The Charlie Gard case is something that has been covered frequently both on this website and also on the related podcast. There is no simple answer to this question of morality and ethics that has found its way before the courts and it is this fact that means it deserves our attention no matter how heart-breaking it might be.

U.S. President Donald Trump has now thrown his two cents in now with the following tweet:

If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2017

It appears to follow hot on the heels of support from the Pope who has also taken a recent interest in the case.

However the context of this case alongside the content of the quotes make it very hard to actually discern a meaning.

The case itself was about whether the parents of young Charlie would be allowed to take their son to America for treatment so when Pope Francis said that the parents should be allowed to “accompany and treat their child until the end” the implication would be that this would extend across the Atlantic. However it is by no means black and white given that there have been recent questions regarding when and where life support should be turned off after the case was finally rejected once and for all by the European Court of Human Rights.

Similar questions can be asked about Donald Trump’s offer of help. If the case has already been decided then the prospect of medical treatment in the States is out of the question. Some would point out that it would not be beyond the current President to try and overreach the European legal system based on more than 50 years of jurisprudence but in reality his tweet more likely shows a lack of understanding of the case at hand.

The president’s recent outbursts on Twitter against the hosts of ‘Morning Joe’ on MSNBC and also against CNN are actually suggestive of the more sympathetic interpretation: that Trump simply does not comprehend the nuances involved.

From our perspective over here in the UK I think we have to be careful not to quickly join on the bandwagon lambasting Trump for interfering in our affairs as I do not think there is a political play being made here. He has simply become aware of the story, understands it on the basic level, has come to his own moral judgment and tweeted it out in the capacity of President of the United States.

Naive? Yes. Presidential? No – but who could accuse the tweets of the White House’s current occupant as being presidential?