February 27, 2019
LIKE A BAD VERSION OF NIXON:
Thousands of miles away from Washington, Trump takes aim at Cohen (Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey February 27, 2019, Washington Post)
"I know what Mr. Trump is," Cohen wrote in his prepared testimony. "He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat."White House officials had hoped Trump would not become distracted overseas by the spectacle of his former attorney and fixer testifying publicly for the first time. But the president's mind, no matter where he is, often is on domestic issues and his political standing, current and former advisers said.During a Wednesday afternoon lull at his hotel, Trump took to Twitter to slam one of his domestic critics, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)."I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?)," the president tweeted. "His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud -- he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!"Trump was referring to Blumenthal's admission during his 2010 Senate campaign that he misrepresented his military service. He was in the Marine Corps Reserve, but did his service in the United States, not in Vietnam. Trump has made up false claims about Blumenthal, such as saying the senator brags about his heroism in Da Nang.For his part, Trump received multiple deferments from the Vietnam draft, citing a bone spur. In his testimony, Cohen recalls that Trump asked him to manage press coverage of his deferments and once told him, "You think I'm stupid, I wasn't going to Vietnam."
Donald's incompetence is nowhere more obvious than when he tries to ape Richard Nixon. The point of the "Madman Strategy" is to scare the enemy into doing what you want, not to do what it is he wants, as he has with Kim. And, of course, when you try escaping your scandals by acting presidential abroad you don't then call attention to your own lies.
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 27, 2019 12:04 AM