Trump蘑菇视频 World of Make Believe
I don’t have much proof, but I’m going to go out on a limb. Most Americans don’t live in a world of make believe.
Unfortunately, the President of the United States does.
He can’t help himself.
He tweets first; thinks later.
The only times he doesn’t insert himself into the national dialogue is when he can’t find a political advantage.
Consider the tragic events of Oct. 1 in Las Vegas.
After Stephen Paddock laid waste to nearly 60 Americans, and seriously injured more than 500, Democrats, once again, called for a law that might prevent the sale of devices that enabled him to easily carry out his plans.
Republicans bristled, and the White House complained that it was “too soon” for Democrats to “politicize” the tragedy.
And besides, two days later, President Trump tweeted that Paddock had only been a “demented shooter,” – not what he really was – a calculating domestic American terrorist.
For Trump, there was nothing to be gained by attaching terrorism to a white man who’d been born and raised in this country.
But less than 24 hours after a murderous native of Uzbekistan – Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov – drove a Home Depot truck through the streets of Manhattan, Trump certainly didn’t think it was “too soon,” to “politicize” his killing spree.
Trump awakened early the following morning, with his Twitter-thumbs aimed at “The terrorist (who) came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty.”
Not only had Trump labeled the killer a “terrorist,” he placed blame for his actions on Chuck Schumer – the Democratic senator from New York State.
It was a startling example of Trump’s hypocrisy (or his inability to think before he tweets).
He wasn’t finished.
He appeared later before cameras, and he decided to play the tough guy.
“We need quick justice and strong justice, much quicker and stronger than we have now. What we have now is a joke, and it’s a laughingstock,” he proclaimed.
Apparently, Mr. Trump hasn’t figured out that one of his main duties as president is to head the Justice Department that he’d just called a “joke” and a “laughingstock.”
That afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has the thankless job of sprucing-up her boss’s Twitter and vocal misadventures, was pressed into action.
A reporter asked, “Why did the president call the U.S. Justice system a joke and a laughingstock?”
(WARNING: If you’re squeamish about reading lies, please skip the next paragraph.)
Sanders replied, “That’s not what he said. He said the process has people calling us a joke and calling us a laughingstock.”
So, it’s come to this.
Trump goes off-script, and adlibs some silliness about his own Justice Department’s inefficiencies. Then, his own press secretary denies he said what he’d clearly said.
Heaven help us.
Sanders had to perform a few more rewrites of Trump’s blame-filled words that day.
Trump had been watching Fox and Friends (apparently his primary source for news) that morning, and that’s where he’d heard that Chuck Schumer should be blamed for the policy that had allowed Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov to come into the country.
(He’d ignored the fact that the policy had been signed into law by a Republican president – George H.W. Bush – and that it had passed through Congress on a bipartisan vote.)
Facts don’t matter when a cheap shot will suffice.
But Sanders dutifully denied that the words tweeted by the president that morning – “a Chuck Schumer beauty” – were a political attack.
She claimed Trump, “does not blame Sen. Schumer,” and further, he wasn’t really politicizing the attack.
Instead, she blamed Democrats (in general) who are “obstructionists” who “don’t want to do what is right for our country.”
There you have it.
When anything goes wrong – just blame somebody, anybody else.
The Manhattan attack had taken place on the current president’s watch.
But it was, according to him – Chuck Schumer’s, Democrats in general, and his own Justice Department’s fault.
He only takes credit for the good stuff.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.