So, former U.S. President Donald Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “was not prepared” for the Hamas murderous sneak attack that left hundreds of Israeli women and children dead.

John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

What’s more, Trump said the slaughter never would have happened if he had been in the White House—presumably because he would have known about it and been prepared.

Yeah.

Right.

The guy who refused not just to pay attention to his national security briefings but even sit for them when he was in the White House—who, in fact, declared war on the entire intelligence community—is just the person to meet that challenge. The fact that he couldn’t find Gaza if it were highlighted on a map would only enhance his problem-solving efforts.

Then there’s his self-proclaimed military expertise.

When Trump was president, he said he didn’t need to listen to his armed forces advisors because he knew more about military matters than they did. Perhaps he picked up this surprising knowledge while recuperating from the bone spurs that kept him from serving in Vietnam.

Or maybe he acquired it while dating models, actresses and socialites as a trust fund baby in the 1970s, an experience he once said was the same as seeing combat. Doubtless, many of the guys who died in Southeast Asia saw no difference between what happened to them and spending time in the company of beautiful women.

In whatever way he acquired this expertise, it’s clear Trump put it to good use. No one can argue that saying that generals who have the nerve to disagree or even question him should be executed isn’t a superb motivational technique—one guaranteed to make sure that, as leader, he has access to every bit of information available and a wide range of viewpoints.

But let’s set aside, for the moment, the question of Donald Trump’s general competence and focus on the man’s unerring moral compass.

In almost the same breath that he used to blast Netanyahu for not being ready for the sneak attack, Trump also complimented Hezbollah’s leaders for their mental acuity.

He said they were “very smart” in planning to slaughter and decapitate defenseless children.

This is nothing new for this man. He also praised the intelligence of Russia’s authoritarian strongman thug-in-charge Vladimir Putin for launching an unprovoked attack on its neighbor Ukraine, an attack that now has expanded into a full-scale war that has thrown Eastern Europe into chaos and the world into turmoil.

Clearly, there’s something about murdering civilians that Trump finds admirable.

Doubtless, he would have found the Japanese leaders who orchestrated the attack on Pearl Harbor to be brilliant—and the Al-Qaeda terrorists who planned the mass murder of Sept. 11, 2001, to be geniuses.

What is notable in Trump’s dissection of these awful, world-shaking events is even a glimmer of understanding of the human toll involved.

Before we move from this period of history, thousands—and perhaps hundreds of thousands—of human beings will die because of these violent conflicts. Millions of others will have their lives altered or destroyed. And still millions of others will know grief that will haunt them for the rest of their days.

None of that ever seems to register with Donald Trump.

Instead, he’s consumed with small-minded concerns. He lashes out at Netanyahu because the Israeli prime minister committed the sin of recognizing reality and acknowledging that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

That Donald Trump should not be embarrassed in any way is, to his eyes, far more important than the fact that children are having their heads chopped off.

Similarly, he thinks that boasting about how bright tyrants and terrorists are while they’re killing people indiscriminately makes him look tough.

It doesn’t.

Anyone who has seen the way he whines that people are being mean to him any time they even arch an eyebrow in response to something he’s said can take his measure.

This is not a great leader, one who could lead a nation through a crisis.

This is not even a grown man, one capable of dealing with life’s vicissitudes.

This is a little boy, one who knows little of the world and cares about that little he knows even less.

A petty, petty, petty child who once happened to be president of the United States.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.