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Maddow Blog-White House struggles to defend Trump's 'Unabomber' anecdote amid ridicule
A reporter asked Karoline Leavitt about a weird anecdote the president shared this week about his uncle, MIT and Ted Kaczynski. It didn’t go well.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-struggles-defend-trumps-unabomber-anecdote-ridicule-rcna219572
It was against this backdrop that The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt what in the world the president was talking about.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:aunpu65mdrhwfie7ynymlzeh/post/3lu6kz6dmb72y
After admonishing Feinberg for asking about an issue she deemed trivial, the president’s chief spokesperson added, “The president’s uncle did, in fact, teach at MIT. He was a very intelligent professor. The president is very proud of his family. In fact, I have a, or rather, the president has a letter from his uncle on the MIT letterhead that sits in the Oval Office dining room. Maybe we’ll let you see it sometime.”
To be sure, as Trump White House controversies go, this doesn’t move the needle much on the scandal-o-meter, but there are a few relevant angles to this.
First, Leavitt might’ve dismissed the line of inquiry as trifling, but given that Trump has recently invested time and attention in talking about his golf game and Coca-Cola’s ingredients, it’s tough to argue that the question was somehow out of line.
Second, Leavitt’s answer was completely disconnected from the question: No one has suggested that Trump’s uncle wasn’t an MIT professor. What made the president’s anecdote notable was that the conversation he claims to have had with his uncle about Kaczynski clearly could not have happened. The White House press secretary appeared to miss the point entirely.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:aunpu65mdrhwfie7ynymlzeh/post/3lu6kz6dmb72y
After admonishing Feinberg for asking about an issue she deemed trivial, the president’s chief spokesperson added, “The president’s uncle did, in fact, teach at MIT. He was a very intelligent professor. The president is very proud of his family. In fact, I have a, or rather, the president has a letter from his uncle on the MIT letterhead that sits in the Oval Office dining room. Maybe we’ll let you see it sometime.”
To be sure, as Trump White House controversies go, this doesn’t move the needle much on the scandal-o-meter, but there are a few relevant angles to this.
First, Leavitt might’ve dismissed the line of inquiry as trifling, but given that Trump has recently invested time and attention in talking about his golf game and Coca-Cola’s ingredients, it’s tough to argue that the question was somehow out of line.
Second, Leavitt’s answer was completely disconnected from the question: No one has suggested that Trump’s uncle wasn’t an MIT professor. What made the president’s anecdote notable was that the conversation he claims to have had with his uncle about Kaczynski clearly could not have happened. The White House press secretary appeared to miss the point entirely.
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