In one of the most bizarre and pettiest episodes of the most bizarre and pettiest of presidencies, Donald Trump entered into a Twitter feud last week with the father of a UCLA basketball player who had been jailed and freed in China for shoplifting.
Now, in another reminder of why 280 character tweets is not the best idea, President Trump is taking things to another level, using Thanksgiving as an opportunity to demand gratitude from and make base threats against a civilian adversary. (Tweets below.)
With no legislative victories to claim in his first year in office, the president took to Twitter to demand credit for something else — not shared credit, not Trump administration credit, sole and personal credit.
While on a team visit to China, UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill were caught shoplifting sunglasses and jailed. The United States successfully negotiated their release, and the players thanked the president for doing his part to free them.
That is not enough for the insecure Trump.
The man who pledged to put “America first” demanded this morning that he not share any recognition:
“It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence – IT WAS ME.”
More than anything else, this shows us where Trump’s priorities really are. Here he is refusing to share credit, even with his own administration, for getting kids out of a Chinese prison — an act previous presidents took for not for credit but because of a sacred duty to American citizens.
Trump seems hellbent on using his presidency to force Thanksgiving into a celebration of himself. Few people on the planet have demonstrated the capacity for such unabashed selfishness, especially not one who is ostensibly a public servant.
And he wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.
Trump attacked Ball’s father LaVar, with whom he has been feuding, in the basest of terms, calling him a poor man’s Don King and a fool.
The President of the United States concluded by taunting Ball with the prospect of his 18-year-old being jailed for a decade.
The debate about whether or not Trump can be presidential was long ago concluded. The behavior of the man in the Oval Office is clearly something more: a disgrace for any citizen. The sooner we elect leaders who will do something about that most obvious of facts, the sooner the once shining city on the hill can cease its role as global embarrassment.
It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence – IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2017
…LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2017
Never has the meaning been clearer of “aMErica First.” Happy Thanksgiving.
