We’d all been waiting for this with no expectation that it would ever arrive: The topic so explosive it could make Donald Trump’s Twitter thumb go suddenly numb.
It wasn’t Russian hacking to steal the 2016 election. He’s been tweeting like a madman denying that. It wasn’t the threat of nuclear annihilation from North Korea or even the release of three UCLA basketball players after a Beijing shoplifting arrest.
“I should have left them in jail!” the petulant president click-click-clicked on Sunday afternoon, his nose out of joint because one player’s father wasn’t thankful enough.
But where are Trump’s tweets on the teen-dating Republican nominee in the Alabama senate race? The abhorrent Roy Moore (R-Pedophilia) has been reviled and defended from Boulder to Birmingham and back again. He’s been at the top of social media trending lists for two weeks now. And yet not a single Twitter character has carried the famous account name @realdonaldtrump.
What gives?
What has silenced the unsilenceable tweeter? Does he harbor some secret affection for the commandment-eschewing Ten Commandments judge? Is Trump still smarting at the defeat of his preferred candidate in September’s Republican primary, sitting GOP Sen. Luther “Not Nearly So” Strange? Is Trump loath to risk comparisons with his own chorus of female accusers?
So many questions, so few days until Alabamians vote on Dec. 12.
Clearly, it isn’t just senatorial sex the president is shying away from. He made time for a vicious Twitter rant against Democratic Sen. “Al Frankenstein,” who had just apologized for a single act of sexual misconduct. But still not a peep about the allegedly recidivist teen-girl molester who could soon be joining Mitch McConnell’s majority.
Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short noted on ABC that Trump hadn’t campaigned for Moore in Alabama. Press secretary Sarah Sanders noted that the White House did put out a (mild) statement while Trump was in Asia, urging Moore to step aside IF THE ALLEGATIONS ARE TRUE. But even that was quickly followed by the classic Washington dodge: “The people of Alabama know best what to do,” Short said.
Which is all very strange. Now that Twitter’s allowing 280 characters, you’d think he’d have twice as much to say.
Metro columnist Ellis Henican is the best-selling author of a dozen books, including “TRUMPITUDE: The Secret Confessions of Donald’s Brain,” which hits stores next week. Follow him on Twitter @henican.
