Twitter confirms.

maybe they should, but that's instantly negated by pre-emptively goading them to, so they shouldn't.

Trump wanted to make it all about himself, so here we are. Not only does he want everyone talking about him, he wants to dictate what they say.

I wonder what he promised to get them released. A sweet deal, perhaps? Another uptick in trade imbalance and a drop in duty taxes? Or maybe a nice plot of land in manhattan with a spiffy building on it at lower than market value with no commission?

"maybe"? seriously?

Should he have gotten them released though? Either he should have and he was doing his job as president (which doesn't require the constant groveling validation he's always demanding), or he shouldn't have and he only did it for praise (which he shouldn't get as that will only encourage his improper behavior).

How about he should have done it, and he should be given due credit for doing it? Behavior be damned.

If you were employed, would you publically seek thanks and praise from your boss after every task you completed for them?

It's more like if you were the boss and you bent over backwards to help a disgraced employee find a new job, might you not expect a thank you note, or maybe a fruit basket...

You missed the part about "every task." This sort of behavior isn't a one time thing. Trump is a joke, this just adds to the pile.

That may be the point of issue, in that I consider Trump to be an employee, whereas you see him as boss? Trump may boss other public servants, but he is just one of many working for these basketball players.

Yes, if I was the boss and I bent over backwards to help a disgraced employee find a new job, I might expect a thank you note, or maybe a fruit basket, though not publically request it. In a similar light, after Trump leaves office in disgrace, I would expect him to thank Foxnews for hiring him as 'pundit', perhaps giving him his own show.

Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!
6:42 PM - Nov 19, 2017

He can probably have them extradited.

Behavior be damned.

How Trumpism works.

I just want to note these were university students with professional careers in front of them...in a foreign country...WTF?

THey should have served their time in jail. It just propagates the notion that you can break the law and it doesn't matter. As long as you're connected, you can take what you please, rape as you please, etc etc. This is not an international incident that requires the president to intercede. They surely were on film stealing, in a friendly country.

Well you most of that wrong. These kids were far from privileged, that have no connections, and shoplifting is far from rape. They werepoor kids who just blew any chance they had.

Nope. I never said they were privileged. You made that up. Also, one of them has a father that played in the NBA. And by connected I mean they had the president save them for political purposes. And the rape thing is for the asshole who got off with six months for fingering a drunk girl behind a dumpster. I never said this group raped anybody. Did you even read what I wrote?

This one is hard for me. On one hand, these sound like extremely stupid people and the President did in fact help them. On the other, pre-empting their ability to thank him is sort of a completely douche move.

Thanks, douche?

Basically, even when Trump does the right thing, he does it in the most tacky way possible.

On this we can agree! :D

If somebody found my wallet, they'd be doing me a great favor. And just about the only thing that would make me not reward them is if they suggested they I reward them. Not only does it marginalize the gesture, but it basically proves as fast as possible that the person is not going to appreciate it by taking it for granted. Assuming there wasn't already plenty of evidence, like in this case.

Yes, it's common and typical to be thankful and to show it, but don't play coy by pretending it's normal to ask for it ahead of time.