Trump contradicts himself daily
“It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #Fake News media,” Trump has tweeted as if he thought he was making perfect sense.
Donald Trump is at war with people whom he claims “leak” information.
At the same time, he claims the reports that comprise that information are “fake news.”
He wasn’t.
Leakers leak facts. They don’t make up stuff to feed it to the news media.
Trump wants us to believe that the near-nightly bombshells that increasingly shed light on his campaign’s close relationships to Russians, are lies. He’s also sure somebody who knows the truth is leaking the information to the news media.
Does he believe Americans are that dumb?
“Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names it is very possible that those sources don’t exist…” he wrote in one of his recent Twitter-storms.
We have a president who has a murky memory.
Back in August of 2012, he fired off a tweet about somebody he called an “extremely credible source,” who’d let him in on the fact that Barack Obama’s birth certificate was a “fraud.”
As it turned out, Trump’s “extremely credible sources” were proven wrong.
But as it’s turning out, the “sources” who’re now haunting him are getting too close for comfort.
Trump doesn’t mind reports, though, that contain anonymous “sources,” when it suits his agenda.
He re-tweeted a Fox News report that disputes several stories about his son-in-law (SLOTUS) – Jared Kushner – and his questionable, pre-inauguration communications with Russians.
The report was based on information from, “a SOURCE familiar with the matter,” who told Fox News.”
It’s just another example of how Trump is awash in self-contradiction.
Here’s another example.
In 2012, Trump took to Twitter to blast Obama because he’d complained that Republicans were blocking his agenda. Especially since, “he had full control (of Congress) for two years. He can never take responsibility,” Trump tweeted.
Well, Republicans have full control of Congress now.
So, what’s Trump’s message?
“The Democrats, without a leader, have become the party of obstruction. They are only interested in themselves and not in what’s best for the U.S.,” he tweeted in April.
Obama had faced real obstruction for three years. Trump had faced obstruction – much of it from Republicans – for a matter of days.
You’d think he would’ve remembered that he’d tweeted about Obama’s inability to “take responsibility,” since he refuses to do that himself.
Aside from the image of Melania Trump spurning a little hand-holding with her husband when they arrived in Saudi Arabia on May 20, there was something else worthy of note.
Mrs. Trump wasn’t wearing a head scarf. Neither was First Daughter Ivanka.
That alone wouldn’t be of much interest, since Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and First Ladies Laura and Barbara Bush each eschewed the Saudi Arabian dress code that calls for women to cover their hair in public.
But it was Michelle Obama’s arrival in Saudi Arabia in 2015 that sent Trump to Twitter.
“Many people are saying it was wonderful that Mrs. Obama refused to wear a scarf in Saudi Arabia, but they were insulted. We have enuf enemies,” he wrote.
Little did Trump know at the time that visiting heads of state and foreign diplomats – or the women escorting them – aren’t required to cover their heads in public.
There are mounting cases of Trump having chastised President Obama, when he does the same things now.
He sharply criticized Obama for contemplating military strikes in Syria in 2013.
“There is no upside and a tremendous downside,” Trump warned.
Trump launched his own strike in Syria in early April.
But the most hypocritical complaints Trump made against his predecessor were about the number of Obama’s golf outings.
During the first 100 days of his presidency, Trump spent 19 days, and an estimated $25 million on his golf excursions. In his first 100 days in office, Obama only golfed once.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net
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