There’s enough blowback over Donald Trump’s accusation that Democrats who didn’t cheer his State of the Union address to his liking are “un-American” and “treasonous” that the White House is taking refuge in the pathetic excuse of racists and unfunny boors everywhere: “It was a joke.”
“Sheesh, it was tongue in cheek” is in the pantheon of weak, obvious self-justifications right alongside “I have black friends” and “I meant to do that.” It translates to “I screwed up and need to say something to deflect the valid criticism but by god I’m not admitting a thing. Seriously, do you think the blowhard who made that statement to begin with would admit weakness by apologizing?”
But even if it wasn’t, Trump has a track record here: we know he’s not a guy who finds anything funny other than other people’s sucking up and his own bullying. If he found “un-American” and “treasonous” funny as he was saying them, it’s because he was using them to bludgeon his political opponents (for the high crime of not applauding him). It was the move of a wannabe autocratic dictator—like so many other things Trump does.