Many Twitter users wondered why many other Twitter users were talking about soup this week, and the answer is a now-viral video of President Donald Trump going on an extended rant about protesters weaponizing “bags of soup” against police.
On Tuesday, right around the time Twitter was exploding over Trump’s denial that he had a “series of mini-strokes” last year, a months-old clip of Trump ranting about soup began to circulate on the social media platform.
Here’s the most powerful person in the world going off on a rant about …soup.pic.twitter.com/iCRPD1NtLM
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) September 1, 2020
The rant was from a July 31, 2020 White House meeting with the National Association of Police Organizations Leadership, during which Trump riffed about the canned goods:
In cities across the nation, we’ve also seen police officers assaulted with bricks, rocks, bats, Molotov cocktails, frozen bottles of water. Somebody said last night, one of the protesters — I saw it — he said, “It’s only water. How can water hurt you?” Yeah, they don’t say it’s frozen, in a bottle the size of a football. And they throw it at the police. It’s unbelievable. “It’s water.”
And then they have cans of soup. Soup. And they throw the cans of soup. That’s better than a brick because you can’t throw a brick; it’s too heavy. But a can of soup, you can really put some power into that, right?
NAPO President Mick McHale: Yes, sir.
Trump: And then, when they get caught, they say, “No, this is soup for my family.” They’re so innocent. “This is soup for my family.” It’s incredible. And you have people coming over with bags of soup — big bags of soup. And they lay it on the ground, and the anarchists take it and they start throwing it at our cops, at our police. And if it hits you, that’s worse than a brick because that’s got force. It’s the perfect size. It’s, like, made perfect.
And when they get caught, they say, “No, this is just soup for my family.” And then the media says, “This is just soup. These people are very, very innocent. They’re innocent people. These are just protesters. Isn’t it wonderful to allow protesting?” No, there’s — and, by the way, the media knows it better than we do. They know what’s going on. I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They’re doing our country a tremendous disservice — I’ll say that.
The resurfaced clip became the subject of copious mockery, including the trending hashtag #SoupNazi — and lots of people discovering why people were talking about soup.
In June, the Portland Police did tweet a photo of items allegedly thrown at police that included one canned good — garbanzo beans.
More items recovered that were thrown at officers: Full beverage cans, bricks, bottles, rocks, food. pic.twitter.com/RTGILdcUKS
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) June 6, 2020
And in 2015, an Alabama middle school sent a letter to parents asking them to give their children canned goods in order to fight off any would-be mass shooters.
But the mockery was more centered on the intensity of the focus and the daffiness of the delivery, rather than the truthfulness of the claim.
He’s seriously unraveling. #TrumpIsNotWell pic.twitter.com/QKkBAHbJbr
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 1, 2020
It’s because Trump said protesters were throwing bags of soup at people.
— Erin Biba (@erinbiba) September 2, 2020
Trump is the new Soup Nazi, pass it on #TrumpStroke https://t.co/u0dhgLJVIz
— Tara Dublin Is Anti-Fascism #BidenHarris2020 (@taradublinrocks) September 1, 2020
Being on Twitter + having Trump as president is like working on a comedy show with an insane head writer. “Hey I know you’re eating dinner with your kids – but I need some jokes about soup ASAP”
— Danny Ricker (@dannyricker) September 2, 2020
Trump saying you can throw a can of soup but not a brick explains many things to me, including but not limited to the fact that, in four years, he’s never thrown out the first pitch at a baseball game. pic.twitter.com/0CSJ893YAA
— April (@ReignOfApril) September 2, 2020
Donald Trump has clearly given more serious thought to the inherent dangers of soup throwing than he’s given to preventing COVID deaths or addressing bounties on our troops.
— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) September 2, 2020
His brain is soup! Did trump have another stroke? Is this the third? https://t.co/87tP0SaXCN
— John Leguizamo (@JohnLeguizamo) September 2, 2020
I think the most frustrating part of the Trump world is that it used to be just silly when an old man created a soup throwing conspiracy complete with soup alibis and soup logistics. Now it’s like, I don’t know, sad? Frustrating? Fascist?
It sucks is my point.
— Seanbaby (@Seanbabydotcom) September 2, 2020
Watch Trump’s soup warning above via Fox Business.
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Originally published: 2020-09-02 07:28:04