. Let's watch that.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

Drugs coming in by sea are down 94%. And we're trying to figure out who the other 6% are, but they're down 94%. And we're going to start hitting them on land, which is a lot easier to do, frankly. But these are a direct military threat to the United States of America. They're trying to drug out our country.

[Tim Moore]

Okay, so. And he said this several times before, and at some point, there's a little.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Bit of a, I don't know, gotta call your bluff kind of when it comes to this declaration that we're gonna be hitting people on the land, which is a lot easier.

[Tim Moore]

Why don't we just be pedantic one more time? If it was easier to hit on the land, why weren't we hitting on the land from the start? You know, I mean, besides the fact that this is an illegal war, it's just not logical. The points he's making isn't logical. But to me, what you're seeing here is they are using this term weapon of mass destruction in the same way they use the term emergency. Like they're wanting to create, you know, some kind of legal structure, and it's will get struck down, but. But some kind of defensible argument for.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Expanding their war efforts against these. These drug cartels.

[Tim Moore]

Now, there are some flaws with that, obviously, like Donald Trump stating it in a declaration. Does that make it any more legal, really, than stating it in a tweet? And it just gives them something that they could put into a filing. Like, he has had many executive orders.

[Co-host/Commentator]

That have been struck down by the courts already.

[Tim Moore]

The other, you know, I think little inconvenient fact here is that assuming the land that they want to strike there is Venezuela and not Mexico, the fentanyl, that supposed weapon of mass destruction, is not.

[Co-host/Commentator]

It's not coming from Venezuela.

[Tim Moore]

It's coming from Mexico.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And China. Got another video coming up on China.

[Tim Moore]

Here in a minute. So, like, okay. I mean, the whole thing is preposterous. So it's kind of hard to get into their head. But I guess what you're seeing here is, again, they don't have public support for this war. They don't really have clear rationale for it. And so they're trying to kind of build the building blocks of. Of trying to give themselves war powers.

[Co-host/Commentator]

For these actions, you know, based on tenuous claims and orders.

[Tim Moore]

And this, to me, this executive order.

[Co-host/Commentator]

About how fentanyl is a supposed weapon.

[Tim Moore]

Of mass destruction is of a piece with the other. Another piece of rhetor you saw coming.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Out of the administration was that these.

[Tim Moore]

Drug cartels in Central America and South.

[Co-host/Commentator]

America have ties directly to ISIS and Africa.

[Tim Moore]

Why were they making that claim? To me, they're making that claim in.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Order to, again, create this legal rationale or justification for treating the drug cartels the same way they would treat terrorists under the 2001 AUMF. Uh, and this is obviously preposterous, but they are preposterous. And so, like, that's the best explanation I got.

[Tim Moore]

Explanation two is that.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Is that Grandpa just needed something to do to it.

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[Tim Moore]

A couple other clips here. Trump again weighs in on Tina Peters.

[Co-host/Commentator]

From my OG home state in Colorado.

[Tim Moore]

Let's listen to a little bit of that.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

And last month we seized another 1.7 million fentanyl pills in the state of Colorado, the poorly run state of Colorado, with a governor who's incompetent and frankly, with a governor that won't allow our wonderful Tina to come out of a jail in a high intensity jail because she caught people cheating on an election and they said she was cheating. She wasn't cheating. She went over, she looked at one of the election scams going on and because she did that, they put her in jail for nine years. The governor of Colorado is a weak and pathetic man who was run by Trend Aragua. The criminals from Venezuela took over sections of Colorado and he was afraid to do anything. But he puts Tina in jail for nine years because she caught people cheating. And when she walked over and got involved in it, they said she was cheating. She wasn't cheating. She caught people cheating on the election 2020 along with a lot of other people that cheated on that election. You'll see that coming out more and more.

[Tim Moore]

I guess just should say that the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, was not run by Trenda Aragua and Tina Peters was cheating. I mean, she wasn't cheating, I guess in the sense that like she didn't try to rig the votes. What she tried to do was gather evidence that the machines that she was in charge of could plausibly have been.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Used to rig the votes on behalf of Donald Trump.

[Tim Moore]

So what Tina Peters is doing in.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Colorado, and I've been covering this all.

[Tim Moore]

The way back since 2020, is basically like, let's provide some evidence for Donald.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Trump's batshit claims about Dominion voting machines so that he can successfully engineer the theft of the election that he was working on. Like, that was it like she was.

[Tim Moore]

Just trying to, I guess, kind of.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Similar to our first topic.

[Tim Moore]

She was like trying to create a.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Rationale for him and his stop the steal rhetoric and his effort to stop the certification of the election so he could stay in power.

[Tim Moore]

So that's what she was doing. That is a crime. She is in jail for it. It's a state crime. Donald Trump's pardon powers can't help him here. And Governor Jared Polis, appreciate you for.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Staying strong and continuing to do the right thing on this. Hope you continue to do so. Tina Peters does not deserve a pardon for her actions.

[Tim Moore]

Let's move on. Trump talking about the shooting of Brown.

[Co-host/Commentator]

University and the response from the FBI on Brown University.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Mr. President, do you know what the motive of the shooter was?

[Co-host/Commentator]

Is it clipped when attacked?

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

That's moving along now. And we don't and we'll, we're going to see what happens. Hopefully they're going to capture this animal. Hopefully they're going to capture.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Has Cash Patel told you why it's been so difficult for the FBI to identify who the shooter is?

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

Well, it's always difficult. So far, we've done a very good job of doing it with Charlie, with, you know, the various times this has happened. They've done it in pretty much record time. But you really have to ask the school a little bit more about that because, you know, this was a school problem. They had their own guards, they had their own police, they had their own everything. But you'd have to ask that question really to the school, not to the FBI. We came in after the fact and the FBI will do a good job, but they came in after the fact.

[Tim Moore]

This is only noteworthy. We discussed this a little with Bill Kristol, but Cash has taken a lot.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Of heat from the inside for the number of times that he is now popped off about a suspect in a high profile shooting and had that been incorrect and you know, that is not.

[Tim Moore]

Great behavior for the head of the bureau. It shows lack of judgment. It's notable here that Trump is defending him now. It's not, you know, it's Trump is fickle. He's defended people in the past and then, you know, left him on the tarmac. So we will see. But I do think that it's interesting.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Trump is defending Catch.

[Tim Moore]

I think something to monitor as we.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Go forward is Cash and Hegseth are.

[Tim Moore]

So obviously incompetent and are getting criticized.

[Co-host/Commentator]

From within the MAGA world.

[Tim Moore]

It says a lot about what Trump's potential plans are, whether he keeps them in charge. Does he just want incompetent sycophants who will do whatever he wants in charge? In which case does that mean that, you know, he wants to keep his option open for giving them illegal orders down the line? That's the worst case scenario, in my opinion. Or is he responsive to normal political.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Pushback and he decides he wants to push out incompetent members of his Cabinet in favor of competent, more broadly acceptable members? Cash and Hegseth are the two that I'm looking at on that front.

[Tim Moore]

The Kristi Noem thing is a little different.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Department of Homeland Security Stephen Miller is like really the quasi cabinet secretary on immigration stuff. Anyway, so that, you know, my colleague Adrian Carrasquillo was reporting that she might be on the outs. That that to me feels more like a internal politics within the Trump White House situation. The Hegseth and Cash thing are a different category and something we're going to be monitoring closely.

[Tim Moore]

All right, now let's go to. Trump was asked about the bleep that he sent insulting Rob Reiner and Michelle Reiner after they were brutally murdered in their own.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Just this unbelievable tragedy. Trump reveals himself once again to just be a uniquely horrendous human being, somebody that cares only about himself.

[Tim Moore]

He was asked what he'd say about the fact that even some Republicans in.

[Co-host/Commentator]

This case had criticized him for his comments. Let's listen.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Mr. President, a number of Republicans have denounced your statement on Truth Social after the murder of Rob Reiner. Do you stand by that post?

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. He said he liked. He knew it was false. In fact, it's the exact opposite that I was a friend of Russia, controlled by Russia. You know, it was the Russia hoax. He was one of the people behind it. I think he hurt himself in career wise. He became like a deranged person. Trump derangement syndrome. So I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all in any way, shape or form. I thought he was very bad for our country.

[Tim Moore]

Yeah, it's impossible to imagine another president saying this, like, you know, talking about an actor who had been murdered and.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Saying that they were bad for the country just because they oppose them politically. It's impossible to imagine w doing this or Obama or anybody. Like it's just, it's a, it's hard.

[Tim Moore]

To imagine like somebody in your life like what if you're the coach of.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Your kid's team posted like that?

[Tim Moore]

If the coach of I'm going to.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Be the coach of my kids basketball team, watch out.

[Tim Moore]

But if the coach of my kids.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Soccer team post it on the Internet like something as deranged as Trump posted about Rob Reiner's death, I think I'd pull the kid off the team.

[Tim Moore]

I mean, it's just like you don't.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Want to be subjecting somebody you love to something or you know, to a person like that. And you don't really want a person who has that poor judgment and that lack of a soul to be, to be in a position of responsibility. And yet the person that is behaving like that is not a soccer coach, but is the President of the United States.

[Tim Moore]

So it's pretty depressing. Pretty depressing stuff. But you know, when you get a Trump press conference rundown, it's not going.

[Co-host/Commentator]

To be all laughs and giggles over here, is it?

[Tim Moore]

Subscribe to the feed. I got some more stuff coming for you.

[Co-host/Commentator]

It's going to be a big week here on the Bulwark YouTube page.

[Tim Moore]

So stick around, tell your friends, see you soon.

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