A New and Predictable Twist

Since my last post was written, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly addressed the nation via a press conference. In it he eloquently spoke of the rituals of taking care of fallen soldiers after their deaths, and what is and is not expected of presidents regarding their contact with the families of the deceased. He said that some presidents call family members, sometimes, and all write letters. As a former general and Gold Star Family member himself, Kelly spoke from the heart with the kind of authority that few people could have. Frankly in my opinion, that part of his monologue was brilliant.

Sgt. La David Johnson

Then he got to the part that explained Donald Trump's seemingly callous words to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of a young U.S. Army Green Beret who was killed two weeks earlier in Niger. Kelly said that President Trump came to him after a press conference where the subject of contacting families was brought up and told him he'd like to call the survivors of the four dead soldiers. Kelly said that he discouraged the president from doing so but Trump insisted, asking Kelly's advice on what to say.

Kelly responded with what a close friend of his told him after his own son was killed after stepping on a land mine in Afghanistan. The friend told Kelly something to the effect of, "your son was doing what he wanted to do and was exactly where he wanted to be when he lost his life, defending his country, despite the risks. Perhaps Kelly worded it a little more delicately than the president did to Mrs. Johnson, yet the words had essentially the same meaning. Despite his good intentions, I have to say that Kelly's advice to the president on what to say to Mrs. Johnson and the other family members of soldiers killed alongside La David Johnson, was inappropriate. Kelly's were originally the words coming from one brother-in-arms to another. While the words made perfect sense to Kelly, a lifelong soldier, they certainly must have had a different ring to Mrs. Johnson, a young widow who herself was never in the service, but rather, found herself the victim of it. And unlike Kelly's experience, those words were not delivered by a close friend and comrade who shared common experiences and values, but rather a complete stranger with no military experience of his own.

I have no doubt that President Trump was trying to do the right thing by calling the family members of the fallen soldiers. Kelly warned the president before his calls that, "there is no way that your words will lighten the load of these people."  Wise words indeed, it was just too bad that Kelly couldn't have come up with a more suitable message of comfort, tailor fit for a mother of two with one on the way, who will never get to meet his or her father. Coming up with the right words is certainly no easy task and I do not fault Kelly or Trump for not getting it right.

Kelly's explanation made perfect sense to me and today I completely understand why Trump chose the words he did. But apparently that explanation was not satisfactory for the president who continues to deny he said those words, insisting that Congresswoman Frederica Wilson was lying about the conversation, and implying that his own chief of Staff was lying as well. Instead of leaving well enough alone, the president is perpetuating yet another needless battle that further divides the nation, and making himself look like a complete doofus in the process.

Having listened to Kelly's words in the first portion of his press conference, I was convinced more than ever that Congresswoman Wilson was in the wrong by reporting to the press the contents of the president's call to Mrs. Johnson, which she listed in on via speakerphone. The congresswoman did herself no favors when she later made a comment likening herself to a rock star for all the attention she received after the current imbroglio began this week.  

Yet John Kelly is also guilty of not knowing when to quit. Kelly chose to close his comments with an uncalled for dissing of the U.S. representative from Florida which was framed around a falsehood. Comparing the congresswoman to "an empty barrel that makes the most noise" Kelly recalled the 2015 dedication of an FBI field office in Miami, named after two agents who were killed in the line of duty. Kelly said he was appalled by the congresswoman's "self-serving" remarks at the dedication, claiming that all she spoke of was her own role in bringing the center to her constituents. Tapes of the speech proved otherwise, while she did make a reference to her role in bringing the office to her Miami constituents, (imagine a politician ever taking credit for something!), she also spoke of the role of other lawmakers responsible for the project, whose work “speaks to the respect that our Congress has for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the men and women who put their lives on the line every single day.”

When pressed on the matter of General Kelly's (to put it kindly) memory lapse, White House spokesperson Sarah Hucakabee Sanders doubled down implying that the press was out of line for daring to question the word of a retired four star general.

And so it goes. What happens when our current government, run by people who refuse to take responsibility for even the most trivial error, one who will stop at nothing when it comes to justifying the unjustifiable, are being covered by a highly motivated and competitive  press looking for any angle they can get on a story? In this case, with no act to speak of, just a misunderstanding with a perfectly logical explanation, the story itself, not the act, becomes the story.

What a series of unfortunate, yet predictable events. What a country. 

Reciprocity Failure

A friend of mine told me the other day that I was much too quick to criticize Donald Trump. I told him that while I do knock the president early and often, (as it's the Chicago way), there is indeed much to criticize. Still, I took his words to heart and this morning after listening to yet another story that made me cringe, I grudgingly came to the conclusion that in this case, the typical universal condemnation of the president, did not fit the crime.

A little background to the current fiasco in the world of the most powerful man in the world would be in order. On October 4th, four U.S. Army Green Berets, Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright were killed in the western African nation of  Niger. The four men were the victims of an ambush waged by 50 or so individuals allegedly associated with ISIS. Here is a CNN story that chronicles the lives of the four soldiers.

Judging from his tweets, Trump had a busy couple of weeks since the soldiers' deaths. He's tweeted about his negation of the Iranian arms deal, his ongoing attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (and virtually everything related to his predecessor's legacy), his tax "reform" plan, more promises to build his wall along the Mexican border, the continuation of his self-imposed war with James Comey and Hillary Clinton, threats against Senator John McCain, lots of self-congratulation over the stock market, and what has become hands down his greatest crusade, those nasty kneelers in the NFL. So Trump fans, my friend included, must certainly understand how an over-worked president who needs to balance important tweet-time with much needed R&R on the golf course, wouldn't be able to find time in those two weeks to mention the sacrifice of the four soldiers, which he didn't.

It took a press conference the other day where a reporter asked the president about the soldiers that prompted Trump's first public remarks about the tragedy. The conversation took a bizarre twist when the subject turned to the president personally telephoning the soldiers' grieving family members. In typical fashion, Trump hemmed and hawed and made the grossly erroneous comment that his predecessors in the White House did not necessarily call family members. In response, former staff members of President Obama spared no invectives in refuting Trump's assertion about their former boss. And former President George W. Bush's visits to wounded soldiers and grieving family members were well documented. including times when the former president listened silently as he was being excoriated by the bereaved.

When Trump was called on his whopper, he told reporters to ask his Chief of Staff John Kelly if Barack Obama called him after Kelly's son was killed in Afghanistan. Kelly it turns out, received no phone call from Obama but was invited with his wife to a dinner at the White House for Gold Star families (those who lost a loved one in service to the country), where the couple sat at the same table as Michelle Obama.

Now there are at least ten things in this sordid mess that absolutely infuriate me, but the absolute lowest point was Trump using the personal grief of his Chief of Staff, as a stepping stone to weasel out of a pickle. Shame on him was the last thing on my mind when I went to bed last night.

I woke up this morning to the Trump boo boo du jour. The day after the press conference and the kerfuffle over calling families, Trump made four phone calls. One was to Myeshia Johnson, the wife of La David Johnson, the mother of two with another on the way. It so happened that the president reached Mrs. Johnson as she was on her way to receive her late husband's remains that had just arrived from Africa. On her way to the airport, Mrs. Johnson was accompanied by Fredericka Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida. As the conversation was on speakerphone, Wilson listened in, and was all too eager to go to the press with what she heard. One of those things she heard was the president telling Mrs. Johnson that her husband (whom he did not call by name), signed up for duty so he knew the risks of service. He then reportedly added that he was sure (the soldier's death) hurt despite that.

On the surface this is about the most callous thing anyone can say to a widow en-route to meet her husband's remains. On the other hand, we don't know the full context of the conversation. Granted it's hard to imagine a context where the president's words were anything but boorish, let alone comforting, but let's just say that here that I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt.

Let's face it, compassion is not one of Donald Trump's strong suits; he just doesn't have a gift for saying the right thing, especially on a personal level. He even said as much during his press conference the other day. As an example, Trump's parting words to a victim of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico were to "have fun." Given that, he was probably right in waiting so long to contact Mrs. Johnson and the other newest members of the Gold Star Family. Come to think of it, if I was grieving over a loved one, the very last person on earth I'd want to talk to would be Donald Trump. Maybe in fact it would be a good idea if he didn't make these calls at all, or at the very least, read from a prepared script that somebody else wrote.

On the flip side, I seriously question the judgement of Congresswoman Wilson's decision to go to the press with this story. I can't judge her motivation but it is not out of the realm of possibility that her comments were personally and politically motivated. If that's the case, the U.S. representative is using the grief of Mrs. Johnson as a means to stick it to Donald Trump.

And if that's the case, shame on her, and shame on all of us for revelling in schadenfreude over Trump's latest misadventure, as it comes at the expense of Mrs. Johnson, her children, the rest of her family, and especially the memory of her husband. The conversation we should be having should focus on remembering Sgt. Johnson and his three brothers in arms, American heroes who gave their lives in service of not only their country, but also the innocent people of Niger who are being terrorized by ISIS. It is not our place to be arguing over what Trump said or didn't say to Mrs. Johnson; that conversation should be between her and the president, no one else.

If we are at all appalled by Trump using Kelly's grief to save his own skin, a sense of fair play should dictate that we should also reject Representative Wilson's self-serving, attention-grabbing actions.

Besides, the president is gracious enough to provide us so much other stuff to legitimately piss us off.