US Politics
Trump finally apologizes for something
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President Donald Trump has broken the habit of a lifetime and issued a rare apology, albeit not to Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, for reposting a meme of them on Truth Social, despite facing intense pressure to do so.
Trump caused uproar on both sides of the aisle last week by recirculating a video depicting the 44th president and his first lady as apes.
He deleted the clip but later told reporters aboard Air Force One that there was no reason for him to apologize because, in his opinion, he had done nothing wrong.
“No, I didn’t make a mistake,” the president said. “I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine.”
Instead, the issue he did feel compelled to apologize over was his past endorsement of Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt after the official angered him by insisting on the bipartisan purity of the National Governors Association, an organization he chairs.
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“When Kevin Stitt, the very mediocre (at best!) RINO Governor of Oklahoma, was losing his Election to a Democrat, primarily because he did a bad job, he called for my help. I Endorsed him, and he won,” Trump wrote on his social media platform late Wednesday.
“Sorry, my cherished Oklahoma, to have done that to you!”
Trump backed Stitt in 2018 and did so again in 2022, praising him on the second occasion as a “fearless defender” of conservative values who had done a “fantastic job” in the governor’s mansion.
“Kevin was a very successful businessman in 2018 when I first endorsed him,” Trump said in a statement in March 2022. “Now, he is a fighter for the incredible people of Oklahoma. Kevin Stitt has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
But the same man this week drew the president’s ire by briefly scrapping the annual NGA meeting at the White House, scheduled for Friday, in response to Trump apparently expressing his intention to bar Democrats from attending.
“Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program,” he told colleagues in a letter, according to the Associated Press.
The event is now proceeding as planned after Trump clarified that he was not seeking to exclude all members of the opposition, only two to whom he objected.
“The invitations were sent to ALL Governors, other than two, who I feel are not worthy of being there,” the president explained in another post.
“I did not invite the Governor of Colorado, who has unfairly incarcerated in solitary confinement a 73-year-old cancer stricken woman (A nine year term!), for attempting to fight Democrat Voter Fraud, plus the foul mouthed Governor of Maryland, who fraudulently stated that he received Military medals, A LIE, is doing a terrible job on the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and has allowed Baltimore to continue to be a Crime Disaster.”
He was referring in the first instance to Jared Polis and the detention of MAGA cause celebre Tina Peters, a former county clerk jailed for her part in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and to Wes Moore in the second.
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Moore happens to be vice-chair of the NGA, holds a Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan and has previously apologized for misrepresenting his military record on a 2006 application form.
The latter is understood to have since received his invitation, according to CBS News, but Polis has yet to confirm his attendance.
Ever the gracious host, Trump continued his post: “I even invited the SLOB of a Governor, JB Pritzker, and horrendous California Governor, Gavin Newscum, to the Dinner, despite the terrible job that they are doing.
“So, as usual with him, Stitt got it WRONG! The Invitations were sent out to all other Governors, Democrat and Republican. I look forward to seeing the Republican Governors, and some of the Democrats Governors who were worthy of being invited, but most of whom won’t show up.”
