Trump doubles down on Camp Lejeune: if Republicans don’t do well, ‘maybe they won’t get their money’

Trump got the chance to walk back the Camp Lejeune threat. He took it at a jog in the other direction.

At Tuesday’s rally in Greenville he said the Justice Department would settle the remaining toxic-water claims if Republicans held Congress, and “if we don’t win, there’s no money.” On Thursday a reporter asked the obvious question: if the claims are good, why not settle them now? “I think if they can do it reasonably, they should settle. If they can’t, they have to just go.” He added, for the record: “We want to take care of our soldiers.”

Then why does it depend on the midterms? “Because if we’re not there, then somebody else is going to have to settle it. So, I can’t speak for another administration.” And just so nobody missed it: “So if the Republicans don’t do well, I would say that maybe they won’t get their money.”

One problem with “another administration”: there isn’t one coming. The midterms pick Congress. By our math, Trump runs the Justice Department until January 2029 whoever wins the House, and he’s the one sitting on the settlements either way.

Up to a million people may have been exposed to the base’s contaminated water between 1953 and 1987, by the federal ATSDR’s estimate. They didn’t get a say in what came out of the tap. Now the president says whether they get paid depends on who wins in November.