The new GOP excuse for Trump is 'a joke': columnist

Columnist Frank Bruni argues that Republicans have settled on a new excuse for President Donald Trump’s latest failures: he’s just getting “bad advice.”

Writing in the New York Times, Bruni notes that when GOP officials like Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt respond to the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis by expressing “deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability” while insisting they still back Trump’s immigration priorities — they're simply being misled. Stitt has said Trump is “getting bad advice right now.”

Bruni points out that other Republicans are suddenly zeroing in on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her top aide Corey Lewandowski, and outgoing U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander Greg Bovino as the true culprits of Trump’s actions, treating them as incompetents who “botched the mission” and “debased the president.” The problem, he writes, is that this lets Trump off the hook for decisions that clearly reflect his own instincts and desires.

The columnist wrote that it's nothing but another excuse because Trump does just fine making horrible decisions on his own.

"What a joke," he said. "You can’t dishonor someone who has no honor to begin with. You can’t humiliate someone who so consistently and thoroughly humiliates himself."

Bruni said that it might be a valid excuse if the person in charge had no part in picking the people giving him advice. Instead, Trump intentionally chose "yes men."

Trump has "a wretched crew of Cabinet secretaries and senior administration officials because a wretched crew is what he was after," the column explained.

In the end, Trump has "underlings who owed their lofty titles and fancy perks entirely to him, sycophants who wouldn’t try to saddle him with scruples or tether him to sense, not so much a council for counsel as a font of praise."

Bruni recalled that during the first term, Trump complained that many of his Cabinet secretaries and advisers would tell him "no" when something was clearly illegal. This time around, the columnist noted, Trump "wanted a pep squad."

Saying that Trump is getting "bad advice" also removes the idea that Trump "isn't calling the shots" when "Trump is constantly telling us otherwise." Trump can't be in charge while also not being in charge. It ultimately turns Trump into a "caricature" of former President Joe Biden, who Republicans frequently complained was somehow suffering from dementia while also being a criminal mastermind.

Trump is "omniscient. Omnipotent. Behold him as he summarily imposes tariffs, hastily erases them, orders the bombing of Iranian bunkers, directs the sinking of Venezuelan boats, deposes one autocrat, pardons another, deploys federal troops, ends (or at least claims to end) foreign wars," wrote Bruni. "He’s a presidential superhero the likes of which America has never seen! How do you fit 'bad advice' into that fable?"

He described it as giving Trump his very own "autopen" scandal.

Read the full column here.