In a truly bizarre set of retweets on Twitter Saturday, Donald Trump appears to be patting himself on the back for halting his own decision from earlier this week that would have allowed African elephant heads to be imported.
As I wrote earlier this week, the administration had unexpectedly and inexplicably decided to reverse former President Barack Obama’s ban on the imports.
After facing widespread backlash and ridicule, especially given his sons’ creepy passion for big game hunting, Trump reversed his decision. Now he’s taking credit for it in true Trumpian fashion.
Here’s a set of posts the president retweeted on Saturday morning from two well-known media figures, Piers Morgan and Greta Van Susteren:
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BOOM! Thank you, Mr President. Trophy-hunting is repellent. https://t.co/iEPfEQNX4t
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 18, 2017
Thank you @realDonaldTrump – this is important to so many of us https://t.co/zJAfZByQKX
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) November 18, 2017
The response, at least from these two media figures, came after Trump tweeted on Friday that he was putting his decision to overturn Obama’s ban “on hold.”
Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts. Under study for years. Will update soon with Secretary Zinke. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2017
First of all, no. Absolutely not. Trump deserves no credit, no round of applause, and no favorable news coverage for his move to reverse his initial move.
It took no political courage whatsoever to do this. In fact, without the swift backlash and widespread media coverage, Trump likely would have stuck to his initial decision. He doesn’t care about the moral or humane aspect that caused the backlash – he only cares about political implications or, in particular, how he is perceived on cable news.
It would be one thing if the president was actually overturning his predecessor’s decision to allow the imports of African elephant heads. He wasn’t. He was literally halting an unpopular decision he made just days ago.
The fact that Trump struggled to deal with something so simple is just the latest evidence that he lacks the judgment and fitness to be president.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
