Most of you are no doubt too young to remember, or perhaps don’t even care. But, in 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt, then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig told the world that he was in charge of the government. He made the statement because Vice-President George H.W. Bush was inbound on a flight and not in the nation’s capital.
“I, Al Haig, am in control here at the White House,” he told reporters assembled in the Press Room. “I’m in control here and not to worry.”
The statement immediately set off arrogance alarms. The Secretary of State is nowhere in the chain of command when a president is unable to serve. After the Vice-President comes the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
With that as background, President Trump — who obviously is in command at the White House — was asked about a meeting reportedly requested by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We get along very good. [Netanyahu] knows who the boss is,” Trump told Axios in response to the meeting question, referring to himself.
Evidently, Trump thinks the Israeli chain of command starts with him, as he also does with NATO and all of its chiefs. NATO is where the president is headed for meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, aboard Trump Force One, er, Air Force One.
The Netanyahu meeting request comes during the vagaries of the ceasefire with Iran, during which Trump has basically ordered Bibi to stand down in his confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon, to appease Iranian negotiators.
The Trump-Netanyahu meeting is on tap for after Trump’s return from NATO, where he will no doubt affirm that he’s “in control and not to worry.”
