Sarah Huckabee Sanders Lying For Donald Trump Again, This Time Off The Clock!
The truth is never in the same room or zip code with the Huckster.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who shamelessly lied for years as White House press secretary, was quick to defend her former boss Donald Trump against charges made in The Atlantic that the commander in chief referred to Americans who died in combat as “losers" and “suckers."
From the New York Times :
In a video she posted online that had 3.4 million views by Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Sanders claimed, "I've also sat in the room when the president had to make the most difficult calls of his presidency: when he had to let a parent know that their son had been killed in the line of duty."
"That's a call no president wants to make," she said. "In those moments, I saw the president's heart. And I also saw his commitment to the men and women of our great military."
This is where Columbo or Monk or just an average person with a passing knowledge of military protocol would point out the small flaw in Sanders's pretty story: Presidents don't inform parents that their child has been killed in the line of duty. This news isn't delivered over the telephone, like they won a sweepstakes giveaway. The family is notified in person.
The malicious lies about @realDonaldTrump from anonymous sources in the Atlantic are disgusting. This story is an… https: //t.co/0QTxgxc5kh
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@Sarah Huckabee Sanders) 1599436298.0
After Trump botched the condolence call to the family of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, the Chicago Tribune ran a story about how lousy Trump was at the whole “expression of human sympathy" part of his job. This was barely two years ago.
Despite Trump's boast that he reaches out personally to all families of the fallen, interviews with families members did not support his claim.Some never heard from him at all,and a few who did came away more upset.
Fortunately, military families don't have to rely on Trump to inform them of their loss. Otherwise, he'd leave them wondering why their kids stopped writing home. Sanders's lies are so easily disproven she must really think we're dumb. Granted, she's used to crossing swords with a press that still gives her the benefit of the doubt. Note this Times headline:
New York Times
No, the Huckster didn't “mislead" anyone. She lied because she's a liar who lies. “Misleading" is “Read my lips, no new taxes" or “If you like your crappy insurance plan, you can keep it." She just imagined herself in a room with the president as he made phone calls that the president never makes. Those are fables from a fabulist.
Sanders later “clarified" that she meant condolence calls and not notification calls, but that doesn't track with the actual words she used. She repeated the lie Tuesday on "Good Morning America" — she's promoting her book we won't mention — before George Stephanopoulos called her out on live TV.
SANDERS: I spent more time with the president over two and a half years than just about anybody outside of his family and I saw a president who loves this country, who loves the men and women of the armed forces.I sat with him in the Oval Office as he had to make that awful call to let a parent know that their son had been killed in Afghanistan.At no time, other than that time, have I seen the president show his heart more, show his vulnerability more than in that time.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you were with the president when he called a family to notify them that their son had been killed in Afghanistan. And I thought it was a military protocol that it was always the military that went in person to see the family. Are you talking about a condolence call?
SANDERS: Yes. Correct. A condolence call after that individual had been notified.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Former White House Press Secretary @SarahHuckabee speaks one-on-one with @GStephanopoulos abo… https://t.co/j8sieRs74n
— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America) 1599567579.0
“Condolence" and “notification" are two separate concepts that a non-liar doesn't casually conflate. You've probably said, “I'm sorry for your loss" to someone whose loved one has recently died. That's very different from literally telling them that their child was killed.
Even if Sanders was telling the truth, which is never a bet you should take, it still wouldn't contradict the Atlantic story because we can assume Trump has the savvy political skills not to disparage dead soldiers while on the phone with their families. Well, we could assume it if he hadn't done exactly that; it was a big scandal and former chief of of staff John Kelly disparaged Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson to cover for him.
No one should believe anything Sanders says anyway. She's already admitted to the FBI that she lied to the public about James Comey's firing. She's hardly an unimpeachable character reference for the impeached president.
[ The New York Times / Chicago Tribune ]
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they're all filth.
Sanders acts like there's this kind, considerate and empathetic side of Trump that comes out as soon as the door is shut and the microphone is off and it's a shame we don't know sweet Uncle Donald better. Everyone who's ever known and worked for him and is willing to speak out says the exact opposite: that Trump's as callous and malevolent in private as he is in public, if not more so. Didn't he tell the widow of a soldier who was killed a few years ago that her fallen husband "knew what he was signing up for?"
The closest thing Trump has ever come to showing the smallest modicum of feeling in any situation was a few weeks ago after the death of his brother when he said that he has lost "his best friend" and held a private funeral service for him at the White House. OTOH, he also probably walked out of the service early, complaining loudly that he was hungry and needed to play some golf.