Donald Trump has shattered many norms in our politics (name calling opponents with respect during debates, pointing to his private parts in a debate, dissing the intelligence community, refusing to release his tax returns and the list goes on) and now he has given his (little) middle finger to one of the most fundamental throughout our history:
Taking responsibility for a military action on his watch that he approved that did not go well.
For Trump, it isn’t that “the buck stops here.” In the case of his failed Yemen raid that cost the lives of an American serviceman and some civilians, it’s all the generals’ fault. One more norm shattered:
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.
Just let that sink in.
He said “And they lost Ryan.”
When has the United States ever had a President who will not take any responsibility in a military operation both because a)the buck stops at the top b)if a President approves an operation he takes the credit or blame c) Presidents defend the military’s honor and reputation?
Owens is the first U.S. service member killed in the line of duty during Trump’s administration.
Trump traveled to greet Owens’s body when it was returned to U.S. soil. Later, Owens’s father said that he refused to meet Trump that day and has called for an investigation into the decision-making that led to the operation.
Trump offered sympathy for the officer’s father, William Owens.
“I can understand people saying that,” Trump said. “I’d feel — you know, I’d feel, what’s worse? There’s nothing worse.”
But never did Trump acknowledge his responsibility as the senior-most leader in the United States military chain of command in authorizing the operation.
AND:
Facing criticism after the military disclosed that the raid left civilians dead in addition to Owens, the White House has repeatedly stated that the mission had been approved by the Obama administration.
What’s worse is that this is yet another big piece of evidence about how hypocritical American politics has become. There has not been an avalanche of reaction from GOP talk show hosts, Republicans in Congress or many conservative writers about this.
You can hear the crickets of partisanship.
It’ll be hard pressed to find Presidents in our history who in public put all of the blame on their generals (although some have complained in private when it came to failed missions or wars).
When it comes to Donald Trump, the buck does’t stop in the Oval Office.
It’s laundered and sent back to the military.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.