Trump's "Joke" Is Missing Any Discernible Humor

[Content Note: Police brutality.]

On Friday, I highlighted a section of Donald Trump's speech to an audience of Suffolk County police officers in which he advised police to be "rough" with suspects:

And when you see these towns, and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see 'em thrown in, rough! — I said, "Please don't be too nice." Like when you guys put somebody in the car, and you're protecting their head, you know? The way you put the hand over... [mimics an officer putting a hand over a suspect's head as they're loaded into a police car] Like, don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody? Don't hit their head! I said, "You could take the hand away, okay?"

At today's White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about Trump's loathsome comments, and of course she said that he was joking.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump was joking when he told cops to rough up suspects. Police brutality is not a joke. https://t.co/6UsY10aF5m

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) July 31, 2017

Male Reporter (offscreen): What I wanted to ask was, when the president made his speech to police officers on Friday, almost within minutes, statements came from police chiefs across the country criticizing his remarks that seemed to endorse the use of force by police in certain arrests. Was the president joking when he said this, or did he check his remarks out with the International Association of Police Chiefs, or maybe the Attorney General?

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: I believe he was making a joke at the time. [Next question.]

1. The framing of that question was garbage, since the only options were: Was he joking, or was he giving out good information? Not an option: Was the president sincerely endorsing breathtaking cruelty?

2. Again with the construction that it's either a "joke" or it's cruel, as though words can't be both.

This clearly was not a joke, but, even if it were, it would be a profoundly insensitive and disgusting joke to make, so. https://t.co/ILbsjZGDCQ

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 31, 2017

Police brutality isn't a laughing matter. Not to decent people.

Trump set himself outside that demographic long ago, but his office demands silence if he can't muster decency.