What Trump's reversal on the Special Olympics reveals about his presidency
Source: Washington Post
The Daily 202: What Trump’s reversal on the Special Olympics reveals about his presidency
By James Hohmann March 29 at 10:13 AM
With Joanie Greve and Mariana Alfaro
THE BIG IDEA: The third time wasn’t the charm. President Trump has asked Congress to cut federal funding for the Special Olympics in all three budgets that he has submitted. But, facing a firestorm, he insisted on Thursday afternoon that he didn’t learn about the controversy until that morning.
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Trump’s sudden reversal, after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spent three days publicly defending the cut, highlighted 10 deeper truths about his presidency:
1. The president vs. the presidency: It actually seems plausible that Trump didn’t know he had signed off on a budget request that cut the Special Olympics until he saw cable news coverage yesterday of people criticizing him for doing so. If he was telling the truth on the South Lawn, it reflects the extent to which he has outsourced most policymaking to conservative ideologues like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
2. The buck stops with ... who exactly? DeVos released a statement last night insisting that she was against the Special Olympics cuts all along, and her staff blamed the Office of Management and Budget for including the proposal. “This is funding I have fought for behind the scenes over the last several years,” she said. “I am pleased and grateful the president and I see eye to eye on this issue, and that he’s decided to fund our Special Olympics grant.”
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2019/03/29/daily-202-what-trump-s-reversal-on-the-special-olympics-reveals-about-his-presidency/5c9cecaf1b326b0f7f38f29b/
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Of course, an alternate explanation is that Trump knows but doesn't care unless he gets too much blow-back.
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