On Script or Off Script, Words Killing Trump Presidency!

Trump Explaining Climate Change Decision

Donald Trump took his time before announcing to the American people he'd backed the country out of the so-called Paris Accord on the movement toward clean energy to protect planet Earth.(175 countries signed the agreement. Only 2, Syria and Nicaragua did not.  Now, there are 3 non-participating countries.)

While America waited, Trump was not consulting with scientists, weighing his decision.  He was simply practicing his speech, written by someone in his trusted circle.

Trump does well on stump speeches, repeating timeworn phrases like "make America great again" and "lock her up," but struggles with extemporaneous speech from notes or manuscript.

This particular speech, his best since the inauguration, was not particularly well written.  At the speech's most critical point, Trump hesitated and glanced at the manuscript to make certain he captured the phrase correctly: "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. I promised I would exit or renegotiate any deal which fails to serve America's interests."

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto

That's a catchy line, Steve Bannon, but inaccurate on its face.  Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto quickly rebuked Trump:  "For decades Pittsburgh has been rebuilding its economy based on hopes for our people and our future, not on outdated fantasies about our past. The City and its many partners will continue to do the same, despite the President's imprudent announcements yesterday," Peduto said.

Even I knew that.  In 1970 I was in Pittsburgh for post-graduate studies.  Each day back from class, I would notice actual black soot in my nostrils.  It was a smoke stack industry city. But, in the decades since, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself and worked vigorously toward air quality.

Let's examine the other city mentioned in Trump's ill-advised statement; Paris.  Paris was the host city for the meetings that resulted in the original agreement among the vast majority of countries to work together to protect air quality, but it's not a Paris vs. Pittsburgh contest.  That's ludicrous and, actually, juvenile.  “L'habit ne fait pas le moine.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Trump made a serious gaffe today with a tweet criticizing the Mayor of London, the Right Honorable Sadiq Khan, a London native born to a British Pakistani family.  Mayor Khan, after the vehicular homicide at the London Bridge and at least three knife murders had tried to reassure locals:  “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days,” Mr. Khan said. “No reason to be alarmed. One of the things the police, all of us, need to do is make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be. I’m reassured that we are one of the safest global cities in the world, if not the safest global city in the world, but we always evolve and review ways to make sure that we remain as safe as we possibly can.”

Trump took Mayor Khan's remarks out of context(Khan claims intentionally):  “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack,” Trump wrote on his personal Twitter account, “and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!”

Of course, Mayor Khan didn't say citizens should not be alarmed at terrorist attacks, but at the increased police presence needed to maintain security.

Is Trump that dumb?  Probably.