Yesterday, in the heat of the moment in Helsinki, Donald Trump said some rather surprising things. Obviously tired, he rambled on about Hillary’s servers and those of the Democrat National Committee (the “DNC”); suggested that he believed Putin’s statements that Russia, the state, did not meddle in America’s elections; and, implied that the world could trust Vlad the Impaler. The Left went ballistic, with some suggesting that Donald’s comments rose to the level of treason and had become a demonstrable basis for impeachment.
The “heat of the moment” can be rather hot, discomfiting, and downright confusing, even to the best extemporaneous speakers. In my lifetime, I am not sure that any of our presidents have been particularly good at reacting in real time to stupid questions from the press, although JFK and Ronald Reagan were darn good at it. Even Bill Clinton had his moments. In that same lifetime I have seen the perfection of ambush, gotcha “journalism” that requires an inordinate presence of mind to overcome. I suspect that no one can match the ever-evolving ability of reporters to ask the wrong, most stupid question at the wrong, most uncouth moment, hoping against hope to embarrass a world leader.
Look, Donald Trump was never seen as a great orator, not even a good one. But he worked hard and got elected. Now, he is being treated to a cavalcade of criticism of his various post-summit statements in Helsinki, with many on The Left reminding us of the greatest Presidential orators (mostly democrats) from our past. We need, I think, to stop and review what missteps even the best of them (from both sides) have committed, and to remind ourselves that dealing with Vladimir Putin was a series of heated moments, any one of which would wear on any great extemporaneous speaker.
Anyway, one of our esteemed mainstream network anchors thought it timely to review what other presidents have had to say in similar heated moments. And I thought it equally timely to question their references.
“One man with courage makes a majority,” said Andrew Jackson (supposedly) in the heat of a moment way back in 1823 (or thereabouts). He was the first democrat president and in 1835, the only president to completely pay off the national debt. Of course, he was also a slave owner. But … there is considerable doubt as to whether he actually ever spoke those words. Remember, people love to attribute clever sayings to famous people like Jackson and, especially, Abraham Lincoln. Be skeptical. Go back to the original historical record. When a striking quotation like this one shows up out of nowhere, there’s likely something fishy going on.
“The buck stops here,” is one of The Left’s favorites and is attributed to Harry S. Truman at various points in his presidency when confronted with an obstreperous Republican congress. Only, he never said it.
Truman didn’t originate the phrase, and it isn’t likely that he’d ever even heard it. In fact, it was a friend of Truman’s, Fred Canfil, who “borrowed” the phrase from something he saw at a prison in Oklahoma in 1945. He thought it would appeal to the plain-speaking Truman and arranged for a copy of it to be made and sent to him. It was seen on the President’s desk on and off throughout the rest of his presidency.
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” said John F. Kennedy at his inauguration in 1961. Not exactly extemporaneous, but illustrative anyway (and trotted out incessantly by the Left). I was too young to remember him saying it, but we can confirm that he did say it because of the various newsreels of the time.
But … did you know that he stole that line from the headmaster of his private school? Indeed, he did. Chris Matthews, of all people, makes the claim in Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. He unearthed notes written by George St John, the President’s former headmaster at Choate School in Connecticut, which suggest he had been aware of the ‘ask not’ line for many years.
“It depends what your definition of ‘is’ is,” said Bill Clinton in a rather heated moment, that during his deposition in the Monica Lewinsky affair. No making this up (who could?). Bill said it as only a good lawyer could.
“Those rumors are false. I believe in the sanctity of marriage,” said The Left’s beloved John Edwards during the 2000 presidential campaign. We will get to his running mate, Al Gore in a moment, but in the heat of the moment, when pressed on whether he’d had an affair (read: whether he’d CHEATED on his wife), Senator Edwards was able to muster what appeared then, and has since been confirmed, to be a lie. Johnny Boy said it. The heat of the moment is rather comparable, I suspect, to the heat of his extra-marital affair.
“I invented the Internet,” or something to that effect, has been attributed to Vice President Al Gore. To be fair, he never uttered those precise words, but he came close. Here is what he actually said:
“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.”
This was another “heat of the moment” statement, uttered during Gore’s 1999 interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN. “I took the initiative in creating the Internet.” Darn close. And darn presumptuous when you stop to think about it.
What difference does it make?” said Hillary Clinton in a heated exchange during testimony on the Benghazi attack. The “difference” is whether the murders in Libya were caused by a video or the result of terrorism and general anti-American sentiment. Here I have to agree with Hillary: there is no difference (to my mind) between a murder committed after watching a bad movie and a murder committed out of sheer anger. Here is what she said in the heat of the moment:
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she said. “Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?”
The only problem, Mrs. Clinton, is that you made it clear to us that the murders, the blood, 
should be on our hands as Americans because we “allowed” someone to make a bad movie. She was part of the guilt machine that wanted everything to be America’s fault. Be careful with what you say in the heat of the moment – it can make a difference.
“America is, is no longer, uh, what it, uh, could be, uh, what it was once was, uh, and I say to myself, uh, I don’t want that future, uh, for my children,” said Barack Obama to a group of children during the 2008 campaign, at a time when he was running against Hillary Clinton for the democratic nomination. He said it in the heat of the moment (if answering questions from little kids can be heated) and was not his finest moment.
“Paying taxes is voluntary,” said the illustrious Senator Harry Reid in 2008 in the heat of the moment. Here is the transcript:
Questioner: If our government is in the business of forcefully taking money from some people in order to provide welfare benefits to others, how will the people whose money is being taken feel about the government?
Harry Reid: Well, I don’t accept your phraseology. I don’t think we “force” people.
Questioner: Taxation is not forceful?
Reid: No.
Questioner: It’s voluntary?
Reid: In fact, quite to the contrary. Our system of government is a voluntary tax system.
“We just have to pass the Healthcare Bill to see what’s in it,” said Nancy Pelosi in 2010 when the democrat Congress was rushing to pass ObamaCare. She did, in fact, say that, and it was in the heat of the moment and I suspect she regrets it. After all, as one proctologist once told me, “that is also the perfect definition of a stool sample.”
Lastly, there is supposed quote from Maxine Waters, no great orator: “My fear is if North Korea nukes us, Trump is gonna get us into a war.” However, there is no record of her actually having said that. But she DID say this, as for North Korea’s requests: “give them what they’re asking for.”
Contrast that with the complete meltdown on The Left after hearing Donald Trump suggest that negotiation is often a process of give and take, even if it involves a dictator.
Cool down. Everyone makes mistakes. What will really matter (the difference it will make, to paraphrase Hillary) is the extent to which Trump’s initial meetings with Putin bring about change in our relationship with a nation that controls half the world’s nuclear weapons. A responsible press would be doing just that: remaining calm, cool, and collected.
Please, let’s stay “hinged,” as Charles Krauthammer would have said.
