The Trump White House made a bad thing worse when, after enacting a disastrous and ill-thought-out executive order banning Muslims it as Mark Cuban said, “it calls into question the management skills of the guy in charge.”
He followed this up with an inexcusable lack of communication by saying one thing and allowing his voice, his press secretary, to say something else. Such a thing was unthinkable under President Obama. Now in this latest tweet, Trump has told us we can call it what we want, but it is a ban because it functions exactly like a ban.
This is where it stands now, as CNN’s David Wright parses it for us:
Trump, Monday: “The ban…”
Spicer, Tuesday: “That’s not a ban.”
Trump, Wednesday: “Call it what you want.”
Tomorrow, it might be something different. It depends on how eager Trump is to put his foot in his mouth – again. So…
X, Thursday: “???”
Next time, Donald Trump might want to try something completely alien to him, a “mea culpa” and an acceptance of personal responsibility for the mixed messages sent by his administration. As it is, he is only making himself an object of further ridicule.