President Trump bungles call

Four Green Berets were ambushed and killed two weeks ago. Monday, President Trump was asked why he had not yet addressed the tragedy. Typical Trump, he began to lash out at President Obama’s handling of such matters.

We know a phone call was placed to the widow of one of the dead soldiers while she was on her way to the airport to receive his body. The call was taken on speakerphone as there were other immediate family members in the vehicle. According to U.S. Rep Frederica Wilson and the family, Trump did not even mention the soldier’s name or properly address his wife.

Thursday, instead of calling the family to apologize and, perhaps, clarify what he meant to say, Trump sent out his chief of staff, who said that Trump handled the phone call “in his own way.” He also mentioned that he counseled Trump not to make the calls.

Sadly, Trump has no insight or decency to rectify the situation by simply calling the family to apologize for his, at best, awkward way of trying to be empathetic. Instead Trump doubles down, lies, and moves on to give himself a 10 in handling the Puerto Rico fiasco. How pathetic.

Making the grade

President Trump said his response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was a 10.

Well, for the first time since he took office, I must agree with him. Trump does deserve a 10.

Out of 1,000.

Let’s all grow up

When I was a kid, we learned that, “Sticks and stones can break my bones; but names will never hurt me.” Not to understand this was consummate immaturity.

Now that I’m older, my response when someone asks my opinion about an issue I don’t know much about is, “I know as much about [that issue] as the average movie star knows about political issues.”

The same goes for kneeling, professional athletes. They get paid the big bucks for performing physical feats, working together as a team, and doing it well. So long as they do that, we should have no complaints. Let’s just ignore it when they express a point of view about anything else. Not to do so gives their opinions more power than they’re worth.

Whether we’re professional athletes, God-fearing evangelicals, blacks whose lives certainly do matter, or the president of the United States, we all need to grow up, grow thicker skins, and make sure we know at least enough about the things that offend us to understand what makes others think they’re right when they’re so wrong.

Deadly addiction

In his Oct. 19 column, “Democrats can’t tear themselves away from that liberal Hollywood money,” Ed Rogers says that the Democrats’ addiction to Hollywood is permanent, and Dems are in denial. While there is some truth to that, Republicans are more addicted to the NRA, an organization that has contributed to the deaths of thousands of Americans. Of course, Rogers makes no mention of this addiction, which is far worse than any addiction to Hollywood.

A failure

I’m absolutely shocked that our leader gave himself a 10 on handling the disaster in Puerto Rico. A man of his high status easily should have given himself an 11, or even a 12. The island’s governor sat there and had to endure that garbage. Shame on the White House.

Push gun control

Re the Oct. 18 story “Judge: Newest travel ban ‘same maladies’ as previous version,” about President Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries: If Trump really wanted to keep us safe, he would propose stronger gun-control laws. On average, more 30,000 Americans die each year from gun violence, and since 9/11 the cumulative total is close to 500,000.

How many Americans have died in terrorist attacks, excluding American terrorist attacks?

The Cato Institute, a right-wing think tank, recently concluded you had a greater chance of dying by falling down a flight of stairs, slipping in your bathroom, or being hit by lightning, than in a terrorist attack.

It’s been three weeks since the domestic terrorist attack in Las Vegas, and so far no gun-control legislation has been proposed. If not now, when?

Kelly disappoints

I am astounded that none of Rep. Frederica Wilson’s colleagues have stood up for her in her expectation of sympathy, honesty, and fairness. Even if one were to excuse President Trump for a poor choice of words, what is his excuse for not familiarizing himself with the name of the fallen hero when calling his bereaved widow and callously referring to him as “your guy.” How does one excuse that?

Gen. John Kelly berating Rep. Wilson for listening in on the president’s call, which happened to be on speakerphone, was totally uncalled for. Then he went on to provide a false recollection, or outright misrepresentation, of the events of 2015 federal building naming ceremony. It seems that the only adult in the White House nursery has blown his cover. Under his dour demeanor he is really part of the flock, proving the adage, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Day brightened

In a whole newspaper filled top to bottom, back to front with stories of hate, it was so nice to find hidden away in the bottom corner of the Oct. 20 opinion page a letter headlined “A kind man.” It was written by a woman whose flat tire was fixed by a passing man who, like most of us, was brought up to be nice to women.

Wrong words

Gen. John Kelly is a brilliant commanding general who lacks the insight and human understanding to realize that the words used by his commanding general to comfort him would not be appropriate to comfort a young wife and mother who has just lost her husband and the father of her children.

BDS must end

When people criticize Israel, the only real democracy in the Middle East, under the banner of BDS — Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions — it seems to me that BDS stands for Bad, Dumb, Stupid. Trying to hurt the Israeli economy is counterproductive to the cause of freedom and democracy in the world.

This story was originally published October 21, 2017 at 5:05 PM with the headline "President Trump bungles call."