Why Donald Trump's good-looking cabinet can't stop making him look bad
At a White House lunch with African leaders on Wednesday, Trump engaged in a bizarre exchange with the New York Times White House reporter Shawn McCreesh.
The day before, when CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked the president who authorised the pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine – at a time when Russia is engaged in a barbarous onslaught, indiscriminately killing civilians – Trump replied, defensively: 'I don't know. Why don't you tell me?'
The Pentagon's puer aeternus, Pete Hegseth, was sitting right beside Trump. And reporters soon ferreted out the information that perennial screw-up Hegseth had ordered the pause without telling Trump, Marco Rubio and other top officials.
Trump reversed the Pentagon chief, reflecting a belated awareness of the fact that Vladimir Putin is playing him for a fool. Like a spurned lover, he keened that his Russian boyfriend's promises are 'meaningless.'
In a follow-up the next day, McCreesh asked Trump if he had figured out who had ordered the munitions to Ukraine halted.
When Trump said no, McCreesh pressed him: 'What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without your knowing?'
Trump bristled. A jester like Hegseth had kept the king in the dark on a consequential move.
'If a decision was made, I will know,' Trump blustered. 'I'll be the first to know. In fact, most likely I'd give the order, but I haven't done that yet.'
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