Trump Easter Truth Proves He Is Still Not Getting It

So Trump put this out yesterday. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fing Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP" Now he actually wrote the word out in full. We could repeat it here, but as many of you know, we have taken the approach of trying to keep this a family-oriented program wherever possible and follow the general standards of terrestrial media. So we’ll keep it toned down here. There are two areas I want to go with this, and I’m curious to get your takes in the YouTube chat. Number one, this is not what I want from my president. Look, I think some of the things Trump does are funny. Some of the ways he goes after people can be funny. But in many ways, that style has sort of run its course. It’s like a TV show or a comedy act. When Trump was running in 2015 and 2016, I made the mistake of thinking it was all an act. I thought once he got elected, he would shift into a more professional, CEO-style mode and we would get the serious version of Trump as president. Instead, what we got is campaign Trump as President Trump. Personally, I don’t want my president using that kind of language publicly. Maybe that makes me a wimp. Maybe it makes me a fuddy-duddy. But I think there should be a certain level of decorum with the presidency. I don’t think it’s necessary, and I don’t think you gain anything by doing it. It’s one of the reasons we’ve decided not to really swear on this program. I use some words people might consider mild swearing, but if you can’t say it on terrestrial radio, I generally don’t say it here. I don’t think I gain anything by using those words. I’m not going to gain listeners by doing it, and I might lose some people who want to listen with their kids around. So I don’t see what Trump gains by doing that. Who did you bring onto your side with that tweet? Are the Iranians going to take you more seriously because you used that language? And then there’s the line about people “living in hell.” What does that get you? What does that accomplish? Does that make the Iranians move in a different direction? The tone of the whole tweet bothers me. The aggressive nature of it bothers me. Look, if I’m speaking to Trump here, I’d say this: everything you’ve done with Iran so far hasn’t been clearly explained to the American people. You haven’t laid out how this makes us safer or how life is better for Americans because of it. What we do know is that gas prices have gone up well over a dollar a gallon in many places since these actions began. Everything is getting more expensive. Iran hasn’t backed down. Iran is fighting back. Are we “winning” in the sense of pure military power—things we’ve blown up, targets we’ve destroyed? Sure. But are we winning in the long game? Are we winning in terms of public confidence, the cost of goods and services, and how Americans feel about what’s happening? The answer to that seems to be no. Trump can point to things that have been destroyed or targets that have been taken out. But where are the American people who elected you? How are they responding? His popularity has taken a net negative hit on this issue. A lot of people are saying the same thing I am: if this action was necessary because there was an imminent threat to the United States, then explain it. Have you noticed there hasn’t really been a sales pitch? We’ve been involved in this for about a month now, and the administration hasn’t clearly laid out any imminent threat that didn’t exist the week before the engagement began. That’s part of why people are losing confidence. There may very well have been intelligence that justified this action. If that’s the case, tell us. When the administration doesn’t explain why Americans are being asked to absorb higher costs or increased instability, people start getting angry. They want to know why they’re paying more at a time when they’re already paying more for everything else. Later in the show we’re going to look at data about how much the national debt has grown since Trump promised in 2016 that he would pay it off within eight years. Some people think this war is about Israel—that it’s an obligation to Israel or being done to benefit Israel. When the administration doesn’t make the case about how it benefits Americans, it’s not unreasonable for people to start wondering if something else is driving the decision. Trump has done a very poor job explaining why this war makes America better off. In fact, he hasn’t really made the case at all. So that’s the first issue for me. The tweet feels unprofessional and unbecoming of the presidency. Even if someone believes the military action is justified, the president still has to rise above that kind of rhetoric. The president should always be thinking about how to keep as many people as possible on board. What’s the path to keeping people together? What’s the path to unity? That tweet didn’t do that. The second issue is the timing. It was posted on Easter. You can call me old-fashioned or say I’m not part of the cool kids club anymore, and that’s fine. But Easter is the most important day in the Christian faith, and a large portion of Trump’s supporters are Christians. The tweet felt poorly timed. It felt like the wrong way to express anger at Iran on a day like that. I’m not saying the president can only talk about Easter on Easter. Obviously the responsibilities of the presidency don’t stop for holidays. You can still address world events or national security issues. But for many people, that was the first thing they saw when they woke up on Easter morning. It just felt wrong on multiple levels, and I don’t think it helped accomplish whatever Trump was trying to accomplish. If the goal was to send a message to Iran that the U.S. is serious, maybe you deliver that message later in the day and with a little more tact. I’m curious what you think. Let me know in the YouTube chat. Am I off base here, or are you with me on this?