Culture

President Trump Explains His Wealthy Cabinet Picks: ‘I Just Don’t Want A Poor Person’

President Trump held a rally — call it a 2020 campaign event or part of his swing-state victory tour — in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday night, and he was thrilled to perform again. The classic “lock her up!’ chant happened as usual, just like coming home again. And Trump confronted a common criticism in the above clip, which sources from how he slammed Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz‘s friendliness with Goldman Sachs, yet he has hired multiple executives from the Wall Street juggernaut, including Gary Cohn as director of the National Economic Council. And here’s Trump’s justification — he just doesn’t want “poor” folks doing certain jobs:

“So somebody said, ‘Why did you appoint a rich person to be in charge of the economy. I said, ‘Because that’s the kind of thinking we want … because they’re representing the country. They don’t want the money … And I love all people — rich or poor — but in those particular positions, I just don’t want a poor person … Does that make sense? If you insist, I’ll do it — but I like it better this way.”

He was truly in his element and further explained how these wealthy cabinet members (which also include former Goldman Sachs execs like Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary and Wilbur Ross as Secretary of Commerce), who Trump says gave up so much to serve the public for “peanuts.” Yet their sacrifice is important so that the other countries aren’t tempted to “take advantage of us.”

Other rally subjects included Trump confirming reports that he wants to put solar panels on his Great Wall, so “Mexico will have to pay much less money” (which will be news to Mexico because the country has stressed that they’re not paying a dime). And of the Paris Climate Accord withdrawal, he said, “They all say it’s non-binding. Like hell it’s non-binding.”

Well, no one accuse Trump of refusing to speak his own mind here, and on Thursday, it’s back to boring ol’ White House duty.