The Blame Game

This was the week that was supposed to be celebrated for the accomplishments of President Donald Trump's 100 days in office. It didn't turn out that way. The president rained on his own parade. The two biggest crises facing the new administration -- the rule of law and the economy -- according to him, have nothing to do with him. Blame the lawyers. And, of course, Joe Biden.

In an interview Tuesday with ABC's Terry Moran, the president flatly undercut the argument that his administration was powerless to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was summarily deported to a notorious El Salvador maximum-security prison even though he had a court order saying he should not be deported to El Salvador. Moran wasn't buying it. You have the power, he told Trump, to pick up the phone, call up El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, and with "the power of the presidency" secure Abrego Garcia's return.

"I could," Trump said. "If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that."

But that is not for the president to decide. The Supreme Court has ordered him to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return. He is entitled to due process before he is summarily deported. The government lawyer in charge -- before he was suspended -- admitted that his deportation was an "administrative error." According to Trump, he shouldn't have said that, and doesn't have a job now because he did. Telling the truth to the courts is something Trump lawyers are not supposed to do.

So why is the president, who now admits that he has the power to do what the Supreme Court told him to do, not doing it? Why is he flouting the rule of law?

"I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don't want to do this."

His lawyers are telling him to disobey the Supreme Court. Which lawyers? The ones who replaced the guy who was suspended for telling the truth to the court.

It's absurd. Lawyers do what the client tells them to do, especially when the client is the president of the United States. Hiding behind the lawyers is a coward's defense.

"But you're the president," Moran said, pointing out the obvious flaw in Trump's defense, and "they get due process."

"Well, they get a process where we have to get 'em out, yeah," Trump responded. "They get whatever my lawyers say."

The courts decide what process is due. Not Trump's unnamed lawyers who hold themselves above the Supreme Court.

Trump was clearly exasperated by Moran, who challenged him on the Photoshopped images that the administration has been selling of a digitally added MS-13 tattoo on Abrego Garcia's knuckles.

"That was Photoshop? Terry, you can't do that," Trump said. "They're giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doing the interview. I picked you because -- frankly I never heard of you, but that's OK."

"But I picked you, Terry, but you're not being very nice," Trump added.

The press's job is not to be "very nice" to a president who refuses to take responsibility.

Andrew Feinberg of The Independent was not very nice either. In the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he pinned the president down on the economy -- the horrible first quarter results, the plummeting stock market and the rest.

"You frequently took credit for the stock market highs, you said it was a reflection of how well you were doing in the polls. And then after you were elected, you said the stock market highs were a reflection of how well the transition was going and the American people's confidence in your incoming administration.

"Now the stock market's not doing so well, and you're saying that's the Biden stock market. Yet you are the president. Can you explain that?" Feinberg asked.

"I'm not taking credit or discredit for the stock market," Trump responded, before blaming Biden again. "I'm just saying that we inherited a mess." A mess? GDP in the fourth quarter increased by 2.4%, while it decreased in the first quarter by 0.3%. Americans are seeing their 401(k)'s tanking. It's not just a matter of two dolls at Christmas as opposed to 30. Almost three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And Trump is committed to continuing tax cuts that favor the rich. How is that Biden's fault?

It's no surprise that Trump plays the blame game so transparently. He sees himself as the ultimate victim, which in his mind excuses everything. Asked by Moran whether he was using presidential power to get personal revenge, he justified his actions by donning the cloak of the victim.

"There has never been a president in this country, in the history, that was persecuted like I was persecuted by really crooked people. ... When you say I'm treating people rough ... I was treated worse than any president in the history of our country," Trump replied.

We have a president with the ethical compass of a toddler. Except even toddlers know better than to blame everyone else for their mistakes, or to claim that two wrongs (and there weren't two; Trump got off easy) make a right.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.