The question to President Trump was straightforward: Why does he seem to accept the Saudi Arabian crown prince’s denials that he ordered the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi over the intelligence his own CIA has gathered?
Trump began his answer by equivocating about Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement. Then he bragged about badgering the Saudi leader over oil prices this summer. Next he claimed personal credit for a sharp drop in prices. And then he complained the Palm Beach Post published a story last week blaming him for the traffic jams caused by cheap gas.
The only catch: The https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/florida/?tid=a_inl_auto (Florida) newspaper’s front-page story last week about Thanksgiving travel did not attribute holiday traffic to the president. In fact, it did not mention Trump’s name.
This single meandering exchange in an interview Tuesday with The Washington Post neatly encapsulated Trump’s standard rules of engagement. He responds to questions with a torrent of words, digressions and self-congratulatory boasts. He makes humorous asides. He brushes away facts to spin his own reality. He sells his own accomplishments, no matter the question. And he tries to run out the clock with long-winded answers.
