"The unsettling reality is that with this president, Americans in wartime are in the unprecedented position of having to suspect that the enemy’s version of events is more likely to be true than our own."
Not surprising, Trump can't look like he is backing down, re: Roy Cohn's lessons to young DJT. (never admit fault, never back down, say whatever to further these) You can trace much of Trump's public behavior to Cohn (same person tied to McCarthy and the Red Scare).