Donald Trump is justifiably taking a lot of heat for his 100 percent false claims that “President Obama and other presidents” didn’t personally make calls to the families of fallen soldiers when asked a question during a Monday press conference about why the American people haven’t heard anything from him about the four United States Green Berets who were killed in Niger on October 6. Interestingly enough, unlike most of the things Trump says or tweets with the intention to instigate, his remarks seemed to have been made after being caught off guard — like an ill-prepared high school student being called on by a teacher.
Of course, that doesn’t make what he said any less “gross,” as the Morning Joe crew pointed out on Tuesday morning, even more outraged than usual by the president’s words. After rolling the clip of Trump going on about how difficult it is, for him personally, to console grieving families, Mika Brzezinski was barely able to contain her disgust. “Really? It’s tough? It’s tough for you?” she asked, incredulously. “I wonder if it’s tough as the parents who lost their sons and daughters, or brothers and sisters, husbands, wives, kids, who lost someone. Can he make a moment, perhaps just one, not about himself? It’s really hard to watch. It’s just gross, it’s offensive,” she continued.
When pointed out by a panelist that this is the President of the United States “lowering the office,” Brzezinski shot back, “This is rock bottom, when he speaks like this about our heroes.”
They later turned things over to Josh Earnest, former White House Press Secretary under the Obama administration, who had a starkly different recollection of events than what Trump is claiming. “I did see President Obama in a variety of circumstances show his enormous respect for those who had paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” he said. “In doing so President Obama also revealed the enormous burden that is carried by the commander-in-chief in terms of making the kind of life and death decisions that are going to have an impact on people who have signed up to sacrifice for our country.”
Earnest noted that Obama also did not look for accolades while honoring our fallen soldiers, and would pay his respects in private, eschewing press coverage or photographers. “President Obama’s preferences were always to not seek that attention,” he said, illustrating the way a president honoring that sacrifice shouldn’t make it about themselves.