President Donald Trump, who has found time to golf on five separate occasions in the last two weeks, admitted on Monday that he still has not bothered to reach out, even privately, to the families who lost loved ones during an ISIS ambush attack on Oct. 4 in Niger, which claimed the lives of four U.S. troops. The reason? He hasn’t been able to do it.
Asked at a Rose Garden press briefing about why, 12 days after the attack, he had contacted the families or even publicly acknowledged the deaths or honored the Special Forces members, Trump complained that it was very difficult for him to deliver bad news.
“It gets to a point where, you know, you make four or five of them in one day, it’s a very, very tough day,” Trump stressed while answering a question from reporter Sara Murray.
Trump insisted he would reach out soon, that he had written letters to the families “over the weekend,” and that the letters would be sent “today or tomorrow.”
This coming from a man who, during the 12 days since the Niger ambush —the deadliest combat attack on U.S. forces since he took office— has had time to go golfing five times but hasn’t had time to reach out to the families.
Trump hasn’t taken two minutes to tweet about these men: Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, 35; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, 39; Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, 29, of Lyons; and Sgt. La David Johnson, 25. This, despite insisting in September, when he defended his obsession with attacking protesting athletes, “I have plenty of time on my hands.”
Adding to his callous behavior, Trump defended his lack of compassion by claiming that his slow response was similar to how President Barack Obama dealt with military deaths.
“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of ’em didn’t make calls, a lot of ’em didn’t make calls,” said Trump.
His claim prompted an angry response from Twitter users, almost in real time.
that's a fucking lie. to say president obama (or past presidents) didn't call the family members of soldiers KIA – he's a deranged animal.
— Alyssa Mastromonaco (@AlyssaMastro44) October 16, 2017
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