Trump Pretended To Drive A Truck On Thursday

On Thursday, as House Republicans were scrambling to save Trumpcare from legislative defeat, President Trump himself was busy playing behind the wheel of a big rig truck. This was part of a "listening session" with the American Trucking Association about health care reform, and so naturally, Trump celebrated truckers by posing with a truck, and the photos are hilarious.

"Nobody knows America like truckers know America," Trump said during the meeting. "You see it every day, and you see every hill, and you see every valley, and you see every pothole in our roads that have to be redone, right? Every town, every forest, from border to border, ocean to ocean — it's true. And you love America and you love the spirit and we love your spirit and we want to thank you very much, 'cause — very special people."

Chris Spear, the CEO and president of the ATA, said that he and his organization are solidly behind Trump when it comes to repealing Obamacare.

"We’re here to support the administration,” Spear said. “We’re very happy with the bill as proposed.”

But let's be honest: This meeting isn't notable because of the insights it gives us into the trucking lobby's feelings about Trumpcare. It's notable because it produced a series of amazing pictures of Trump playing behind the wheel of a truck, like a kid who'd been invited by the captain to visit the cockpit of a plane.

Look how exhilarated he is! It's almost as if he'd never been given the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of a real-life truck before.

Vroom vroom! Trump wasn't actually driving the truck, of course, but you wouldn't be able to tell that based on a brief glance at this picture.

But you know what? The pictures don't do it justice. To get the full experience of Trump's Trucking Adventure, you have to see the video.

Part of what makes this so notable is the sheer juxtaposition. As Trump was playing in the truck, his Republican allies in Congress were delaying a vote on Trumpcare because not enough members supported it. That's kind of a big deal, and to see Trump goofing around behind a truck for — let's face it — no particular reason as his signature piece of legislation was falling into critical condition was...well, it was something.

Nevertheless, Trump took the opportunity to tout Trumpcare, and said that once it passes, he's going to focus on improving the lives of truckers.

"After we repeal and replace Obamacare, we're going to do everything we can to make sure that truckers stay busy moving American goods made by American companies and companies," Trump said during the meeting. "We will rewrite our broken tax code and fix our terrible trade deals. We will also eliminate job-killing regulations where you guys are so subject to regulations, and we're gonna free it up. It's gonna be freed up."

Oh, and as all of this was happening, Trump was wearing a button that said "I ♥️ Trucks" on his shirt. Just in case there was any confusion.