Donald Trump is Nothing If Not Meticulous About Facts

At yesterday's press conference, when asked why he didn't condemn the hate groups gathered in Charlottesville earlier, President Donald Trump said:

I didn't wait long. I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement.

The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don't know the facts. It is a very, very important process to me. It is a very important statement. So I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts.

If you go back to my statement, I brought it. I brought it. As I said, remember, Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in America. I went on from there....

When I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. This event just happened. A lot of the event didn't happen yet as we were speaking. This event just happened. Before I make a statement, I need the facts. I don't want to rush into a statement. So making the statement when I made it was excellent.

President Trump makes a good point here. There are too many politicians and pundits who cast blame before the facts are in. It would have been a shame if, in the heat of the moment, Trump had mistakenly condemned the neo-Nazi and KKK marchers, or other fine non-racists who happened to choose to march with them, without the benefit of the facts. That wouldn't be fair to them, and it would risk damaging his reputation for accuracy.

However, Trump should take care that his cool head and sense of nuance doesn't lead people to view him, like his predecessor whose birth he so cautiously investigated, as arrogant and professorial. Americans don't like know-it-all elitists.

Disclaimer: Satire

---

Continue reading...