Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis slams Trump: 'His cruelty really has no limits'

This video explores what President Trump said at a recent Michigan rally about the late congressman Dingell and how he supposedly provided "A+ treatment".

Trump said at a recent Michigan rally…

"Debbie Dingell, that's a real beauty…. so she calls me up like 8 months ago. Her husband was here a long time. But I didn’t give him the B treatment. I didn’t give him the C or the D. I could have! I gave him the A+ treatment. Takedown the flags!

“Why are you taking them down, sir?”

For ex-congressman Dingell!

“Oh, okay.”

Do this! Do that! Rotunda! Everything! I gave him everything! I didn’t want anything for it. I don’t need anything for anything.

She calls me up, “[groveling voice] It’s the nicest thing that’s ever happened. Thank you so much. John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down he’d be so thrilled. Thank you so much, sir.”

I said, “That’s okay don’t worry about it.”

Maybe, he’s looking up. I don’t know. {audience reacts with a mixture of laughs, whistles, and audible groans} Maybe. Maybe. But let’s assume he’s looking down!

But I gave him A+! Not A! Not B+! I gave him the A+.

She calls me, “Ohhh ahhh ohh”… I won’t go into the conversation because it’s not fair to do that."

To which Debbie Dingle responded,

Mr. President, let’s set politics aside. My husband earned all his accolades after a lifetime of service. I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.

Ronald Reagan’s daughter then jumped into the mix,

“[Trump] knows full well the impact of attacking people so publicly. Maybe some of those in his audience on Wednesday finally began to perceive that his cruelty is limitless, his sense of decency nonexistent.”

As a conservative, this single clip of Donald Trump highlights several of my problems with his presidential style: reactive, dishonest, indecent, egotistical, and victim-playing.

Trump is not an active visionary in the mode of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan.

Trump is a reactive transactionalist.

If we were going to give Trump the benefit-of-the-doubt we could say that at the time maybe Trump didn’t want anything from Dingle for providing her deceased husband “A+ treatment”, but the fact that he threw his “generosity” in her face for doing something he disliked means that he, in fact, wanted at least some degree of loyalty in return.

And Trump says he provided “A+ treatment”, but what did he have to lose by using taxpayer dollars to fund a funeral service?

John Dingell holds the record for the longest-ever serving Congressman in American history, representing Michigan for more than 59 years, which means his treatment was appropriate to the length of his service.

And maybe the fact that Dingell represented Michigan escaped Trump’s attention, but Michigan is a MUST-WIN state for Trump and so by providing “A+ treatment” Trump only had to gain.

Trump is continuously lowering the bar of human decency.

To empathize with Trump (something he doesn’t seem to care to do for congresswoman Dingell) you can see how some of his anger is justified…

The former congressman and his colleagues spent the past 2 years focused on trying to remove him from office on a conspiracy theory (“Russian collusion”), which they still refuse to apologize for misleading the American people on for so long and they literally attack every single facet of his personality, record, appearance, etc.

Donald Trump and his staunchest supporters primarily view The Donald as a victim of establishment forces.

But the problem of today is that everyone thinks they are the victim.

Poor me!

Poor me!

Poor me!

And it is YOUR fault because you are stupid and selfish!

But I don’t want a Victim-In-Chief. I want a president who courageously says “the buck stops with me.” I want a president who treats EVERYONE with respect because he is the president for every American and because the president sets the standard for how we talk to each other about politics.

Haven’t you noticed the way we talk to each other about politics has degenerated over the last 2 years? Trump is not just a cause of this, but he is the primary beneficiary because if we elevated the conversation from insults to ideas then Trump cannot compete as effectively.

Trump is most effective when politics descend into mudslinging, tribalism, and bravado.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said,

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”