Don’t have the link but apparently the tree has to be isolated for a time to ensure no invasive species or plant diseases are present. If all’s well it will be replanted.
And pretending to plant it was the best plan they could think of? JFC you go down to Kinko’s and get some historical photos printed on foamboard for 20 bucks a pop, explain the significance of the damn tree, the great friendship through the ages blah blah, and make a nice little presentation out of it and then send the tree to quarantine. Instead this ignorant-ass administration just fakes it. Sooooo typical. There’s not a competent media relations person in this country who couldn’t have come up with a more sensible plan than that.
Maybe Barron’s dog dug it up?
I’m OK with this. The symbolic act of planting an oak together is meaningful. Complicating it with caveats about health checks would have undermined that.
You’d think that a professionally staffed White House would be able to issue that information—if true–in order to avoid international embarrassment, offense to France, insult to President Macron.
Send the damn tree ahead of time, so it is out of quarantine and ready to plant.
The Best PeopleTM should be able to plan that…unless quarantine is many months, in which case I never wrote this comment.
Whew! I thought they might have exchanged it for a quart of motor oil and a couple of dead pelicans. But maybe I’m just too cynical?
It’s not the worst thing they ever did. But as far as I know the opportunity to explain the fairly cool symbolism was wasted. I do this kind of thing for a living so I figure if the likes of me could do better then yeesh.
I agree. THIS visit was planned for MONTHS and the first state visit/dinner in 18 months. C’mon.
I’d keep an eye out for a new plaque placed by the Confederate Battleground one …
donnie’s gonna try to steal it —
I read that as “a new plague” and thought it was perfect for this Commode-in-Chief…
The Koch Bros had it confiscated and transported to their Georgia-Pacific paper mill.
I’m just glad that Macron didn’t give Trump a dog, a la Turkmenistan to Vladamir Putin.
One more thing Matt. Find the video of the “planting” of that oak. You will see Macron taking a shovel full and depositing it to one side, trump taking a shovel full and depositing that dirt where Macron just took dirt with his shovel. Macron gives trump a quizzical look and trump proceeds to take another shovel full and deposit it on Macron’s shovel… Tres awkward n’est pas?.
glad I read down because that’s exactly what I was going to post. It’s a lovely symbol, and with a little care the whole thing could have been so easily handled - jeesh
Reminds me of the time he was “helping” load trucks at some disaster site and he was being his usual lummox self and, IIRC, passing packages in as if the driver was going to have a huge pile on his lap. Something stupid like that, at any rate. Never had a lick of common sense, that boy. Wanted to put marble sinks on his Trump Shuttle jets until they told him how much extra fuel jets need when you start loading them up with big-ass slabs of rock.
Look, this WH can’t even find the light switches.
Here’s a fine example of WH incompetence doubled down:
(a little OT but bear with me here)
Dr Jackson (former VA pick) and some unnamed WH official said there was no OIG report on Dr Jackson. Two hours pass and the OIG report that wasn’t supposed to exist was handed to reporters. When the report from 2012 was examined it was devastatingly bad about Dr Jackson when the WH powers that be expected it to be a glowing report so why read it before hand? The report led to Jackson’s quitting the nomination.
Now that’s epic incompetence.
I missed that - sounds hilarious - though it’s doubtful that that is what Trump was going for.
Seems odd for someone who develops properties, though.
Heh, city boy from Queens with a shovel… there’s a joke in there somewhere I’m sure.