Once regarded as an “excellent guy,” George Papadopoulos is now persona non grata to President Trump. Papadopoulos was one of five foreign policy experts Mr. Trump tapped to advise his 2016 presidential campaign. His specialty was as an energy and oil consultant, according to the president.
As of Tuesday, Mr. Trump regarded the energy expert as a “low level volunteer” and proven “liar.”
Well, the latter part has been proven true.
This summer, Papadopoulos, 30, was caught lying to the FBI about the purpose of his spending several months developing Russian contacts. Surprise! It was to help Mr. Trump’s campaign find “dirt” on Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
That Mr. Trump is backpedaling on the young man’s other credentials is true to character.
This is not in defense of Papadopoulos, but in criticism of Mr. Trump as a leader.
Rule No. 1: Don’t throw your staff under the bus.
You can tell a good boss from a bad one by how true he stays to his employees and the inherent respect that earns him. When the chips are down, he’s got their back.
Papadopoulos was caught doing a terrible thing.
The right response?
How about, “I only knew him as a dedicated young man.”
Instead, Mr. Trump calls him a nobody.
NO MATTER how hard he tries, Mr. Trump can’t distance himself from the mounting evidence that Russia manipulated the 2016 election. His extreme defensiveness with the “NO COLLUSION” tweets only raises public suspicion of that very thing.
The truth is out there somewhere. The hope is we’ll be able to find it.
— Susan Lynn
