Donald Trump put some of the blame for Syria killing dozens of its own people this week with chemical weapons on President Obama’s policies. But, as usual, Trump offered no solutions of his own. That’s his trademark, always looking in the rear window for a scapegoat rather than at the road ahead for a path to peace.
Just once, I’d like to hear him give a direct answer to a question that starts with “How?” At a press conference today, PBS’ John Yang asked Trump how his policy towards Syria differs from Obama’s. His non-response:
I’m not saying I’m doing anything one way or the other. But I’m certainly not telling you, as much as I respect you, John.
Trump loves that “I’m not telling you” line. He used it during the campaign and the transition, when he promised that he had a plan for fixing all the problems in the Middle East, but wouldn’t share it with us because he didn’t want to tip off the enemy. He’s given similar responses to questions about other important matters, always deflecting them with, “Trust me, you’ll see.”
Last September, I wrote the question journalists should follow up with whenever Trump goes down this evasive route: Would you hire an architect who said, “I have a plan for your building, but won’t reveal it till you hire me”?
By the way, Trump promised to give us a plan to “soundly and quickly defeat ISIS” in the first 30 days of his administration. We’re up to day 76 and he hasn’t said a word about it.
I guess Jared Kushner hasn’t written that one up yet.