President Trump spoke Thursday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast in what contained some of the more thoughtful words of his young presidency.
What will likely be the two big stories from the speech, though? Trump joking about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s low ratings on “The Apprentice,” and Trump saying he hopes to attend the National Prayer Breakfast “seven more times,” the first comments he’s made about running for re-election.
It’s not the media’s fault that those will be the big stories, it’s Trump’s fault for making jokes and important news in a speech that should have focused on religious faith.
“The ratings went right down the tubes, it’s been a total disaster. … I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings,” Trump joked toward the start of his speech, surely not something that attendees were expecting.
Nor was that the only moment when Trump delved from the theme of the event. With news reports out this morning about a tense call Trump had with the Australian prime minister, Trump felt the need to say, “When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it.”
Trump could have done well to advance the cause of religious liberty had he stayed loser-focused on that. Instead, the headlines and the articles written on the speech will focus on the moments where Trump got distracted.
Coverage of the speech could have focused on some of Trump’s better lines, like “Freedom of religion is a sacred right,” “Terrorism is a fundamental threat to religious freedom,” “Our republic was formed on the basis that freedom is not a gift from government, but that freedom is a gift from God,” and more. But with Trump’s off-hand comments, those lines will likely get lost.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
