Donald Trump caught lying about Melania Trump’s involvement in his military scandal
It is not surprising that Donald Trump is pushing back hard against The Atlantic’s bombshell reporting Thursday evening about disgusting comments he made about U.S. servicemembers. We had already seen Trump disparage veterans, attack war heroes, mock disabled Americans, and display shocking ignorance about the military, but these new revelations further amplify the breadth and depth of Trump’s disqualifying depravity to an alarming level.
Any politician with half a brain who wishes to rebut such a damaging story would do so extremely carefully, knowing that his or her life, job, and reputation depend on it. However, Trump is a lumbering fool who likes to blurt out whatever lie comes to mind at the moment. So, it is also not surprising that Trump wasted no time in making his situation even worse.
Within hours of The Atlantic’s reporting, Trump arrived at Joint Base Andrews on Air Force One. He then defended himself to reporters about “fake things, fake news, corrupt news, the kind of news that’s ruining your profession,” adding that “everyone knows it’s false.” Trump then claimed that after he was supposedly told it would be impractical for him to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery outside Paris in 2018, he “called home” and “spoke to my wife,” telling her that he “came here to go to that ceremony” and told her, “I hate this… I feel terribly.”
If this anecdote were true, it would at least offer a countervailing narrative about Trump’s state of mind and where his heart was at the time. Unfortunately for this soulless ignoramus, CNN fact-checkers promptly identified Trump’s tale as a work of fiction. Trump could not have “called home” because Melania was on the very same trip with Trump and was even scheduled to attend that ceremony with him. In fact, after Trump reportedly wasted the time relaxing in front of the TV at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, he and Melania joined French President Emmanuel Macron for dinner.
It is no wonder Melania then tweeted a blanket refutation of the whole story on Friday evening, having been caught up in Trump’s latest off-the-cuff lie about calling home to her. Not only did Trump’s lame attempt to repel The Atlantic’s revelations backfire because he offered an easily provable lie, but this incident serves as yet another remarkable example of how Trump acts without thinking and winds up shooting himself in the foot. If Trump continues with this unhinged, clumsy, self-sabotaging behavior through Election Day, Joe Biden will win in a landslide.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month