begin quote from:
Why did Trump
attack Franken but
stay quiet on
Moore? Simple.
attack Franken but
stay quiet on
Moore? Simple.
CNN.com
Why did Trump attack Franken but stay quiet on Moore? Simple.
Cardona: Trump tweets highlight hypocrisy 02:18
(CNN)When
it comes to making sense of President Donald Trump's public statements,
especially his tweets, the first rule is to not think too hard. Trump
is not operating out of a secret genius playbook. There is no game
theory reasoning in effect here.
So
when Trump, silent for so long on Roy Moore, piped up late Thursday to
attack Minnesota Sen. Al Franken over revelations of sexual misconduct,
the simplest explanation was this: He wanted attention.
Good,
bad, whatever; the tweets guaranteed that we would be talking -- and
here, writing -- about the President. After nearly 10 months in office,
most every day of it in the headlines, there was a possibility that, on
Friday, Trump might wake up to find his name a secondary concern. And
that, it seems, was too much to bear. (No, it didn't hurt that Franken
is a Democrat.)
That the tweets would inevitably rekindle chatter about his own history
-- the Access Hollywood tape, in which he speaks at length about
sexually assaulting women, and the unresolved allegations made against
him during the campaign, to name a few -- was an afterthought.
Not that Trump hadn't thought
about this before. It's been more than a week since Moore's accusers
first spoke out and turned the Alabama Senate race on its ear. The
now-familiar charges against the Republican nominee: molesting a
14-year-old; "dating" teenagers; and the sexual assault of a 16-year-old
in his car.
Republican
leadership in Washington, after some consideration, all but dropped
Moore, cutting off funding to his campaign. House Speaker Paul Ryan and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on him to quit the race.
But
over at the White House, there has been something close to silence.
Words, yes, but a clear position? Nope. (Apart from a statement last
week from the press shop saying that Trump "believes that if these
allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step
aside," a sentiment reiterated by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on
Thursday, there's been nothing. Trump has not tweeted a word about it.)
Why
the unusual quiet? A Republican close to the White House told CNN this
week that Trump was concerned that getting involved in the Moore
situation would provoke another look at his own past.
It's
as good an explanation as any. But the game plan, as it were, unraveled
a little after 10 p.m. ET on Thursday, when Trump sent out the Franken
tweets.
"The Al Frankenstien
picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in
pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?" Trump wrote, adding
later: "And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who
would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl
tape?"
So much for keeping his
head own and hoping for the controversy to pass him by. Trump simply
couldn't help himself. As predicted, the tweets set off a cascade of
reminders. But they also guaranteed the President his place in the news.
And as the growing ranks of armchair Trumpologists should know by now,
that is the point.
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