Once again, NFL players take a knee

On September 3rd The Atlantic magazine published an article that claimed Donald Trump called dead American soldiers “losers” and “suckers.”

Here’s the story behind that story.

Trump was in France, had a trip scheduled to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, cancelled the trip because it was raining and claimed his helicopter couldn’t fly in the rain and the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there because they didn’t have enough time to secure the route.

But according to the Atlantic story, “four people with firsthand knowledge” said that version of events wasn’t true. Trump actually cancelled the trip because he was afraid the rain would screw up his hair.

Also, the damp weather made his bone spurs act up.

(OK, totally made up the bone spur thing, but just wanted to remind you how little it takes to keep Donald Trump safely at home and a bad hair day now seems to be on the list.)

Now here’s a real quote from the Atlantic article:

In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

After reading those quotes, the cartoon posted above occurred to me.

Trump had criticized NFL players who took a knee during the National Anthem and here he was calling American soldiers “losers” and “suckers.” But then Trump denied having said those things and could get away with his denial because the sources for the Atlantic story were anonymous.

The cartoon went on hold.

The Bob Woodward story

Then, on September 9th the Bob Woodward story hit the news.

Woodward had Trump on tape admitting he knew the coronavirus crisis was going to be bad: much worse than he told the American people. So if you weren’t sure before, it was pretty clear Trump was willing to tell a lie when it suited his purposes; a conclusion anyone paying attention could have reached decades ago.

Apparently I’m a slow learner because I was still holding off doing the “loser” cartoon, but I did draw this about Trump’s denials.

Then a bunch of the New York Giants took a knee on Monday Night Football and that made me think about the cartoon I still had on hand, so I checked to see if anyone had looked into Trump’s denials.

Turns out, they had.

According to CNN, a “former senior administration official” confirmed the original story about Trump referring to fallen soldiers in derogatory terms. But since that source was anonymous as well, observers still had to decide whether to believe the unknown sources – now up to five people – or Donald Trump.

If you’re still struggling with that decision, see if this helps.

When Trump denied calling the soldiers “losers” he also said he: "called home, I spoke to my wife and I said, 'I hate this. I came here to go to that ceremony.”

One problem with that version of events; according to CNN, Melania was not at home, she was in France and scheduled to go on the cemetery trip. So his denial about calling soldiers “losers” contained either a false memory or a flat-out lie and neither one does much for Trump’s credibility.

Now put this cherry on top:

The same CNN article said Trump recently sent out a tweet claiming he never called John McCain a loser, but at a 2015 Iowa town hall meeting Trump said: “I don’t like losers” in reference to McCain losing the 2008 election. And it turns out Trump wasn’t done making false claims about McCain.

Trump also said:

"He had a first class, Triple-A funeral that lasted for nine days, by the way. I had to approve it. All of that had to be approved. And I approved it without hesitation and without complaint."

Trump then went on to complain that nobody thanked him. Also, I’m not sure what a Triple-A funeral is, but it sounds like it involves a tow truck and if the White House has one of those, I’m unaware of that fact, but let’s face it — that would be awesome.

But I believe I’m now getting sidetracked and should get back to the main plot.

For the inside story on the claim that Trump had to approve McCain’s funeral, we now go to the CBS News website that says it was “unclear” what Trump was talking about because McCain’s funeral didn’t require Trump’s approval. McCain’s casket did travel on a plane under the president’s control, but according to CBS that’s where Trump’s involvement ended.  

Now here are a few quotes from the same CBS article:

The National Cathedral, which held McCain's funeral service last year, said only state funerals for former presidents involve consultation with government officials, and no funeral requires the president's approval. 

McCain also lay in state in the U.S. Capitol for three days. But that honor was announced by then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in consultation with the two top Congressional Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer. 

Mr. Trump also took two days after McCain's death to order the lowering of the flags at the White House, doing so only after intense public criticism. 

So after reading Trump’s denials – which had numerous credibility problems – I decided he did not deserve the benefit of the doubt and went ahead with the “loser” cartoon.

At the end of the CNN article about Trump’s denials, Jeffrey Goldberg – the guy that wrote the Atlantic article said this: “I have multiple sources telling me this is what happened, and so I stand by it.”

Fair enough.

Over and over again Donald Trump has shown he’s willing to lie to the American people and if that statement gets me in trouble, I’ve got a solid-gold game plan.

I’ll deny I said it.

http://kingfeatures.com/comics/editorial-cartoons-a-z/