Appearing on ABC’s The View on Thursday, President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was confronted by host Meghan McCain for his father’s attacks on Gold Star families (families who lost loved ones in the nation’s armed services).
Trump Jr., embarrassed himself.
Rather than responding with calculated humility, with something along the lines of “Sometimes my father reacts with emotion when he’s attacked, but our fallen heroes deserve nothing but respect,” Don ranted about how unfair the world is to his father, the world’s most powerful man.
“I know [the president] does a lot with Gold Star families,” he said, “When he’s under constant attack by the same people… the reality is this, he’s a counter-puncher. And as a conservative I hope that you [Meghan McCain] would appreciate that conservatives haven’t been known for fighting back for a very long time. They’ve ceded ground to the liberals and the liberal elites for decades by not actually fighting back.”
“You and your family have hurt a lot of people…including the Khan family,” @MeghanMcCain says. “Does all of this make you feel good?”
Trump Jr: “I don’t think any of that makes me feel good, but I do think that we got into this because we wanted to do what’s right for America” pic.twitter.com/dcrTrxtB9I
— ABC News (@ABC) November 7, 2019
To his credit, Trump did then say, “I’m sorry about that,” when asked about his father’s excessive attacks on John McCain.
Still, when you’re dealing with the issue of attacks on Gold Star families, those whose lives are fundamentally intertwined with the sanctity of the nation, you probably shouldn’t resort to variations on the theme “liberal elites bad, counterpunching good.” You should say that those families deserve nothing but respect. You certainly shouldn’t reframe the issue, as Trump Jr. did, to a question of whether the question itself is anti-conservative because it avoids counterpunching.
Trump is obviously passionate about defending his father. That’s understandable. But this was an opportunity for a little humility in face of an obvious truth.
On that count, Donald Trump Jr. failed.
