Trump Gave a Stunning Answer That Media Would Destroy Any Other President For
President Donald Trump gave a stunning answer that would have had the media hounding any other president from office — hell, they wouldn’t stand for it from a dogcatcher.
Now, you could make that assertion about a dozen things Trump says every week. There’s an army of video influencers like Aaron Rupar who chronicle and accentuate the daffy tangents Trump goers on.
MS NOW host Lawrence O’Donnell has been relentless in trashing the media over the “demented” rants that barely raise the pulse of the same journalists who pounded President Joe Biden every time the well-known lifelong stutterer misspoke.
But even for Trump, this week — now one day old — has been a doozy. In addition to his usual stream of falsehood-riddled patter, Trump told lawmakers at the Republican Issues Conference that “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.”
Unlike a lot of Trump gaffes and blunders, this one had an added feature beyond the dumb-sh*ttery: it neatly illustrated a main pillar of Trump’s million-legged stool of lies. Literally, he was trying to have it both ways.
Along similar lines, Trump held a press conference later in the day and was asked to reconcile a pair of diametrically opposed statements, and opted to literally say they were actually “both” true:
WEIJIA JIANG: Mr. President, you’ve said the war is, quote, “very complete.” But your Defense Secretary says this is just the beginning. So which is it? And how long should Americans be prepared for this war to last for?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think you can say both.
So the war is only mostly very complete.
I should say, also, that every other president would have had a hard time remaining in office long enough to have said any of this if they had shown up to a dignified transfer ceremony and saluted six coffins while wearing a campaign hat.
Even Trump’s own White House seemed to get that, putting out a dramatically-scored reel that showed a hatless Trump shaking hands and only an extreme long shot of his product placement opportunity:
But Trump managed to stick around to blurt out the cake-taker. To set the table, though, imagine that any other president — President Barack Obama, for example, declared with certainty something that was an obvious lie.
I’m referring to the strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh all-girls elementary school in Minab that killed, at most recent count, at least 175 people — including 160 children —on the first day of President Donald Trump’s Iran operation. The school was located near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base that was also targeted.
Every step of the way, evidence has mounted that not only was the attack not carried out by Iran, but that it was carried out by the United States. To his meager credit, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth initially and correctly responded with muted assurances that the attack is under investigation:
BBC STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT TOM BATEMAN: Can you give us an update on what the administration knows, what you know now about the reported strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran on Saturday?
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: All I know, all I can say is that we’re investigating that. We of course never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.
BBC STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT TOM BATEMAN: Just on the basis that with the information you would have your reconnaissance abilities– ability to gather information. I mean, it’s several days on now.
So is there any clarity on whose munition this was?
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: We’re investigating it.
But it wasn’t long before Trump declared it was “done by Iran” — and Hegseth tried to sound like he was agreeing with Trump by saying “We’re certainly investigating. But, the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
The clumsy sleight of hand there is that no one has suggested the killings of these children was deliberate.
So the strike on the school came up a couple of times at Trump’s press conference on Monday. First, Trump was asked if the US would take responsibility for the strike, and he tried to claim Iran also has Tomahawk missiles (they don’t):
REPORTER: There’s footage that shows an American missile strike and a Tomahawk missile likely destroyed that Iranian girls’ school. So will the Americans, will the U.S. accept any responsibility for that strike?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I haven’t seen it. And I will say that the Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is used by — you know, is sold and used by other countries. You know that. And whether it’s Iran, who also has some Tomahawks — I wish they had more. But whether it’s Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk — a Tomahawk is very generic. It’s sold to other countries. But that’s being investigated right now.
Tomahawks are made by the U.S. and are only sold to a small handful of close U.S. allies.
So a few minutes later, New York Times White House Reporter Shawn McCreesh called Trump out, and the president said something so outrageous, it should have gotten him driven immediately out of public life. Ironically, it was also probably the most honest thing he said at that presser.
The reporter said “You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war. But you’re the only person in your government saying this. Even your Defense Secretary wouldn’t say that when he was asked, standing over your shoulder on your plane on Saturday. Why are you the only person saying this?”
Trump’s jaw-droppingly true reply? “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”
NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE REPORTER SHAWN MCCREESH: Hi, Mr. President. You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war. But you’re the only person in your government saying this. Even your Defense Secretary wouldn’t say that when he was asked, standing over your shoulder on your plane on Saturday. Why are you the only person saying this?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because I just don’t know enough about it. I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation. But Tomahawks are used by others, as you know. Numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us. But I will certainly — whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report.
Like his other gaffe, this one reveals another pillar of Trump’s prolific lying ability: he doesn’t know sh*t, he doesn’t want to know sh*t, and he doesn’t need to know sh*t to confidently lie about it. But in this case and on these days, people are dying based on Trump’s sociopathic ignorance and dishonesty.
Why didn’t this insanity lead every newscast and top every front page and prompt the sort of feeding frenzy that used to be reserved for a guy being enthusiastic into a non-leveled mic or saying that cops shouldn’t arrest a guy trying to enter his own house?
Because it’s a day ending in “Y” in Trump’s America.
Watch above via CNN.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
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