A Few Thousand Words About Our Very Serious Commander-in-Chief
Or "Things to do while the military has an excursion."
So, I was picking a photo from the White House Flickr page for another post and saw the above. It’s Trump goofing around with podcaster and boxer Jake Paul last Friday. You know, while the military is engaged in a “little excursion” in the Middle East.
As of this writing, 13 US service members have died in said “excursion.”
Here are some other events the President has been engaged in of late.
March 5:
March 9:
March 11:
March 13:
He has also played more golf than I have since the “excursion” started, despite the fact that I am a retired person with little in the way of serious duties to attend to. Granted, I don’t own my own golf courses.
Now, I am honestly not one to usually play such gotcha games, but I would note that Trump has time for all of the above (and more) while still not having ever made a major address about the war to the American public, nor having spelled out in coherent terms what it is that we are allegedly trying to accomplish.
And, really, for an administration that allegedly is all about respecting our “warriors,” this looks like the opposite to me.
I continue to note the comparatively low quality of the photos in the Official White House Flickr. Every administration since I’ve been keeping track (likely late GWB) has used nothing but hero shots. A lot of the pics are very unflattering, yet they go right on up.
He has surrounded himself with supplicants who will clap wildly when he dances or cosplays. Why would Trump spare a thought war or its consequences when all around him are simultaneously afraid of him and rewarding him for being a jester?
Of course, he thinks we are winning in Iran and only good will come from the destruction we’ve wrought. No one will tell him otherwise.
Maybe not in the chosen timeframe but I wish you had displayed the image of Fatso at the Dignified Transfer in his campaign truckers cap. Simply the most disrespectful act, in that context, that I can imagine.
@James Joyner: I can’t decide if whoever runs the Flick page is engaged in a sort of low-key resistance, given some of what is posted, or if they just don’t cull photos out of either laziness or because Trump likes lots of pictures.
I would say that the general quality of the photos is good, but many are far from flattering of their subjects.
@Daryl: It fits the timeframe, but not the theme of the post, which is the way in which he is otherwise spending his time while a war is being fought.
Wearing merch to a Dignified Transfer was utterly gross, but also very Trumpy.
@Steven L. Taylor:
It’s possible that they haven’t figured it out either.
But, there’s a third option, a far more horrifying option: they think they’re doing a good job. And not in a “I have no idea what I’m doing” way, but in a “wow, these photos are great and really make Trump look good” way.
Oh, god, what if this really is Trump looking good? What if every other photo is worse? I think that might be the real horror.
“Commander” Hegseth spent his days before the war started changing a few specifics about Boy Scout merit badges rather than planning logistics for the upcoming Adventure.
Trump in the last fortnight also chaired a two hour “roundtable” aimed at making college sport great again. Inexplicably, the Secretary of State also attended. Today he chaired a meeting of the Kennedy Center board he appointed, where he rambled on for more than an hour.