As usual, Donald Trump is 100% consistent. A national folk hero died yesterday and so what does Trump do today? He makes the story about him. What else would he possibly do?
Trump’s first interview after the death of Dolly Parton: “She really liked me.” pic.twitter.com/sLCX478zUp
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 26, 2026
First interview, first words out of his mouth. If Dolly liked him so much, why did she turn down the Presidential Medal Of Freedom — twice, in fact, during Trump’s first term? Parton wanted to avoid being political and so she turned down the same honor from Joe Biden.
But it stands to reason that if Parton was so enamored of Trump that she would have accepted the honor from him. Maybe not. Maybe Dolly was right, just stay out of the political fray, but that’s just not possible for so many of us.
In any event, Trump did not disappoint, he did exactly what he was expected to do, which was to make the death of a cultural idol all about himself and not about her at all.
