Advertisements

Republicans complained endlessly that Barack Obama was a weak president. Donald Trump said he would be a strong president. Yet President Obama accepted President Truman’s dictum that “The buck stops here.” He took personal responsibility for events which took place on his watch.

While Republicans talk a lot about personal responsility, that’s all they want to do. As Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman points out, Trump is a different sort of president:

Truman: the buck stops here

Trump: the buck stops someplace else, because I'm perfect — but the actual bucks go to me and my family — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 28, 2017

Advertisements

Obama took responsibility; as well as taking credit for things he didn’t do, Trump looks for others to blame for things he did do.

And we have seen quite a few examples over the past few days, including some notable examples from last-night’s speech:

Blame military for failed raid

Blame Democrats for Jewish cc attacks

Blame press director for bad messaging Vague sense of pattern here — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 28, 2017

BuzzFeed‘s Lisa Tozzi points to some other examples of Trump blame-shifting:

To sum up, Trump says military to blame for SEAL's death, Obama is organizing protests, Jews might be behind anti-Semitic threats/attacks. — Lisa Tozzi (@lisatozzi) February 28, 2017

While Newsweek‘s Kurt Eichenwald shows in response to Trump’s claim that his generals “lost” the Navy SEAL killed in the Yemen raid, that some of Trump’s blame-others approach just doesn’t add up, when added up:

Let me see if I understand this: Trump is blaming the generals 4 the outcome of the operation he says was successful? So why is there blame? — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 28, 2017

And while blaming his generals for the death of the Navy SEAL HE sent to his death,

Donald Trump just got applause for a widow he created. — John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) March 1, 2017

If that wasn’t cynical enough for you, Politico‘s Eric Geller draws attention to this gem:

Did…did Trump just say a slain Navy SEAL is looking down happily from heaven because his mention broke an applause record? — Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 1, 2017

It would be difficult to top the Trump despicable meter here. And while some in the press are hailing Trump for the allegedly positive tone of his speech last night, fact-checker Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star made this point:

Interview airing this morning: Trump calls Nancy Pelosi "incompetent"

Speech tonight: Trump calls for bipartisan cooperation — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 1, 2017

Far from positive, Trump’s tone was markedly cynical.

It is as though he realized insulting Pelosi in the AM didn’t work (or maybe he just hoped nobody would notice) so he’d pretend it never happened by the PM. Do this weaselly behavior seem like the actions of a strong president to you? It shouldn’t.

This is a president who whines endlessly about his treatment but who hurls insults at others with wild abandon. Who uses the wife of a soldier he sent to his death as a political prop after he blamed his generals for a raid he took credit for.

That is the president we’re stuck with. As Trump likes to say, sad!

Trump got the thunderous applause he craved last night, but a strong man doesn’t crave applause. Trump wants to the praise without the work and others to blame for his willful ignorance. America not only deserves better than that. It needs better than that.

And the press must neither rest nor relent while Trump sits in the Oval Office making excuses for why he didn’t do his homework. This is not the sort of behavior for which we reward our children.

It should certainly not be rewarded in our president.