The Washington Post has obtained a copy of Stephanie Grisham’s new tell-all book, “I’ll Take Your Questions Now,” and while it does contain some substantive disclosures of some importance, for now, we’ll focus primarily upon an incident that is highly symbolic of the White House’s and Trump’s inability to function as grown-ups.

Put simply, the staff found itself having to repeatedly lie to Trump in order to allow the presidency to move along with some sense of normalcy. (Yes, they failed, this was an attempt).

The Washington Post brings us a great example as to just how petty, and ridiculous Trump could be. When a former president dies, Air Force One is used to bring the casket to Washington for the nation’s funeral because the ex-president still obviously represents the nation as a whole. Air Force One is a powerful symbol of the United States whenever it makes an appearance. The optics would be absurd and disrespectful to the former president’s family and to the nation were he to be brought back to Washington in anything less.

And yet the White House staff feared (or knew) that Trump wouldn’t want “his” plane used for such:

Sometimes the staff even lied to Trump. When President George H.W. Bush died, the staff arranged for the former president’s family to have use of Air Force One, as is customary, but obscured most of the details from Trump for fear of his reaction. The airplane was used to carry Bush’s service dog, Sully, his family and his casket to the funeral.

“We knew he wouldn’t be okay with that, even for a brief trip,” Grisham writes. “Dead bodies, death, sickness — those things really seemed to creep him out.” He was also not a fan of the Bushes and vice versa.

It is almost… almost comforting that Trump fears his mortality to such a degree, but we’ll leave that alone.

Is Trump under the impression that some of us “like” death? That none of us struggle and feel our mortality when having to address the death of a figure? And even more importantly, is the fact that Trump would think of Air Force One is his plane, such that he must allow someone to borrow it.

Protocol and official orders may require a Presiden to dispatch Air Force One. After all, it could – theoretically – be needed in an emergency. But it is hardly “his” plane to “loan” out to the Bushes. It is our plane, the nation’s, not his. And so the presidential staff has to lie to him. So dysfunctional, it is amazing the country [sort of] survived. Admittedly, he’s not gone yet.

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