What did Donald Trump do today?
He lied about the deaths of migrant children.
Trump, who has been vocally upset at the prospect of being confined by political reality to the White House for the holidays, has been passing the time on Twitter. Today, in an attempt to shift blame for the deaths of two young children in Border Patrol custody to "Democrats," he tweeted this about the death of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, who died of dehydration:
In reality, Nery Gilberto Caal Cuz said no such thing, and immediately contradicted a Border Patrol statement claiming he did. What he did say was that he and his daughter were refused water after being taken into custody.
Until Trump's recent changes to policy that specifically targeted families legally seeking asylum and forced them into detention in what amount to adult jails, no child had died in CBP custody for at least ten years.
However, Trump is correct that Border Patrol employees working hard without "credit": unless and until he signs a spending bill to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security, they are working without pay.
Why should I care about this?
- A president who deliberately pursues policies that cause children to die unnecessarily is incompetent.
- A president who refuses to change those policies after children have died because it would hurt him politically is a monster.
- Past a certain point, lack of empathy becomes evidence of serious mental illness.
- Anyone for whom spending time in the White House is a hardship is probably too fragile to be president.