On Tuesday, Trump finally called the families and reportedly told the pregnant widow of Sgt. La David Johnson that her husband knew what he was getting into — then acknowledged that this wouldn’t make her grief any less painful. Trump denied he acted so boorishly, tweeting that Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who revealed the comments and has been backed up by the sergeant’s mother, “totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!” Sadder is that the American people can’t believe any claim by their president. Until Trump presents his “proof,” the benefit of the doubt here goes to Wilson.

But the broader pattern here is what is so disheartening. Beyond Trump’s inability to articulate compassionate thoughts without screwing them up, or to stick with the humane positions he occasionally espouses (see, for example, his back and forth on “Dreamers”), it’s disturbing that this president is so willing to turn even the deaths of servicemen into a political game — in this instance, a jab in his incessant efforts to one-up Obama. Is nothing sacred?

As a candidate, Trump insulted the sacrifice of former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), saying, “I like people who weren’t captured.” Trump also disparaged the parents of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan after Khan ’s father, Khizr Khan, delivered an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention accusing Trump of smearing Muslims for political gain. There is something fundamentally flawed about a person who would engage in a war of words with the families of dead soldiers to score political points.

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