This is rich: President Donald J. Trump, the king of factual errors, calling Sen. Richard Blumenthal a liar. The president has made than 5,000 false or misleading claims, according to the Washington Post. PolitiFact has 10 pages of them.
Clearly, Mr. Blumenthal is irritating the president, or else Mr. Trump wouldn’t be dredging up decade-old mistakes that the people of Connecticut have long ago forgiven their senator for making.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump tweeted that “for 12 years he told the people of Connecticut, as their Attorney General, that he was a great Marine War Hero. Talked about his many battles of near death, but was never in Vietnam. Total Phony!”
That’s utter nonsense.
The president continued this nonsense at a news conference Monday, saying that “for 15 years, he said he was a war hero.” No, he didn’t. Where does the president get this hogwash?
We’ll get back to the errors in the president’s claims in a minute. But meantime, we’d like to note that this is at least the fourth tweet-shot Mr. Trump has taken at Mr. Blumenthal for misstating his military service in the 2000s. It’s part of the president’s pattern of bluster-bullying to change the subject.
The subject really isn’t Mr. Blumenthal’s Vietnam blunder. The subject is Mr. Trump.
Mr. Blumenthal is leading a lawsuit charging the president with violating the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments. A federal judge on Friday gave the lawsuit the go-ahead.
“I obviously hit a nerve after the ruling in our Foreign Emoluments Clause lawsuit,” a pleased Mr. Blumenthal tweeted Monday. “Looking forward to having you & your businesses finally disclose your foreign income. See you in court, Mr. President!”
The other subject is the president’s dubious choice for the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. The nominee has denied allegations of sexual assault. Mr. Blumenthal, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is questioning his credibility.
No wonder the president is desperate to deflect. Mr. Blumenthal is quite an effective critic.
Yes, Mr. Blumenthal did give the wrong impression about his military service on a few occasions in the 2000s. He once said erroneously that “I served in Vietnam.” He didn’t correct newspaper articles that described him as a Vietnam veteran.
The truth is that Mr. Blumenthal enlisted in the Marine Reserves in 1970 and served in Washington, D.C., not in Vietnam. In 2010, he apologized for having “misspoken about my service.” His commanding officer defended him, saying he committed a “minor impropriety” and that Mr. Blumenthal “was one of the best Marines with whom I ever worked.”
Mr. Trump? He did not enlist. He dodged.
Also, Mr. Blumenthal has apologized for his mistakes. We’re not holding our breath for Mr. Trump’s apology for his many falsehoods about the senator. Mr. Blumenthal never claimed to be in any battle, as Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday. Nor did Mr. Blumenthal claim he was a war hero, as Mr. Trump has said. Nor did he talk about any near-death experiences.
The president didn’t tell the truth last summer, either, when he tweeted that Mr. Blumenthal had “told stories about his Vietnam battles and … .conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie. He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child.” This is hooey. Mr. Blumenthal told no such stories, did no such bragging and did not cry.
“Never in U.S. history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal,” Mr. Trump tweeted last year. The president is far and away the winning liar in this contest.
— The Hartford Courant
