By Maureen Dowd
At a White House lunch with African leaders on Wednesday, Trump engaged in a bizarre exchange with the New York Times White House reporter Shawn McCreesh.
The day before, when CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the president who authorized the pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine — at a time when Russia is engaged in a barbarous onslaught, indiscriminately killing civilians — Trump replied, defensively: “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
The Pentagon’s puer aeternus, Pete Hegseth, was sitting right beside Trump. And reporters soon ferreted out the information that perennial screw-up Hegseth had ordered the pause without telling Trump, Marco Rubio and other top officials.
When Trump said no, McCreesh pressed him: “What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without your knowing?”
Trump bristled. A jester like Hegseth had kept the king in the dark on a consequential move.
“If a decision was made, I will know,” Trump blustered. “I’ll be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet.”
It is not reassuring, at a time of man-made and natural disasters, that the president is spouting gobbledygook and his maladroit cabinet members are spinning out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/opinion/trump-cabinet-hegseth-bondi.html
At a White House lunch with African leaders on Wednesday, Trump engaged in a bizarre exchange with the New York Times White House reporter Shawn McCreesh.
The day before, when CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the president who authorized the pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine — at a time when Russia is engaged in a barbarous onslaught, indiscriminately killing civilians — Trump replied, defensively: “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
The Pentagon’s puer aeternus, Pete Hegseth, was sitting right beside Trump. And reporters soon ferreted out the information that perennial screw-up Hegseth had ordered the pause without telling Trump, Marco Rubio and other top officials.
When Trump said no, McCreesh pressed him: “What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without your knowing?”
Trump bristled. A jester like Hegseth had kept the king in the dark on a consequential move.
“If a decision was made, I will know,” Trump blustered. “I’ll be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet.”
It is not reassuring, at a time of man-made and natural disasters, that the president is spouting gobbledygook and his maladroit cabinet members are spinning out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/opinion/trump-cabinet-hegseth-bondi.html
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