By Bruce Altschuler
In 2016, when reporter Katy Tur asked Donald Trump about his false claim that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the 9/11 attacks, he replied, “I have the world’s greatest memory. It’s one thing everyone agrees on.” However, when asked about this remark under oath in a deposition during the Trump University lawsuit, he replied, “I don’t remember that.” Simply put, Trump has not a great memory but a greatly convenient memory that he uses to avoid accountability. Here are a few of many possible examples.
After Marco Rubio answered “of course” when asked whether everyone in the United States was entitled to due process, Kristen Welker asked Trump whether he agreed.” I don’t know,” he replied, I’m not a lawyer.” Apparently, he had forgotten the oath to uphold the Constitution, including its Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, that he had taken twice.
Trump claimed that when Iran “hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait Nobody expected that.” There seems little doubt that at least some of Trump’s advisers had informed him that was likely. All they had to do was to read Nate Swanson’s article, among others, “Why Iran Will Escalate,” in the Feb. 24 issue of Foreign Affairs.
Asked about the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran that killed more than 100 people, Trump’s first response was “based on what I have seen that was done by Iran.” When confronted by evidence that the missile used was an American Tomahawk, he tried the even more absurd claim that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.” Because the only countries with these missiles are the US, the UK and Australia, it hardly seems possible that any of them sold missiles to Iran. After the New York Times published details of a Pentagon investigation finding that the American military was responsible for the strike, Trump fell back to his default explanation, “I don’t know about it.”
Asked last May about plans to deport immigrants to Libya, his stock response followed, “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the Department of Homeland Security.”
At a White House event last March, a reporter asked about the Signal chat discussing a forthcoming air strike against the Houthis that inadvertently included reporter Jeffrey Goldberg, he professed ignorance. “I don’t know anything about it.” Since this was the lead story all over the news, Trump’s alleged ignorance is more than hard to believe.
After he used the term “Shylock” to refer to money lenders at a July 4 rally in Iowa last year, he was asked about his use of this antisemitic term. “I’ve never heard it that way. You view it differently than me,” he claimed.
Of course, it is possible that Trump, who frequently attacked Joe Biden as a senile person with a faulty memory is himself suffering from a serious memory impairment. If so, someone needs to ask him to resign or, if not, aides should start removal proceedings under the 25th Amendment.
While mental impairment is a possible explanation, it seems more likely that he is not quick enough to handle difficult questions when confronted by evidence contradicting his statements. If he claims ignorance, he avoids accountability by blaming his subordinates. If he doesn’t know anything, follow up questions are pointless. Because he tells so many lies, it is easy for him to have forgotten his last one and contradict it with a more plausible falsehood.
As the Iran war becomes more and more disastrous, perhaps he will claim he doesn’t know how it started or who is responsible for it. Check with Pete Hegseth or General Dan Kane as I have no idea how it started, he might say.
There is a solution. The media needs to be more aggressive in calling him out. More importantly, Congress needs to use its investigative power to call his subordinates to testify, under oath if necessary, about what exactly they have told him.
They might also ask why someone who knows so little about his own policies is fit to be President.
Dr. Bruce Altschuler is emeritus professor of political science.
