Opinion: The Art Of The … Dodge?

What this article from the ABC News interview says is very interesting. Apparently, tRump is refusing to take any responsibility for anything regarding some pretty major events, and as the Times put it:

Around this time five years ago, as the severity of the pandemic came into focus, The New York Times published a memorable analysis that included a word to describe Trump that stood out as significant: “bystander.”

He refused to give any guidance, so everyone had to make decisions on their own to shut down everything from sports events to businesses. At times, this enraged him, and at times, he dodged any questions. Well, this came up again, and he’s gotten “better” at it. Let’s start with the best one, in my eyes, from the ABC interview via MSNBC:

This exchange is so very telling.

Trump repeatedly claims the photoshopped MS-13 on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckles is real, Terry Moran keeps telling him it isn’t, prompting Trump to say this:

 “I never heard of you. I picked you. You’re not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed… Just say yes!”

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Ha. Busted. It seems to have caught him totally by surprise, and he had nothing prepared for it, so he prevaricated and hemmed and hawed, and the above is what came out. “Not very nice” oooookaaaaaay. And speaking of Mr. Garcia:

Host: You could call and get Abrego Garcia back.

Trump: I could

Host: But the Supreme Court has ordered you to facilitate his release.

Trump: I’m not the one making this decision

Host: You’re the president!

He damn well could but pure and simple, it seems he just doesn’t want to. How on earth he could not realize how bad this is making him look, I don’t know. For a man addicted to the news, looking for information about himself, this boggles the mind.

(Yes, yes, it could be the dementia.) He rages, in all caps, of course, about how something, like his current poll numbers, is better than what is being said, but he keeps missing this? Yea, he doesn’t want to. He’d have to admit he was wrong, BUT it would make him look great to get Mr. Garcia back! Okay, here’s a little bit more from the article:

Time magazine asked Trump how much the U.S. government is paying El Salvador to imprison immigrants. “I don’t know,” the president responded. Asked if he approved the payments, the Republican added, “No, I didn’t.”

Last month, Trump was asked about four U.S. soldiers who’d gone missing during a NATO training exercise in Lithuania, and the president was clueless. Asked about the apparent assassination of a Russian general, Trump again had no idea what the reporter was talking about.

When the Republican was also asked about the Signal group chat scandal and whether he believed classified information was shared, he replied, “I don’t know. I’m not sure, you have to ask the various people involved.”

President Bystander seems ironically appropriate yet again. He damn well knows about most, if not all,  of these. His name is linked in news reports. He just wants to say he doesn’t know, as if that will cover for him. It doesn’t. It continues to make him look like an idiot who wants all the good press (which he isn’t always getting) but accepts no responsibility.

He’s the PRESIDENT. The *country* is his responsibility. Yet notice how he’s driving the economy into the ground with his tariffs. He thinks they will make us rich and bring manufacturing back into the US. Well, they won’t, and it won’t. That’s all there is.