Regarding his aptitude for debating, Donald Trump’s self-assessment matches pretty much everything else he thinks about himself: He is, plainly, a natural.
On that front, here’s what this Shohei Ohtani of the verbal thrust-and-parry told Ted Koppel in a CBS Sunday Morning interview in July 2016:
“I think I surprised a lot of people. But I enjoyed the [Republican presidential primary] debates. My biggest question when I got into this is, what’s gonna happen with the debates, ’cause I’d never debated professionally before. You know, my whole life is a debate in a way. But you know, to go on a stage and — I went on against people, that’s all they do is debate — you know, they’re politicians. And I actually loved debating. I enjoyed it.”
By now, as an avid follower of politics and an astute subscriber to this website, you know this self-appointed champion of rhetorical jousting recently ratcheted up his claimed credentials, claiming a Bronze Star for gallantry in public argumentation.
Speaking at the [New York Young Republican Club’s] swanky, Manhattan event, Trump defended his infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he says he can grab women by their genitals because he is famous. “A general who’s a fantastic general, actually said to me, ‘Sir, I’ve been on the battlefield. Men have gone down on my left and on my right. I stood on hills where soldiers were killed. But I believe the bravest thing I’ve ever seen was the night you went onto that stage with Hillary Clinton after what happened,’” Trump told the New York audience.
All that was missing from this — *cough* highrise tale *cough* — were the trademark “tears in his eyes” that distinguish Trump’s vainglorious fables. In the company of a hero unwitnessed since Audie Murphy, the eyes of the “fantastic general” weren’t even a wee bit moist? What an omission!
We reiterate: You can believe that if you want to. However, the failure of the cult that regards Trump as America’s straightest shooter, the one politician who truly tells it like it is, to provide the name of the awed general reveals all you need to know about the anecdote’s veracity.
Trump’s probable stolen valor got no pass from the one military veteran in the GOP presidential field. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who served with a detachment of U.S. Navy SEALs in Iraq during 2007-2008 as part of “the surge” of American forces (earning a legitimate Bronze Star “for meritorious service”), swatted Trump like a shellshocked private.
Trump denigrates military service by claiming it is “braver” that he debated Hillary Clinton than what soldiers endure on the battlefield.
Debating isn’t “brave”; it’s the bare minimum any candidate should do. Hiding from debates, on the other hand, is an example of cowardice. https://t.co/Lik0THOHEN
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 10, 2023
It’s not the first time Trump has been accused of cowardice for debate absenteeism. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been slamming him for months, telling Wolf Blitzer’s CNN audience this in September:
“And by the way, if he had any guts, he’d get on the debate stage,” Christie said. “And he’s got things to say about me? Stop hiding behind your social media site, your failed social media site, Donald, and start taking me on directly. Show up. Stop being a coward.”
About this. Christie is a classic New Jerseyite, a rough-and-tumble guy, a former tough-nut federal prosecutor and a gleefully confrontational chief executive. We’d be stunned if Christie didn’t mount personal attacks.
Until now, however, DeSantis has jabbed at Trump for his policy priorities: COVID lockdown advocacy, abdicating promises to build a border wall, running up the federal debt, failing to “drain the swamp” and the like. This was different. This was personal.
As a Navy lawyer (part of the Judge Advocate General Corps), DeSantis served with legitimately brave military personnel who put their lives and limbs on the line. He knows SEALs and Army Green Berets who stood, indeed, on the hills Trump conjured for his mythical general. Who charged into Fallujah’s town squares and Ramadi’s alleyways not knowing if they’d emerge on the other side.
In his boundless narcissism, Trump deserved calling out, especially by a combat veteran. But we can thank Trump for this, at least: As the world grows increasingly dangerous by the day, and increasingly hostile to Western political philosophy, it’s useful to be reminded there’s one candidate available who served meritoriously alongside America’s bravest, and who strived to make sure U.S. forces maintained the rule of law.
Don’t expect this latest shaming will suddenly persuade Trump that, out of principle, he should participate the next time Republicans perform one of their mass media briefings. Trump’s foremost quality may be his inability to be shamed.
The same also can be said of those who have attached themselves to his everlasting hubris. Trump doesn’t know what America’s nuclear triad is? They don’t care. Trump gave Tony Fauci, the author of their prolonged lockdown misery, a medal on his last full day in office? They didn’t care.
Trump endorsed huge spending plans pushed by Democrats on Capitol Hill over more modest GOP proposals? They don’t care. Trump added more to the federal debt in four years than Barack Obama did in eight? They don’t care.
Trump didn’t build the wall, didn’t get Mexico to pay for it, and labels as “losers” anyone who believed him? They don’t care. Trump backed the CARE Act, in which the seeds of electoral defeats for him and congressional Republicans were sown? They don’t care.
Trump is stuck in 2020, rehashing his unprovable claims of a stolen election while denying any connection to the worst abuses of January 6, 2021? Never mind that the nation’s most significant challenges and greatest opportunities lie ahead. Trump’s grievances are the one topic MAGA cares about.
Would having to defend all that on a stage alongside his challengers be instructive, enlightening, and needle-moving? Who knows? The one guy who could resolve the question, the chap with unfailing bravery, lacks the nerve to find out.
