In yesterday's White House press conference, President Trump trotted out one of his favorite criticisms of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election: the use of teleprompters.
Trump attacked his 2020 Democratic opponent Joe Biden for using the device, which Trump falsely claimed he himself is "not allowed" to use.
He then immediately flew to Michigan for a campaign rally where aides set up a teleprompter for him.
During the White House press conference, Trump mocked Biden's use of a teleprompter while discussing the pandemic, implying that it was somehow insincere.
"Every time I see him he starts talking about the pandemic, he's reading it off the teleprompter."
The comments hearkened back to the 2016 campaign, when Trump not only frequently mocked Hillary Clinton for using teleprompters, but suggested they should not be allowed at all on the campaign trail.
"I've always said, if you run for president, you shouldn't be allowed to use teleprompters. Because you don't even know if the guy is smart."
Not only did he use one in his campaign rally speech, he openly acknowledged and joked about its existence.
Trump was also spotted using a teleprompter at today's 9/11 commemoration ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
On Twitter, this whole thing elicited a giant communal eyeroll.
And some threw his mockery right back at him.
Trump's relationship to the teleprompter is so contentious he even called for them to be outlawed in 2015.
"I say we should outlaw teleprompters … for anybody running for president."
Perhaps he meant they should only be outlawed for Democrats.
@kellyrowland/Instagram
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
