Ill wager Trump isn’t going because the wind would blow his toupee around.
It’s a masterclass in getting people to repost things
And we missed a chance for him to get sick as hell. Imagine a nice case of the flu from standing out in the rain. He is in his 70’s after all.
And if that sounds like I am making fun of some of you, no, I actually wish that would have happened to good old Donny.
Not that big a surprise, maybe.
True, but Twitter also doesn’t let you link to video without the post it’s attached to, so… meh.
One of the more annoying technical aspects of the thing.
I see a twitter report now that he’s blown off the state dinner with Trudeau, Macron, Merkel, et al, or is at least several hours late for it.
Putin knows how to build the whole machismo image, and I think that must play great for the troops.
Putin is way more of a badass than Trump has ever been.
Trump avoids mild inconveniences like they’re mortal peril. Putin revels in shit like wrestling bears, driving F1 cars, blacksmithing and whatever else. Most of it is staged, but he’s not afraid of getting into the mud and doing shit.
He’s ex-KGB. He knows 47 ways to kill you silently with a paperclip. He’s also a secret chess grandmaster, a requirement for KGB membership.
Putin is, essentially, like Trump’s father to him. He’s a very powerful, ruthless guy. Putin is able to control Trump by giving him little bits of approval that Trump’s father never gave him.
But, like Trump’s father, Putin knows that Trump is a worthless piece of cowardly shit.
Hey! Don’t give up so soon on a fatal flu! Thoughts and prayers.
There’s always a backup transportation plan. It’s November in France, where rain is not unheard of.
A reasonable take on this situation from an author who is not a Trump fan.
Other people went without a helicopter. It’s called a backup plan. There is always a backup plan to move the President. It’s simply not credible that someone told the President he couldn’t go.
He talks about that in the article. He talks about why other leaders managed it. Tyler has written in depth articles about the president’s motorcade and the logistics required for travel, there aren’t many journalists whose reaction I would trust more. As much as I want this to be yet another example of Trump being a coward, I also don’t want to falsely accuse.
I also believe, even if it isn’t actually Trump’s fault, he brought much of this on himself by making up these kinds of stories before.
Yeah, you don’t get to act like a big baby who is constantly a victim and then claim something like this isn’t your fault. It’s like crying wolf. People just won’t believe you, and that’s on you.
I also believe if he’d really wanted to do it, the people who work for POTUS would have made it happen. You’re telling me that if they needed to evacuate him because of danger they just couldn’t because it would be too hard? Or again…if he wanted to golf.
I appreciate that you’re trying to be even-handed, but we all know what’s up. He’s a big fat lazy baby.
-xtien
That article literally assumes its conclusion:
“If HMX-1’s Marine One crews and mission planners—literally the best the USMC has to offer—did indeed scrub the mission due to bad weather, how is that controversial? Would losing an aircraft and its occupants be worth the trip to that ceremony? Wouldn’t it be reckless if they decided to toss out their training and mission guidelines and pushed for the sortie anyway? The point being here is that if the mission was canceled by those who execute the presidential airlift mission day-in and day-out around the globe, that’s called doing their job and keeping their crews and passengers safe, not chickening out. Above all else, it’s not a political decision, it’s a safety decision.” [emphasis mine]
Well sure, if the Marines begged Trump not to use the helicopter and if the Secret Service also begged Trump not to use a motorcade, then the decision would be justified. But there’s no evidence that’s what happened. All we have is a statement from a source that is known to be extremely unreliable that the trip was cancelled due to weather. (And, it’s worth noting, that source did not specifically call out the helicopter, just “scheduling and logistical issues.”)
Now, this source happens to be the White House. That doesn’t mean there’s any particular reason to believe it. This White House has been proven to lie about things every day, and it’s lied about cancelling events because of the weather before.
There’s good reason to think the statement is nonsense. All the other leaders participated in events yesterday without being hindered by the weather. So it makes more sense to ignore the weather and look to Trump-specific explanations, like the fact that he’s incredibly lazy (for which there are mountains of evidence) or incredibly petty and vindictive (ditto.)
Based on the fact that later that evening he showed up hours late for the official dinner and then made a point of ignoring his hosts and hanging out with the Turks instead, I’m gonna go with “petty and vindictive.” In Trump’s mind he’s punishing Macron for how he’s been treated. (Of course to non-insane people he looks like a lazy little spoiled brat, but that would never occur to a narcissist like Trump.)
And I think ultimately you are right, he is the president and if he really wanted to go they would have made it happen. However, I still think there potentially is an important distinction between Trump made up a completely false story to get out of something he didn’t want to do and Trump had a fairly valid excuse to get out of something he didn’t want to do.
But I’m all done here, I feel like I’m defending the man and that’s not a position I want to be in.
Isn’t it weird when you find yourself doing that? I find myself in that position sometimes with relatives who are warring with each other, trying to cool people down and what not. Ask for folks to be reasonable. And it always makes me feel strange when I realize I’ve put myself in that position.
This is well put.
-xtien