When does gossip become an official statement?
When the perpetrator is the president of the United States of America.
An offhand wisecrack said to friends is one thing. The same remark sent worldwide to millions of avid followers instantly becomes an official policy statement by the chief executive of a nation.
Recently, many broadcast journalists have stopped referring to social media tirades by Donald Trump as tweets, which suggests they are little more than gossip.
When a comment is made by a president and sent around the world, it is not merely "just a tweet," some idle gossip transmitted via Twitter or some other social medium.
When a president comments publicly, it becomes news, and can be read as an official statement of government policy.
By that definition, insults and disparaging, demeaning wisecracks about a person's intelligence, mental status, competence and appearance reflect official government policy, and set an example for others to follow.
So, given the past and present performance, attitudes and comments made by the president and sent out via Twitter, is this the example Americans should follow, or encourage their children to imitate?
If so, the nation faces a sorry future.
White House spokeswoman Sandra Huckabee Sanders defended Trump's remarks about TV host Mika Brzezinski as an appropriate response to an attack, that the president is entitled to hit back ten-fold.
But if he can't take disagreement or criticism, he should not be in public office.
People in government are there to serve the public interest, not their own, and certainly not to dominate.
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