Big Scandal? No, Just Typical Foot in Mouth
This one’s going to be short. The hubbub about what President Trump said to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four soldiers killed in Niger, is a tempest in the teapot. There are some people, and I’m one of them, who have difficulty finding the right words of comfort to the bereaved. Trump, who is handicapped by extreme narcissism and therefore even less suited to the task, just blundered into the wrong thing to say, which was then blown up into political fodder by a congresswoman listening in on the call.
This comes of two stupidities:
1. The calls should not have been made in the first place. Chief of Staff Gen. Kelly actually advised him to write, not call. This would have meant that his words could be vetted by others, there would be no question of whether he knew the soldier’s name, and it would likely have been appreciated more than an awkward phone call.
2. The second stupidity is more serious and unfortunately typical of this president. When asked about whether he would be reaching out to the families of the slain soldier, he turned it into a mean-spirited attack on his predecessor, Barack Obama, claiming, erroneously, that he never made condolence calls. When challenged on that statement, Trump immediately backtracked by saying he didn’t really know what Obama’s policy was. That begs the question: if he doesn’t know, why say it? Here’s why:
a. He is a serial liar. He spent his whole life saying things he didn’t know were true, and even things he knew were false. While he was simply a millionaire and reality star, few people bothered to call him out. But as presidential candidate and now president, he is dealing with reporters who have a duty to fact-check everything he says. And yet he keeps saying whatever garbage pops into his mind.
b. Trump has an obsessive hatred of all things Obama, and never misses a chance to blast him. He is so intent on blaming Obama and undoing everything he did that I’m surprised he didn’t give up golf once he learned how fond the previous president was of the game.