President Trump’s use of the somber occasion of Memorial Day to boast about his administration’s record and settle scores with political opponents led Tuesday to new doubts about his assertion that he “can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office.”
Trump was being panned for touting his economic and military policies while paying tribute to fallen soldiers, but it is not the first time he has demonstrated a tin ear for presidential moments that require no self-aggrandizement.
“Every time I think Trump is starting to understand the role and the decorum surrounding the presidency, he does something stupid like this,” said a Republican strategist who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “If he could stop thinking about himself and start thinking about the country for more than five minutes, it would be a minor miracle.”
Trump devoted much of his online energy Monday to quoting commentators raising questions about tactics used in the Russia investigation, especially having an informant make contact with campaign aides. But it was his specifically Memorial Day-themed message that generated the most outrage.
“Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today,” he tweeted. “Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!”
“My message to the president is, it’s not about you, it’s about the men and women who died to save their country,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “Memorial Day is for veterans; it’s not a day for Donald Trump to honor himself. His lack of respect for veterans generally and John McCain specifically dishonors the high office he holds.”
The president sent out a similar tweet on Thanksgiving last year, his first in office. “HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well,” he wrote. “Jobs coming back, highest Stock Market EVER, Military getting really strong, we will build the WALL, V.A. taking care of our Vets, great Supreme Court Justice, RECORD CUT IN REGS, lowest unemployment in 17 years….!”
It fits within a larger pattern of Trump making major events about himself. After there were no commercial airline deaths in 2017, he took credit by tweeting, “Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation.” He also took sole credit for the release of three American college basketball players who were arrested in China after quarreling with one of their fathers.
“It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar [Ball]’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence — IT WAS ME,” Trump declared, calling the father an “ungrateful fool” and a “poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair.”
“Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump?” he also tweeted. “They were headed for 10 years in jail!”
Trump has at times struggled to shrink his larger-than-life persona to fit within the confines of the presidency. He marveled at the size of the crowds that came to see him when he traveled to Texas to survey hurricane damage. He encouraged his Cabinet secretaries to go around the table, extolling his virtues and thanking him for the opportunity to serve.
But Trump has risen to the occasion in some big moments. His formal Memorial Day remarks and trip to Arlington Cemetery stirred no controversy. Both his speech to a joint session of Congress last year and his first State of the Union address received high marks. Nevertheless, even some of his well-wishers question whether he can string enough such performances together.
Trump’s reputation for braggadocio and self-promotion long predates his political career. A Washington Post op-ed described him as the “master of self-promotion” shortly after he jumped into the presidential race in 2015. ABC News headlined a September 2004 story about Trump, “The genius of self-promotion.”
“No one would dispute that Trump has had many successes, but that does not seem to be good enough for him,” the story reads. “Trump says [he] is not merely great, but the best.”
“He doesn’t seem to get that it’s not all about him,” a Republican strategist told the Washington Examiner. “And I think he never will get that.”
