He really is that bad. He says these things and he means them.
Poor choice of a word on my part.
Oh, OK.
I think she’s just recapping the content of the article, not confirming her firsthand experience.
An 8 minute video, an interview with the reporter. If you’d like to listen and judge his credibility for yourself:
Nitpick, Stars and Stripes has been around since the Civil War.
Oops, sorry.
I’m sure the restoration of funding for the S&S is just Trump backpedaling furiously to try to lessen the impact of his reported statements. It gives me considerable pleasure to think that he is likely in stroke territory over this.
Yeah, the bar is pretty low, ain’t it?
On the bright side, I really cannot believe he has the slightest chance in Hell of being re-elected.
The thing about Stars and Stripes is it’s just another example of Trump not caring about an American institution. None of it matters to him, and that includes America’s veterans.
How will Trump’s idiot followers blame black people for this one?
When there’s an idiot, there’s a way.
After reading the book written by Trump’s niece, it actually makes perfect sense.
According to her Fred Trump was a sociopath obsessed with strength and power, and denigrated anyone who was weak, causing Donald to develop a fake person obsessed with winning, money and power. It was a defense mechanism to deal with the pressure and abandonment issues (by comparison, Fred Trump jr became a dysfunctional alcoholic because of the stress).
So yeah the idea of self sacrifice and ending up dead or disabled for a selfless cause would strike Trump as a total loser. Its actually perfectly in line with Trump’s psyche in my view.
I hope it does, but there’s a certain exhaustion that comes over you after you hear yet another story about something stupid and horrible Trump said.
What I think is more persuasive -especially in connection with this disrespectful speech- is Trump’s continued insistence that we adopt the foreign policy strategy of positioning the Armed Forces as a profit center and running it like something that’s a cross between a business and a protection racket - demanding that our allies pay cost plus 50% for the services of our military.
Now, considering the risk that our troops incur I would think this drastic change in the overall mission of the US Armed Forces might piss off officers and enlisted men alike. Forget the stuff about serving our country, that’s for chumps.
But I wish they’d tie this in to the current story. That might have a bigger effect on military types than just the tales of disrespect alone.
There were four anonymous sources.
And the Atlantic article says that General Kelly declined to be interviewed. That means – he was not a source.
This is reported:
General Kelly certainly remembers what was said, or not said, at his son’s gravesite, well.
If exaggerated, General Kelly will be telling us that shortly.
If he does not, the conclusion to draw is that this is what Donald Trump says…
In Mary Trump’s book she described an episode wherein Donald senior threatened to disinherit Donald Junior if he joined the military. (Reported on the Rachel Maddow Show Sept 3.)
In the same show Maddow reported Marla Maples pre-nup with Trump had a provision for Tiffany Trump to receive $100,000 per month child support unless she joined the military or Peace Corps.
That’s so bizarre. In this country, the military is pretty much universally considered one of the highest callings that someone can aspire to, and it even seems to transcend economic status - I’ve known some people from rich families that voluntarily joined the military. Unless a family believes in a pacifist religion like the Quakers, it’s exceptionally unusual for them to have such antipathy towards military service. I guess it takes a really pretentious asshole to think that it’s “beneath” their children.
The part that should enrage you, or at least disappoint you about your fellow Americans is that he has a good chance of being “elected” with a minority of the votes again.
Well, not always. The military has certainly undergone increased status since 9/11, to the point of near-worship, which is disturbing. The military was popular while fighting WWI and WWII; afterwards, not so much. During Vietnam, people in the military were reviled by a segment of our population. During the 20+ years I served, public opinion went from that to mostly indifference. There were no homecoming celebrations by civilians, no priority boarding or deplaning, no free houses or cars or groceries. You were lucky to get a 10% discount at a furniture store near a military base. Civilians living near a lot of military bases often didn’t want us there. It’s a high calling when people want you to go and die for them, not so much otherwise.
'Twas ever thus.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, 'ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of 'eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of 'eroes” when the drums begin to roll.
…
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of 'is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!
–R. Kipling
Maybe now after 9/11, but not during Vietnam.
I think its partly because the military is seen as a form of self sacrifice, which was the total opposite of what Fred Trump and Donald Trump believed in. For them everything was about wealth, power, ego, reputation. The idea of putting your life and safety on the line to benefit other people would strike them as a totally foreign morality.
I wonder if Trump has the same contempt for firemen or police that he does for the military. I have no idea but wouldn’t be surprised.