Trump battles war widow and loses

This appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

President Donald Trump had absolutely no political points to score by winning a fight against a Gold Star widow, so why engage? His backfired attempt to comfort Myeshia Johnson over the Oct. 4 death in Niger of her husband, Army Special Forces Sgt. La David Johnston, made a mockery of simple compassion. The widow, a pregnant mother of two, now fumes in anger. And, as is typical of Trump, he has turned the controversy over a botched condolence call into a childish public feud via Twitter.

Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, added to the furor by attacking a congresswoman who had been sitting with the widow when Trump phoned. Is the White House so desperate for a victory that it would stoop this low?

During the call, Johnson says, Trump struggled with the sergeant’s name, referring to him as “your guy.” He told the widow that Sgt. Johnson “knew what he signed up for.”

Kelly opted to go on the attack against Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., for having listened in on the “sacred” condolence call and then criticizing Trump on TV. Trump labelled Wilson “wacky” and dishonest. This is the kind of mess that only a compassion-challenged person like Trump could create. His attitude might help him in some political contexts. In this one, it only makes him look pathetic.