President Donald Trump devoted an inordinate amount of time during his rally on Thursday in Colorado Springs to complaining about a Fox News segment that few of the attendees were likely to have seen, featuring commentary from a journalist most of them had probably never heard of.

The roughly 20-minute display was remarkably petty — and it wasn’t the only one of that sort Trump made in Colorado Springs. But it was also an illustration of the complete, blind loyalty that Trump expects from Fox News.

At issue was commentary made earlier in the day on Neil Cavuto’s show by A.B. Stoddard, who works as an associate editor at the political news and polling aggregation outlet RealClearPolitics. Stoddard panned Mike Bloomberg’s performance in Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate, but did so by taking a shot at Trump.

“I think that Donald Trump had disastrous debate performances. Many answers were so cringeworthy you just couldn’t even believe he was still standing on the stage — and he’s president,” she said — the implication being that despite Bloomberg’s rough night, his campaign isn’t over yet, just like Trump’s wasn’t after his bad showings.

Here's the Cavuto segment that just triggered Trump into attacking Fox News.



"I think that Donald Trump had disastrous debate performances. Many answers were so cringeworthy you just couldn't even believe he was still standing on the stage" -- A.B. Stoddard pic.twitter.com/42DhfpjQGt — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 20, 2020

Even though he’s traveling in Nevada, Arizona, and California this week, Trump apparently saw Stoddard’s comments and lashed out at everyone involved — including former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who now serves on Fox Corporation’s board.

“Could somebody at @foxnews please explain to Trump hater A.B. Stoddard (zero talent!) and @TeamCavuto, that I won every one of my debates, from beginning to end,” the president tweeted. “Check the polls taken immediately after the debates. The debates got me elected. Must be Fox Board Member Paul Ryan!”

Could somebody at @foxnews please explain to Trump hater A.B. Stoddard (zero talent!) and @TeamCavuto, that I won every one of my debates, from beginning to end. Check the polls taken immediately after the debates. The debates got me elected. Must be Fox Board Member Paul Ryan! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2020

Trump was still seething hours later. Minutes into his rally in Colorado Springs, he brought up Fox News and denigrated Cavuto, saying “nobody likes him.” He falsely claimed Cavuto has “taken” the place of former Fox News afternoon host Shepard Smith (though he seemed unable to remember Smith’s name), then alluded to the segment with Stoddard (though he couldn’t seem to remember her name either) and said, “wait a minute — I won every debate. It’s true.”

“I said, ‘Nobody’s allowed to do that. You can’t do that.’ We’re at enough of a disadvantage with the fake news. You know, they make up 90 percent of the stories,” continued Trump, as his fans took the cue to start booing the assembled media.

Trump is still mad about a Fox News guest who criticized him a number of hours ago pic.twitter.com/aMiO7VNCSX — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

But that wasn’t all. Trump spent much of the next 15 minutes harping on the segment and trying to debunk Stoddard’s claim about him not doing well in the debates by reading off random polls from 2016.

“Look at this — ‘Trump 70 percent,’ next one is 18 percent, next one is 7, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1,” Trump read off a sheet of paper, before tossing it away. “‘Trump didn’t do well in the debates!’ See — they’re fake news.”

In an effort to debunk the Fox News segment he's now spent more than 20 minutes whining about, Trump is now reading random polls from the 2016 election. Completely bonkers. pic.twitter.com/E8HZdndkQg — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

By the end of his rant, Trump was conflating various conspiracy theories, blending a number of them into a single incoherent attack on his perceived enemies.

“They want to take you out. They want to change the results. They got caught spying — let’s say it like it is, right? — they got caught spying on our election, fake news. Hey, fake news: take your cameras for a change, and show them the room, and show them behind you,” Trump said.

Trump seems to be conflating different conspiracy theories with one another. It's unclear what he's talking about. pic.twitter.com/7IuXAyIfpJ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

The point Trump was trying to make was twofold: Polls indicate his debate performances were actually good (this is not true), and the highest-rated shows on Fox are ones that basically don’t allow hosts or guests to be critical of him.

But for someone who was unaware of the backstory, the president’s remarks must have sounded like nonsensical ramblings. Even for someone who was, the extended meltdown over a 30-second clip of commentary on a relatively obscure afternoon show was bizarre.

Trump attacked everything from Obama to the Oscars

The fight with Cavuto and Stoddard wasn’t the only one Trump picked with an unlikely target during his rally on Thursday. He also took umbrage at the fact that the movie that won Best Picture at the Oscars, Parasite, was produced in South Korea.

“By the way, how bad were the Academy Awards this year?” Trump asked, prompting his fans to (again) break out in boos. “And the winner is a movie from South Korea! What the hell was that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea with trade, on top of that they give them the best movie of the year?”

“Let’s get Gone With the Wind. Can we get, like, Gone With the Wind back, please?” Trump continued. (Parasite’s US distributor, Neon, shot back at Trump’s comments with a tweet about the subtitled film, saying, “Understandable, he can’t read.”)

Trump then took aim at Brad Pitt for a quip he made at the Oscars criticizing Senate Republicans for their farcical approach to Trump’s impeachment trial.

“And then you have Brad Pitt — I was never a big fan of his — he got up, said a little wise guy statement,” Trump said. “Little wise guy. He’s a little wise guy.”

TRUMP: "By the way, how bad where the Academy Awards this year? [Booing] 'And the winner is a movie from South Korea!' What was that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea out with trade."



He then repeatedly calls Brad Pitt "a little wise guy." pic.twitter.com/sAEWlrKr0T — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

Trump followed that up by goading his fans into booing teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg because she was chosen above Trump as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

While complaining about Time Magazine, Trump goads his audience into booing teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg pic.twitter.com/vz3MS1twuw — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

Trump called for Barack Obama to be impeached (“we should impeach him!”) while also taking credit for legislation Obama signed into law. And then he closed things out by highlighting that his following shares many characteristics with cults.

“CNN went up to a woman — ‘What does it take for you to leave the president?’ — ‘I’m not leaving him!’” Trump said, paraphrasing a conversation he saw on TV. “‘Would you stay if he shot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue?’ And the woman looks — ‘Well, it depends why he shot him!’”

Trump highlights the fact that his following is cult-like pic.twitter.com/PXO3LezweN — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

Sometimes these rallies make you want to laugh. Sometimes they make you want to cry. Sometimes both.

Though much of what Trump said and did in Colorado Springs was hard to take seriously, some of it was hard not to.

Trump responded to “lock her up!” chants by suggesting Hillary Clinton would have been executed if she were a Republican. He sensationalized local crime stories to demonize undocumented immigrants. He joked about serving more than two terms in office, lied about his polling in Colorado, and once again displayed woeful ignorance about American history and renewable energy (among other topics).

Trump on wind turbines: "They're all made in China and Germany ... and for those of you that want to hear it, when they're making them, more stuff goes up into the air and up into the ozone, the atmosphere ... they get rusty ... they look like hell." pic.twitter.com/keBYio16qT — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020

The juxtaposition between Trump’s rally and the Democratic presidential debate that took place the night before brought the stakes of the 2020 election into stark relief. On one side is a group of politicians that, despite their flaws, seem to be at least willing to engage in discussions about the important issues affecting people. On the other side is an incumbent who devotes more emotional energy to policing Fox News’s coverage of him and getting aggrieved over slights from celebrities than he does to anything else.

The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.