A tale of two Trumps
Anecessary exercise of presidential duty: Monday afternoon, President Trump gave a Vietnam War hero his belated due. An unnecessary fit of presidential pique: The same day, Trump escalated a war of words with a grieving widow who exposed a White House disinformation campaign.
Sad to say, it is the latter — a stain on the dignity of the office he holds — for which Trump will long be remembered.
First: Gary Rose, now 70, is owed his moment, in fact many moments, in the spotlight for purest valor exhibited 47 years ago.
In September 1970, Army medic Sgt. Rose, 22, traveled into Laos with 15 fellow Green Berets and 120 Vietnamese fighters on a clandestine mission to draw out North Vietnamese soldiers who had been attacking CIA-controlled airfields.
Upon arrival, the squad came under intense enemy fire. Rose rushed to tend to the wounded — and as casualties mounted over the next four days, he was tireless in treating his comrades, even after he was severely wounded himself.
When three rescue choppers came, Rose was among the last to board. Then, Rose’s aircraft came under enemy fire and crash-landed. With the chopper smoking and leaking fuel, Rose pulled survivors from the wreckage and provided more medical aid — until another helicopter arrived.
Finally headed back to base, Rose, covered in blood, refused all treatment until the men in his care were first attended to.
Total number of wounded men this one man aided in four solid days of grit and gallantry: 60 to 70. Total lives he saved, now meriting the Medal of Honor: easily in the dozens.
The four men lost in a terrorist ambush in Niger this month deserve to have their stories told, too. But because of Trump’s rabid refusal to lose a rhetorical skirmish, one man’s memory has forever become eclipsed by spasms of presidential dishonor.
First, Trump focused his fire on Rep. Frederica Wilson, calling her a liar for claiming the President had upset Myeshia Johnson in a condolence call by speaking insensitively and forgetting the name of her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson.
Wilson “totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof),” he tweeted. But he never had proof. And that claim of “total fabrication,” well, it turned out to be a total fabrication.
Myeshia Johnson herself made as much clear on Monday, telling ABC News that Wilson’s characterization was “100% correct”: “I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most . . . ”
Moreover, “I heard him say, ‘Well I guess you know he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts’ ” — an exact affirmation of the account Trump bitterly rejected.
We trust Johnson’s recollection, which squares with Wilson’s, over Trump’s. The President is a proven prevaricator.
His facts now having been set straight by a distressed Gold Star widow, a bigger commander-inchief would stand down. He would apologize for any hurt he may have caused, even if inadvertent.
Trump refuses. Instead, he calls Myeshia Johnson a liar, saying he spoke La David Johnson’s name “from beginning, without hesitation.”
Every time he punches back, he assaults the dignity of the presidency.