Newsmax CEO and Trump buddy Christopher Ruddy was sufficiently worried about the fallout for an Atlantic story citing numerous (anonymous) sources who claimed that President Trump had disparaged American troops that Ruddy dedicated his Sept. 5 column — his first in five months — to a defense of his friend.
Ruddy began by declaring, “Don’t believe anything the Atlantic tells you about President Trump,” then went into a lengthy story about Trump called him and said how much he loved the photo of Trump shaking the hand of wounded veteran Michael Verdado that appeared on the cover of an issue of Newsmax’s magazine. he fooled that by complaining further about the Atlantic piece:
So, when the Atlantic story made sensational allegations about the President — alleging he claimed fallen American servicemen were “suckers” and “losers” — I was surprised.
[…]If Donald Trump disliked being seen around amputees, why was he so glad Newsmax published a photo of him with a double amputee on the cover of our magazine?
And why was he so interested in Verardo’s story that he thought it was important to share with me?
The answers to these questions are clear to anyone who knows Donald Trump.
The President deeply respects and honors the incredible sacrifice people like Sgt. Verardo have made on behalf of the United States.
[…]
So you can believe the Atlantic — and outlets like Fox News and the Washington Post that have “confirmed” the original claims — or you can believe a number of top Trump aides, from supporters like Sarah Huckabee Sanders to detractors like John Bolton, all of whom say the President never made such comments in France or anywhere else.
Frankly, you don’t need to believe any of them.
Just believe what Sgt. Verardo says.
Ruddy concluded with an excerpt of an article Verardo wrote praising Trump.
Given that Ruddy is such a Trump sycophant that his previous column before this, at the end of March, falsely gushed that “Trump has remained focused and level-headed” through the coronavirus pandemic and “defers to the experts at his task force’s daily press briefings, and has kept the nation informed without being panicked,” maybe we shouldn’t believe anything Ruddy says either.