Our Trump-Free Weekend on this blog ended at Midnight and you'll notice I held off until 12:05 AM to post something about him. That's admirable restraint on my part.
For months now, friends of mine have been telling me that the guy was totally outta control; that there was no logic, no restraint, no discussion before he opened his mouth and/or his Twitter app. I knew most of what he said or posted were hateful lies but I kinda thought maybe there was some strategy behind it, some factor that made it not as gonzo as it all seemed. Trump prides himself on being a great negotiator and I know that some negotiators deliberately play a little crazy in ways that put the other side on the defensive. It can give them a bit of an advantage and I thought maybe that was what was going on with Trump.
I don't think that anymore. All weekend, he kept tweeting that Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian…this despite the fact that the National Weather Service kept sending out tweets correcting him…
You'd think anyone in any position of authority — not just the President of the United States but anyone — would want to make sure they got this right lest folks panic needlessly. And you'd think once he did get it wrong, someone would have stopped him from saying it over and over…perhaps the same person who might have told him, "Uh, Mr. President, may I respectfully suggest that with this huge hurricane destroying lives and homes, this might not be the best time to be seen playing golf?"
But no. No one can tell this guy anything and what comes out of his mouth or Twitter feed at any given moment is just what he felt like saying at that moment. The truth is whatever he says it is at the moment and anything that doesn't match up is Fake News.
Even Neil Cavuto — a Fox News commentator who will smooch the heinie of anyone who lowers taxes on the rich — has had trouble falling dutifully into line lately. When Trump started slamming Fox, mainly for a poll that showed him losing to four Democrats, Mr. Cavuto finally grew the beginnings of a spine…
Cavuto noted, however, that the president had made it "clear [that] to fact-check him is to be all but dead to him and his legion of supporters who let me know, in no uncertain terms, I am either with him totally or I am a 'Never Trumper' fully."
Perhaps, the host said, it was this "Loyal on everything or not to be trusted on anything" mentality that prompted the president to once again bash Fox News on Wednesday and urge his supporters to stop watching the channel. Interpreting the president's criticism as a suggestion that Fox News had been operating as an extension of his administration and reelection campaign, Cavuto, like other network personalities, pushed back against the notion. Trump's tweet also drew critical responses from Fox News political analyst Brit Hume and on-air personalities Guy Benson and Howard Kurtz.
Granted, this is a little like Knucklehead Smiff telling Paul Winchell to stop putting words in his mouth but it's something.