WATCH: Matt Schlapp ‘Schlepps’ His Way Through Defending Trump’s Failure To Console Americans

In a segment on PBS Newshour last Wednesday, Matt Schlapp attempted to reframe how a president consoles suffering Americans. Schlapp’s point would only make sense if it applied to any other President. But this is Donald Trump we’re talking about here. This week, Trump paid brief visits to two sites of tragic events. Visits that would test the President’s ability to console the public.

His first visit was to Puerto Rico, the U.S. island that was devastated by Hurricane Maria over a week ago. It’s been said that as a result of the hurricane, they are now suffering a humanitarian crisis. The second was to Las Vegas, Nevada, the site of a mass shooting that killed 58 people. It should be noted that the tragic event is said to be the worst mass shooting in American history. During the segment, Schlapp at least acknowledged Trump’s “raw fashion” of speaking. But he said that the incidents allowed the President to connect with Americans and victims on a personal level.

During the segment, Schlapp at least acknowledged Trump’s “raw fashion” of speaking. But he said that the incidents allowed the President to connect with Americans and victims on a personal level.

Matt Schlapp Fails To Make A Point

But it wasn’t as if Trump didn’t already have the opportunity to connect with people. The President’s hostility through public statements and on Twitter still allowed Trump to connect on a personal level, en masse. Especially when he stages personal attacks against his critics. It’s for this reason that Schlapp’s defense already fell flat before he got going.

In fact, Trump has always “connected” with people but on his own terms. Schlapp’s defense would make more sense if there was a different and a more “improved” Trump. Pundits have anticipated for months that at some point he would become more presidential. But nine months as president, Trump continues to disappoint. But rather than using a better defense to improve the image of such a hostile figure, Schlapp made his pro-Trump bias clear. Matt Schlapp said that Trump’s remarks and how he handled himself were “great.”

That Schlapp thought Trump’s response to the crisis in Puerto Rico was “great” is troubling. This is because, President Trump had been trolling the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz. It shows quite clearly that Schlapp doesn’t want Trump’s trolling to be the issue. Even when it’s against the victims of a natural disaster, resulting in real deaths. To Schlapp, the real reason why Trump fails to console is not the issue.

Schlapp gave more cover to Trump by humanizing him, saying that he tried to connect with people on a personal level. He referred to this again when he said that people, in general, appreciate the respect “a president” gives. In this, he was referring to the President’s presence where people are suffering. Schlapp returned to the “raw fashion” example of how Trump speaks to people when he said that “a” president that goes off-script of what they are supposed to say, doesn’t always go as planned.

Schlapp’s Deception Is On Record

Again, this is Trump we’re talking about. But Schlapp continued to speak in general terms that don’t apply to this vile example of a president. Instead of focusing on the entire reason why Trump has failed to console those who are suffering, Schlapp schlepped his way through his argument to blame the media for not telling the whole story. In doing so, he then tried to hide amongst the rest of us saying that people were expressing dissatisfaction with the media, saying that the media “preys on these moments.”

Matt Schlapp was no doubt working pretty hard to try and isolate his argument in order to make his point. Unfortunately for him — as pointed out thus far — the master spinner took more time to deflect everything that’s essential for testing this President during a catastrophe.

When he finally did make his point, it ended up being nothing new, saying that there were positive tweets about the President on social media, as if attempting to make a back-handed comment against mainstream media that had been reporting on the President’s un-presidential manner.

But even that point didn’t last, because Schlapp pivoted over to Puerto Rico’s financial issues, saying that it could not be ignored. This would assert that even the devastation from a hurricane that is leaving people to die, isn’t as devastating as their financial debt.

If anyone that really mattered took Schlapp seriously, then what the conservative pundit is establishing would have taken hold as being the “new normal”. Where a President’s hostile acts against dying Puerto Ricans is acceptable because they’re in debt and that the presence of a figure as foul as Trump, is good enough to soothe the trauma of survivors of any major tragedy.

MoveOn.org’s Karine Jean-Pierre was also in the segment. But Schlapp didn’t need a counterpart to fail the debate, he did that by himself. Here is that segment in

Watch that segment in its entirety here:

Featured image via YouTube screengrab.