As those who read this blog probably know, I do not go around defending Donald Trump very often. However, I am not going to pile on with respect to President Trump’s call to the widow of one of the soldiers who was killed in Niger a couple of weeks ago. President Trump probably should have, as John Kelly recommended, not made the call. As General Kelly (ret.) said, those are the toughest calls in the world to make. And Donald Trump is not known for his artfulness with words. It is also entirely possible that what General Joseph Dunford said to General Kelly, when General Kelly’s son was killed in Afghanistan, was not what somebody should have said to a young widow. Still, President Trump tried, even if his reactions to the criticisms of his call would have been better not made.
On the other hand, one has to wonder about the Democratic congresswoman who decided to politicize this matter. And one has to remember that, if not for her, this wouldn’t be the story it has become. I have not read all the stories about his call (and I don’t intend to; there are more important issues out there), but did the congresswoman let President Trump know she was listening in when he made the call? And was her publicizing what she heard on the call done to help the widow who had lost her husband or to “get” Donald Trump?
Separate and apart from his reaction to the criticisms of his call to this young widow, President Trump was trying, in his own inept way, to do the right thing when he made the call. Can the same thing be said about the Democratic congresswoman?
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