Washington (CNN) On Thursday night, following a day of back-and-forth over who said what in a phone call between the President of the United States and a military widow, President Donald Trump tweeted this: "The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!"

The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017

That tweet came one day after Trump first attacked Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson for her role in the phone call between himself and Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush attack in Niger. "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!," Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning.

Here's the thing: It seems likely that, in a very difficult spot -- calling a widow to express condolences -- what Trump was trying to say and how Johnson and Wilson heard it wound up being two very different things.

At one level, that's understandable -- if regrettable. Trump, who never held any political office before running for president, was trying his best to find the right words in a situation in which there are no words. Myeshia Johnson was -- and is -- trying to deal with the grief of losing a husband and not even knowing all the facts that led to his death. A normal phone call about nothing sometimes gets misinterpreted. One with this much emotional baggage attached to it? It's easy to see how the two sides just didn't connect.

But -- and this is always the same "but" with Trump -- the story didn't stop there. He had to respond -- and respond publicly -- to Wilson's contention that the call had been received poorly.

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