So a senator from Georgia finally said out loud what half the country has been muttering for years, and the whole Beltway clutch their pearls like somebody cursed in church. Jon Ossoff called Trump a “draft-dodging crook president” on Katy Tur’s show, and you would have thought he’d set the Capitol on fire. The Trump allies came swarming, the White House started sweating about Natalie Harp getting too much attention, and Maggie Haberman was dispatched to tell us all what the palace is feeling. Same old script. Somebody tells a blunt truth, the machine kicks into damage control, and the rest of us are supposed to pretend we didn’t hear it.
Here’s what nobody in the media wants to sit with. Trump dodged the draft with heel spurs. That’s not a secret. It’s not a conspiracy theory. The man got a doctor’s note and stayed home while other people’s sons went to Southeast Asia. Now he’s president, and he’s running a war with Iran. Defense Secretary Hegseth, who couldn’t manage a Pentagon press briefing without sounding like he was reading from a fortune cookie, is out on the campaign trail while ships are getting hit in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump stands there and says the strait is “open and operating” while a ship is literally under attack. You can’t make this up. The man who wouldn’t serve is sending your kids to serve, and his defense secretary is busy shaking hands at county fairs.
The establishment media treats the Ossoff comments like they’re the scandal. A senator called the president names. Oh, the horror. Meanwhile the actual scandal is that we’re in another Middle East war, the guy running it never served a day in uniform, and the secretary supposed to be managing it is out doing politics. But sure, let’s all focus on whether Ossoff was too mean. That’s the game. Redirect, redirect, redirect. The little guy is supposed to get worked up about tone while the bombs keep falling.
Then there’s the Natalie Harp angle, which the White House is clearly terrified about. Trump allies went after Ossoff for comments about the president’s “loyal assistant,” and suddenly everyone in the press is tiptoeing around what that even means. Haberman drops a line about the White House being “concerned” about Harp getting more attention, and that’s supposed to be the end of it. Since when does this press corps leave a story alone because the White House is nervous? They’ll dig into anything when it suits them. But this one gets the soft touch. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to notice that pattern. You just have to be awake.
SECWAR (Public domain) via Wikimedia CommonsTrump also says the White House ballroom has “tremendous military protection.” The man is surrounded by more armed security than any human on earth, and he wants you to know the ballroom is locked down. Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is supposedly fine while ships burn. The gap between what they tell you and what you can see with your own eyes gets wider every week.
Ossoff isn’t my guy. He’s a Democrat, and I’ve got my own opinions about how that party operates. But when a senator stands up and calls a draft-dodging president a draft dodger while that president is waging war, that’s not name-calling. That’s a public service. The rest of the Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike, sit there with their mouths shut while the machine grinds on. Ossoff at least opened his.
The real question isn’t whether Ossoff was rude. The real question is why it took this long for anybody in that building to say it. And why the only person who did is the one the press is now busy trying to make into the problem.