Donald Trump holds disastrous press conference about alleged wife beater Rob Porter
As ugly as the Rob Porter domestic abuse scandal and White House coverup has been for Donald Trump, he still had an out for himself. All he had to do was say that he only recently learned about it, and that he’s as disgusted by domestic violence as anyone else is, and that he’s relieved that Porter has resigned, while letting John Kelly take the blame. Instead, when Trump got the question during a press conference today, he made a statement that was offensive in nature and politically disastrous for himself.
In response to a reporter’s question, Trump gave a fifty-second rambling answer which started off like this: “Well, we wish him well. He worked very hard. I found out about it recently, and I was surprised by it.” Okay, not disastrous yet. But then he made a point of wishing Porter well again, while saying that it was “obviously a tough time” for Porter. What, no mention of it being a tough time for the two ex-wives who were allegedly beaten up? Then it got worse.
“We hope he has a wonderful career, hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him,” Trump continued. Uh, no. This is the kind of thing you say about someone who resigned because he fell ill and couldn’t do the job anymore, not someone who resigned because the public found out that his ex-wife had a restraining order against him. But then Trump decided to make it much, much worse for himself.
Donald Trump finished his statement by saying this of Rob Porter: “As you probably know, he says he’s innocent, and I think you have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent.” This kind of thing matters in a court of law, but not when it comes to hiring an alleged criminal for a White House job. Trump obviously can’t bring himself to condemn Porter’s actions, or even acknowledge the evidence against Porter, because Trump himself has been accused of violence and assault by so many women. Not only did Trump take the wrong side here, he reminded everyone of his own horrible treatment of women.
