After Hawaii was sent into panic early Saturday morning by a false alert stating that a nuclear missile had been launched in the state’s direction and that residents should seek refuge, the first tweet any person other than Donald Trump would have published after the incident would have been addressing what happened.
Instead, Trump completely ignored the situation and opted to, for the umpteenth time, rail against the media.
So much Fake News is being reported. They don’t even try to get it right, or correct it when they are wrong. They promote the Fake Book of a mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information. The Mainstream Media is crazed that WE won the election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2018
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“So much Fake News is being reported,” he wrote. “They don’t even try to get it right, or correct it when they are wrong. They promote the Fake Book of a mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information. The Mainstream Media is crazed that WE won the election!”
It’s unclear what exactly triggered this particular outburst; given the fact that he reportedly watches up to eight hours of television per day, it might have just been the latest news segment he watched in which he wasn’t showered with praise.
Instead of lashing out about negative coverage, the first thing Trump should have done was confirm that no U.S. state was under attack. While other legislators in lower offices, such as Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, reassured Hawaiians and Americans as a whole that there was no attack, Trump should have acted like the leader of a country and done the same. Especially since his petty attacks against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are largely to blame for the constant fear the world feels about the possibility of nuclear war.
