With Trump, the Buck Stops With ‘The Generals,’ Not the President

The president signed off on the raid that killed a Navy SEAL, but has not taken responsibility for its problems.

President Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk that read: “The buck stops here.”

If Donald Trump’s brief history as commander in chief is any guide, he might want one that says: “Actually, it stops with the generals.”

Four weeks after Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens died in a raid-gone-wrong that also killed numerous Yemeni women and children, Trump has broken with the long tradition of presidents taking responsibility for military operations that result in dead service members ― even as he made Owens’ wife a high point of his first address to Congress on Tuesday night.

“We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens, the widow of U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William ‘Ryan’ Owens,” Trump said, lifting his eyes to the gallery where she sat. “Ryan died as he lived, a warrior and a hero, battling against terrorism and securing our nation.”

In the weeks preceding these remarks, though, Trump blamed his predecessor, President Barack Obama, and his national security staff for the botched raid ― even though Trump personally signed off on it over a dinner that included his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his top political adviser, Steve Bannon, rather than through an in-depth meeting of his National Security Council.

And on Tuesday morning, a mere hours before his big speech, Trump even blamed his own military leaders.

“This was a mission that was started before I got here. This was something that was, just ― they wanted to do. And they came to me, and they explained what they wanted to do — the generals — who are very respected,” Trump said in a Fox News interview broadcast Tuesday morning. “And they lost Ryan.”