Donald Trump’s funniest behavior is to routinely abuse his patrons. His recent response to a question about Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding, based on how a decent person views Trump’s tortured eldest son—poor Don Jr., born in Trump’s lifetime—may qualify as his funniest riff ever.
The event is the Oval Office, today, afternoon. Trump is asked by a reporter if he plans to attend Don Jr.’s wedding. and Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson this weekend. Here here is the president’s full answer:
Oh, he’d like me to go, but it’ll just be a little, little, private thing, and I’ll try to make it happen. I’m in the middle—I said, “You know, this is not a good time for me. I’ve got something called Iran and stuff.” Oh, that’s one I can’t beat. If I attend, I will be killed. If I don’t attend, I’m killed by fake news, of course, I’m talking about. No, but she has someone I have known for a long time, and we hope they will have a good marriage.
Now let’s analyze.
Trump immediately admits that his son wants to attend the ceremony, but he will not commit this time, even though the wedding is only a few days away. First he floats the explanation that it will be “just a small, small, private thing,” as if there might be no place in the party for him, the groom’s father—whom, we’ve already established, he wants to attend.
Then Trump leans on a new excuse: He’s going to war with Iran. The crisis, while serious, has not stopped the president from engaging in activities such as social media marathon sessions, regular golf outings, and events over the past two weeks. promote future UFC fight at the White House. (“It’s going to be the biggest event we’ve ever had,” Trump told reporters at the time. “The White House doesn’t do athletic events for the most part.”) True, a White House battle comes only once in a lifetime, but Don Jr.’s wedding count is about to reach two and comes with interesting prospects for such youth and family events in the future, given the history of such young people.
The most interesting part of Trump’s response was his explanation that he might stay away from the ceremony out of fear that he would attract negative publicity from “fake news.” This is, to begin with, obviously not true. While the media may question many of Trump’s activities as crossing the line between personal interests and official duties, attending his son’s wedding is not one of them.
Moreover, the idea that Trump would refrain from doing absolutely nothing for fear of backlash from “fake news” is belied by almost every choice he has made in his political life. Just this week, he fearlessly created a taxpayer-funded slush fund for his supporters and openly refused to give money to insurgents who beat up insurgents, and then got the IRS to agree not to audit his taxes. Imagine creating a new level of hypersensitive caution about attracting even persnickety media criticism, and then using it for the first time at your son’s wedding.
Most absurd of all is the notion that Trump is particularly concerned about being seen as indulging in wartime folly. He has spent most of the Iran war campaigning tirelessly on behalf of the proposed new White House lobby, and has even walked guests and the media through the tedious details of his design choices. He has expanded this campaign to claim a new victory venue in Washington, DC. TRUMP: ARCH OF VICTORIA WILL BE GREAT.
This does not seem like the behavior of a man who is so paranoid about appearing so distracted by his war duties that he can’t take a few hours off to attend his son’s wedding. It seems more like the thought process of a man who, according to his first wife’s memoir, initially responded to the notion of giving up his son to Donald by saying, “You can’t do that! What if he’s a loser?”
The unstated possibility that Trump might skip this edition of Don Jr.’s wedding for the next one is suggested by his qualified assessment of marital prospects No. 2 (“We hope they have a good marriage”). The same reluctance comes through in his stunning summary of the bride: “She’s, uh, very personable, uh, that I’ve known for a long time.” This description failed to mention any of her future daughter-in-law’s positive qualities—unless you count knowing Donald Trump as a compliment—or even mention her name.
To be fair, Trump has been working in private, albeit sparingly. According to a “political source” who spoke to People magazine, “The President is happy with how Bettina looks, and wants his son to be satisfied with his other partner.” If one of these comments previews the image of the president’s wedding ceremony, Don Jr. might be better off if his father skips the event.
