Daring Fireball: Profile in Courage

Abby Phillip, reporting for The Washington Post:

Weeks after a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed in a covert mission in Yemen, Trump has resisted accepting responsibility for authorizing the mission and the subsequent death of Senior Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens.

In an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday morning, Trump said the mission “was started before I got here.” He noted that the operation was something his generals “were looking at for a long time doing.”

“This was something that was, you know, just — they wanted to do,” Trump said. “ And they came to see me and they explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected.”

“And they lost Ryan,” Trump continued.

Harry Truman: “The buck stops here.”

Donald Trump: “They lost Ryan.”

In other news from the kakistocracy today:

Trump accused Barack Obama of orchestrating the protests against him.
Asked about the alarming spate of anti-Semitic attacks and threats across the nation (including hundreds of desecrated headstones right here in Philadelphia), Trump reportedly said “Sometimes it’s the reverse, to make people — or to make others — look bad.”
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a statement describing historically black colleges as “real pioneers when it comes to school choice”, when in fact they were created as a result of legalized segregation and Jim Crow laws — the opposite of choice.

So: cowardice, paranoia, anti-Semitism, and tone-deaf racism.

★ Tuesday, 28 February 2017