Trump leaps in

Donald Trump just cannot resist thrusting into every news item to stamp his mark. It didn't take him long to describe Deputy Scot Peterson, the armed security officer at Parkland school, as a coward. He heard what we all heard and read what we all read and then decided to make an instant judgment. Whether he is proven to be accurate or not, I don't think it's the job of the president of the United States to pass judgment on a story like this. Had he been a president with any human feeling he would have said something like this: "It's not for me to make any judgment on why Deputy Peterson did not enter the school to confront the gunman. That's a matter for the sheriff. I wish to make no comment other than to say how desperately sad I am about this terrible incident. Let the police carry out their investigation as the law requires." That would have been fine. But Trump is not that sort of president. Instead, he branded Peterson a coward who had failed to do his job, and as a consequence created big headlines for himself. I don't think such comments help anyone and undoubtedly added immeasurably to the general castigation of Scot Peterson. Another sorry presidential episode.