# Trump considers those who served in the military "losers" and "suckers" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 4, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799 "2020-09-04T12:39:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/82 "2020-09-05T00:16:50Z")
True, the idolatry towards the military is a recent thing, and during the peacetimes in between wars in previous eras it was very much absent. _“You’ll never get rich/You sonofabitch/You’re In the Army now”_. In pre-WW2 peacetimes promotion and pay raises were rare and far between. “Honoring the troops” took a boost upon Desert Storm with a strong component of compensation for guilt over treatment of the Vietnam-era vets, but it got really huge post 9/11. And mind you many recent veterans have pointed out that they’d rather get proper VA services and attention to their in-service problems, than all the public fawning. Notice also that his reply to well-being-of-the-troops questions is always about how he has approved pay raises (no mention of taking away military facilities construction money to go pay the Wall). To him that’s all anyone should judge their job over. Trump ostensibly has a huge problems with the American military doing anything other than defending America itself or bullying others to bend to America’s will. When he talks about ending endless wars it’s not really about the waste of life and possibilities but about why the heck should we bother incurring costs for the sake of a “world order”, let the rest of the world burn, all we need is to be strong enough so nobody messes with **us**. . He is fine with the police because they defend the interests of his kind of people. As to the apparent opposition of DJT to his own children serving, if true it would look to me like a matter of retaining control: no one else can be the one who tells a Trump what to do, but him. An Ensign Tiffany Trump or Sergeant Donald Trump Junior would be subject to NOT putting the Trump Organization first and foremost and though he may influence and pull strings as any wealthy and well connected person might, he would not be able to, for instance, say “pay her to campaign for me”. And having DIs calling Junior a maggot with major malfunctions and smoking him in the summer heat at Parris or Quantico could… potentially… teach him there is more to life other than fearing Dad. Also, come to think of it, it would place them in the position of potentially having actual on-their-own-merit achievements HE does not have. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/83 "2020-09-05T01:23:45Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > …'Twas [ever thus](https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/tommy.html)… If you hadn’t posted a link to that Kipling poem, **DD** , I would have. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/84 "2020-09-05T01:26:49Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Maybe now after 9/11, but not during Vietnam. I don’t wish to hijack this any further, but it goes way farther back than Vietnam. Promises to war veterans have been broken in this country dating back to the Revolutionary War. Non-payment of salaries or withholding of benefits, rampant unemployment, refusal of treatment for injuries and trauma; it just goes on and on. I don’t begrudge today’s military for cashing in on some gratitude, but it’s been a long time coming. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/85 "2020-09-05T01:29:48Z")
General Pershing led a literal attack on the WWI veterans camping on the National Mall for relief. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/86 "2020-09-05T01:30:40Z")
The decision has, as of now, been rescinded due to massive backlash. > **[Trump—After Outcry—Reverses Decision To Shut Down Stars And Stripes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/09/04/trump-after-outcry-reverses-decision-to-shut-down-stars-and-stripes/#3aab9a0736d7)** > > The Pentagon previously sent a memo ordering the 159-year-old newspaper for American troops to begin preparations to “dissolve.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/87 "2020-09-05T01:36:09Z")
I never believed he had a chance in hell of being elected in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/88 "2020-09-05T01:37:41Z")
I heard that too, and I have a question: $100,000 a month for life, or until she was, say, 21 or 25? Only adults can join the military or the Peace Corps. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/89 "2020-09-05T01:41:55Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > General Pershing led a literal attack on the WWI veterans camping on the National Mall for relief. I think you have him mixed up with MacArthur. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/90 "2020-09-05T02:21:28Z")
**PhillyGuy** ’s correct, MacArthur as the Army’s Chief of Staff personally led the charge to drive veterans of [the Bonus Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army) out of Washington. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/91 "2020-09-05T02:55:53Z")
And Patton was one of his enforcers. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/92 "2020-09-05T03:04:21Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > General Pershing led a literal attack on the WWI veterans camping on the National Mall for relief. > > I think you have him mixed up with MacArthur. Oh, right. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/93 "2020-09-05T03:43:52Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Fake news! I didn’t say that! The Deep State and their lies! Here, watch me hump this flag to prove how much I love America! Yup…they totally tried that (as usual). Still busted though: - [Fox News reported Trump never said that dead US troops were ‘suckers,’ but the network’s national security correspondent said ex-officials confirmed he did](https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-correspondent-confirms-trump-said-dead-us-troops-losers-2020-9) - [Report: Trump disparaged US war dead as ‘losers,’ ‘suckers’](https://news.yahoo.com/report-trump-disparaged-us-war-012308935.html?soc_src=newsroom&soc_trk=com.apple.UIKit.activity.PostToTwitter&.tsrc=newsroom) And yet, in 2016 veterans were in the bag for Trump. Go figure (Clinton would have treated them much, much better): - [Why US veterans voted 2-to-1 for Donald Trump](https://www.aol.com/article/news/2016/11/11/why-veterans-voted-donald-trump-swing-states/21603486/) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/94 "2020-09-05T03:51:02Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Trump said what he did about McCain in public before a camera. And losers still made him the so-called commander in chief. I can only hope that enough voters have come to some kind of sense. One of the MAGAts I work with, a veteran, announced today that he was done with Trump, based on the recent reporting if his remarks about the military in the _Atlantic_. Of course, he felt it necessary to immediately state that Biden wasn’t accaptable either. Baby steps, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/95 "2020-09-05T05:45:41Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > With that being said, many of my friends and acquaintainces who are veterans absolutely love Trump. But many hate him as well. It seems to break down along enlisted/officer lines. The guys I know who are former boots-on-the ground enlisted guys, like Marine infantry and Army Rangers, think he’s great. The ones who are former officers in highly-skilled specialties, like Naval Aviators, submarine guys, etc, despise him. I am one of the Enlisted types who has always known what a piece of shit trump is. My oldest brother graduated from West Point and left the Army as a major. That brother supports trump. My next older brother graduated from VMI, retired from the USAR as a Lieutenant Colonel and despises trump. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/96 "2020-09-05T05:56:10Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > They admire him because they see so much of themselves in him. He’s getting away with cheeting, stealing and lying. Every dam day. They aspire to be just like him, and get away with it. Many of them think that the American Dream is screw everyone else as long as I get my way/don’t go to prison. > > The rest of them are interested in hurting other people, and can’t think far enough ahead to realize that they are the next ‘other people’ This is a very good appraisal; however, you are sorely mistaken on one very important premise. Trump’s supporters do not consider those he and they hate to be people. They are actually very much that kind of bigots. ---
**Author:** ![Terwilliger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Terwilliger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terwilliger)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/97 "2020-09-05T06:54:59Z")
How many of you essentially agree with trump? But are jumping on this issue because its bad for his reelection? Soldiers died for oil? The military industrial complex? The capitalist pigs that control America? Would not all those soldiers be suckers? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/98 "2020-09-05T11:03:54Z")
Way back it was common for Ivy league grads to spend a few years as a military officer . They could have had many job offers but they decided to serve the country first. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/99 "2020-09-05T11:14:44Z")
WTF are you talking about? We have tons of veterans on this site – why would we think they’re suckers? And, capitalist pigs?? Do you think this is a Soviet site from 1980 or something? Even if someone here stated that some soldiers died for oil, that’s not calling those soldiers suckers. It’s saying they were badly treated and misused by the army or CiC or something. If someone started a stupid fire (fell asleep while smoking or something) and some firefighter loses his or her life while trying to save that person, I wouldn’t go “ha ha, sucker! You died for a stupid cause!” I mean, seriously, WTF? Anyway, back to the point of this thread, Trump is coming out pretty hard against the allegations, so I’m more and more convinced they’re true. I love it when he now claims he never said McCain was a loser because it’s so well documented. Next, in his fine tradition of accusing his rivals of things he’s doing, he’ll claim that many people are saying that Biden called the troops losers and suckers. In fact, a veteran just came up to him the other day, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Sir, I think you should know that Biden called me a loser and a sucker.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/100 "2020-09-05T11:37:26Z")
> [@Terwilliger](#): > > How many of you essentially agree with trump? But are jumping on this issue because its bad for his reelection? > > Soldiers died for oil? The military industrial complex? The capitalist pigs that control America? Would not all those soldiers be suckers I think you actually make an interesting point, but as others have pointed out, there’s no hypocrisy here, because there are two different levels. Most liberals denounce unnecessary, harmful military interventions, at the COLLECTIVE level — the US government initiating an action that thousands of soldiers and others must carry out as part of their jobs. (Other interventions might not be so unnecessary/harmful — most agree Gore would have invaded Afghanistan, but not Iraq— and the soldiers are expected to fulfill their duties there, too). No suckers or losers, just bad or good decisions made mainly by the Commander in Chief. Trump’s awful cluelessness is about the INDIVIDUAL level. He clearly doesn’t get how any individual human could ever do anything, sacrifice anything, risk anything, without a guarantee of a PERSONAL reward. Everything is transactional. Empathy and altruism simply do not exist in his “mind.” Individual soldiers are suckers — not because they helped a dubious geopolitical cause (like “blood for oil”), but because they did something that they were told would help others, and often suffered greatly for it. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799/101 "2020-09-05T12:16:00Z")
Then there’s participating in the common defense because you are a citizen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-considers-those-who-served-in-the-military-losers-and-suckers/919799.md?page=6)