Trump reportedly redirected a Navy hospital ship from Seattle to L.A. because Newsom was more complimentary than Inslee
Former President Donald Trump's personal policy toward governors during the COVID-19 pandemic was no secret. He wanted to work with them, he said, as long as they showed him some appreciation. "It's a two-way street, they have to treat us well also," he said during a Fox News interview in March 2020. Now, an anecdote from ABC News' Jonathan Karl's upcoming book Front Row at The Trump Show, sheds even more light on how Trump made crucial, potentially life-or-death decisions based on whether he felt he was getting enough compliments.
Karl reports that upon learning a Navy hospital ship was heading to Seattle last March, Trump decided to redirect it to Los Angeles, solely because he liked the things California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had been saying about him. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), on the other hand, did not have a big fan in Trump.
"Don't you think we should send it to California?" Trump reportedly asked. "Gavin has been saying the nicest things about me."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump reportedly said he considered Inslee a "showboater" and a "real jerk," which apparently meant, in the former president's mind, that Washingtonians were less deserving of extra hospital beds. Tim O'Donnell
-
Le Pen back in the dock: the trial that’s shaking FranceIn the Spotlight Appealing her four-year conviction for embezzlement, the Rassemblement National leader faces an uncertain political future, whatever the result
-
The doctors’ strikesThe Explainer Resident doctors working for NHS England are currently voting on whether to go out on strike again this year
-
5 chilling cartoons about increasing ICE aggressionCartoons Artists take on respect for the law, the Fourth Amendment, and more
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
-
Iran’s government rocked by protestsSpeed Read The death toll from protests sparked by the collapse of Iran’s currency has reached at least 19
-
Israel approves new West Bank settlementsSpeed Read The ‘Israeli onslaught has all but vanquished a free Palestinian existence in the West Bank’
-
US offers Ukraine NATO-like security pact, with caveatsSpeed Read The Trump administration has offered Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive from NATO
