Instead of lowering flags, Trump lowers his pants and shows his ass

[UPDATE: It's being reported that the White House has changed its mind about lowering the flags to honor the Annapolis victims. Nevertheless, I stand by every word I wrote -- especially the second point. It was true when I wrote it and I believe it was Trump's first reaction, regardless what his flacks say now. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time they've lied, now, would it?]

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I read a story on NPR news this morning that said our faux-president, Donald J. Trump, has refused a request to lower the nation’s flags to honor the shooting victims at the Annapolis Capital Gazette newspaper.

This story may not get the national attention of, say, a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin or Trump-imposed tariffs that are going to cost thousands of American jobs, but it points out two things that are inherently wrong with the administration of Commander Bone Spur.

First, it demonstrates as clearly as anything else how petty and petulant the faux-president can be. He has been beating up the news media since the day he oozed down the golden escalator to announce his candidacy for the world’s most important job. He has berated reporters at all of his rallies, called some of them out by name, sent his PR flacks to the press room podium to lie to them, insulted their work as “fake news” and most recently, declared our free press to be the “enemy of the American people.”

What better way to get back at those media bastards than to show them this level of disrespect?

“Oh, five of you were murdered by a crazed gunman? Too bad. You should have been nicer to me. No flag lowering for you.”

The second problem, according to the story, is the sentence, “The White House could not immediately be reached for comment.”  

What?

First off, the White House has a published telephone number. It’s 202-456-1414. It has been the same for decades. I have called it myself and spoken to people on the other end. You can call it right now and someone should answer. Suppose something terrible happened at 3 o’clock in the morning and you needed to call the administration. Do you suppose the phone would just ring and ring and ring? Or go to voice mail?

Second, I watched “The West Wing.” In Aaron Sorkin’s White House, an army of people including an entire press staff worked virtually around the clock handling the duties inherent with the office of the president. Someone called and they replied in one way or another.

(OK, I can hear what you’re saying: “But that was only a TV show,” to which I would reply, “Yes, I know. Have you been following this presidency?”)

Third, I used to work in public relations for a utility company. We had a rule that someone had to answer a ringing phone before it hit three rings. You’d think the office of the world’s most powerful person would have a similar guideline. Granted, after answering, the White House could issue a “no comment” or an “I’ll get back to you” or even tell a bold-face lie – like they frequently do – but not being available for comment is not one of their options. When the phone rings, someone from media relations has got to pick it up and say "hello."  It's their only job. What else could they be doing that's more important than what they were hired to do?

Most recently, Trump ordered the nation’s flags to be lowered after mass shootings at a concert in Las Vegas, schools in Florida and Texas and a Texas church, but has seen fit to draw the line with a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. I can only draw one conclusion, and that is that we don’t lower flags when crazy people assassinate an “enemy of the American people” -- especially when it happens in a blue state.

I’d also add that the five people killed in Annapolis were, by all accounts, exponentially better human beings and far more beloved than the man who occupies our nation’s house. That being true, it’s also a fact that Trump doesn’t like to be one-upped by anybody.

That apparently applies to all persons -- living or dead.