A former Biden administration official said Monday that President Donald Trump is allowing himself to be pulled away from voters’ top concern — the economy — by lashing out at Democrats who are openly challenging his use of the military.
The comments came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon threatened to court-martial Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). The move followed Trump’s accusation that Democratic senators had committed “treason” over a recent video featuring lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds urging service members to refuse unlawful orders.
Kate Bedingfield, who served as White House communications director, told CNN that Trump’s response exposed a vulnerability inside the administration and played directly into Democrats’ hands.
“I think it’s important to remember, too, that Donald Trump’s abuse, inappropriate use of the military, is unpopular,” Bedingfield said. “If people are asked whether they think his use of the National Guard was appropriate, even those who say that they like what he’s done to close down the border will still say that it’s an inappropriate use of the military.”
As Democrats push back, she argued, Trump’s reaction is exactly what they hoped to provoke.
“So in many ways it strikes me that Donald Trump has given them exactly the response that they were looking for,” she said. “His response is outrageous, it’s over the top, it’s continuing to drive the sense that he is, in fact, using the military inappropriately. And it is preventing him from talking about the economy, which is what he needs to be doing. So in that way, I think he’s taken their bait.”
