President Donald Trump on Monday commemorated the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act with a speech to troops at Fort Drum, N.Y. in which he acknowledged that attacking the media in such a setting is dishonorable, and then proceeded to do it anyway.

At one point, Trump bragged about his stewardship of the economy, and gave himself credit for refraining from attacking the media — right before he did the very thing he had just applauded himself for not doing.

“We’ve created almost 4 million news jobs since the election — a number that the media in back would never have said would be possible, if during the campaign,” Trump said. “I’m so proud of myself, I didn’t call them the ‘fake news media.’ I said to myself, ‘I will not today in front of our great armed forces call them fake news.’ We know the truth, but we won’t say it today.”

Unlike at his campaign rallies, where his attacks on the media are met with lusty boos and “CNN sucks!” chants, Trump’s broadside of the press was received with awkward applause by the troops.


At another point in his speech, Trump indicated he still hasn’t figured out that stealth planes aren’t literally invisible.

“F-35 joint strike fighters — you know, that’s stealth,” Trump said. “I talked to a couple of pilots, great pilots, they said, ‘they’re hard to beat because you can’t see them.’ It’s always hard to beat the enemy when you can’t see it.”

Trump’s comments marked at least the seventh time since his inauguration he’s made comments indicating he thinks stealth planes literally cannot be seen.

Trump also conspicuously avoided mentioning Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) name, despite the fact that the bill he signed is named after him.

No mention of John McCain by any of the speakers at Trump event to sign act named in honor of McCain. Trump omitted McCain from the title, calling it “the national defense authorization act.” pic.twitter.com/8gJisvhgkU — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 13, 2018

During his speeches at political rallies, Trump regularly attacks McCain for voting against ACA repeal, although he usually does so without mentioning his name.