Mike Barnicle: Trump Is a Cruel, Damaged Human Being Who Goes out of His Way to Harm People

EXCERPT:

BARNICLE: “But, Joe, is it really shocking that he did this? This is a cruel, damaged human being who goes out of his way to harm people. And he goes out of his way without seeing these people. He would never utter a single negative response to any of the people that he attacked on Twitter over the weekend if it were eye-to-eye contact. He is afraid of that. He is afraid of the repudiation, but he is afraid of the physicality of it. He is afraid of looking at someone in the eye and saying what he says on Twitter to them. He would never, ever do that. And the front page of 'The New York Times' — the front page of 'The New York Times' was a reminder to him and to everyone in this nation that these people listed in the 'Times,' in three full pages, actually, they were your friends, they were your neighbors, they were us. We were told as a nation many, many times — you’ve gone over it many, many times, Joe — 'There is no threat here. It is one person from China. It is 15 people from China and we just sent them back to China.' The level of threat has never been addressed. The level of responsibility will never be addressed. And on Memorial Day 2020, a sacred day, especially where I’m from, I grew up at a time when Memorial Day was Memorial Day, there were no sales at home depots, there were no large-scale picnics, it was to honor the dead. I grew up in a Gold Star household. My uncle Jerry was killed at Midway. And like all of the people listed yesterday in the 'Times,' and all of the people who will be memorialized at cemeteries around this country today, my uncle Jerry, Second Lieutenant Gerald J. Barnacle, killed at Midway on June 4th, 1942, he never died. His memory lived and he lives today through me. As will all those people who were listed in the 'Times' yesterday. That’s what Donald Trump fails to grasp.”