There really isn’t anything that Donald Trump says or does now that should surprise us. He is empirically and verifiably one of the worst people in the world. A man so devoid of compassion and dignity that his moral failings have collapsed in on themselves, sucking the light and honor from an entire country like a black hole of horribleness. This is why a claim that surfaced yesterday from The Atlantic that Trump called fallen US soldiers “losers” and “suckers” isn’t surprising. But it is still deeply, horrendously offensive and infuriating.
In a story published by The Atlantic, it was said that in 2018, Trump lied about his helicopter not being able to fly due to weather to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris. In truth, according to the report, he didn’t want to mess up his hair in the rain to waste time honoring the American “losers” and “suckers” who were dumb enough in his mind to get killed fighting in World War I. The full paragraph:
Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Now, I’m a pacifist and not a fan of the military-industrial complex. I don’t believe in war, and the exploitation by the military of communities of color and Americans living in or close to poverty is a huge issue. All that said, once someone is in the military they are taking on a job of incredible stress and risk that is worthy of respect. This is infinitely more true of those who fought and died in military service.
The idea that Donald Trump—a man who deferred military service five times due to “bone spurs” but actually spurred by his wealth—called these soldiers, who made the highest sacrifice for their country and democracy, losers and suckers and shuffled off paying respects because he didn’t want to mess up his hair is so offensive that it makes my blood boil. And like I said, I don’t even care for the military!
But of course, Trump didn’t give a damn. And of course, he allegedly asked outright why the United States intervened in World War I and asked “Who were the good guys in this war?” Of course, a guy who hates democracy and who praises and courts the votes of literal actual Neo-Nazis doesn’t get the point of either World War.
But that’s just the tip of the disrespect iceberg, according to The Atlantic and so many other sources. Trump’s disrespect of the troops is a pattern and borne by the President’s deep-seated disdain for, well, anyone who isn’t Donald Trump.
I remember vividly in the summer of 2015 when Trump first insulted John McCain for his time as a prisoner of war. We should have known right then when it didn’t entirely destroy Trump’s candidacy, that there was no low to which this pile of excrement parading as a person would not sink. And that it wouldn’t make a lick of difference to the “America first!” base he appealed to that he had no respect at all for the American troops the Republican party so loudly proclaims to love.
“We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,” Trump said of McCain’s 2018 funeral. When the flags were lowered to half staff to honor the Senator and war hero, Trump complained: “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser.” Trump thinks anyone who gets killed or captured or ever serves in the military is a “loser.”
When he visited Arlington Cemetery with his then DHS chief and future chief of staff John Kelly, as he was standing by the grave of Kelly’s son Robert who was killed in combat, he said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” The commander in chief of the United States Armed Service just … doesn’t understand why people honor fallen soldiers, or why people serve. The Atlantic report also claims that Trump didn’t want to include wounded veterans in his ridiculous military parades because, as USA Today put it, he thought that “spectators might feel uncomfortable seeing amputees.”
These reports are horrifying, but they’re not new. For his whole life, Trump has thought this way. He thinks people that weren’t “smart” enough to get out of service in Vietnam as he did with his bogus bone spurs diagnosis are losers and suckers too. Heck, it might be genetic given that his Grandfather was banished from Bavaria for failing to serve in the military there!
Joe Biden and his campaign have been quick to denounce Trump and his comments. Tammy Duckworth, a combat veteran who lost her legs in Iraq, blasted Trump, saying:
Donald Trump does not deserve to be the commander in chief for four more minutes, let alone another four years … I’m ready to replace Donald Trump with Joe Biden because we need a president who will actually show our soldiers and Marines and airmen and Coast Guardsmen and sailors the respect that they deserve, a president who understands the risks they face, a president who respect their men and women of our military, not insult them.
While Trump has vocally denied these reports, we all know that this is how he feels and thinks. We’re pretty much assured these days that when he stridently denies something, he most certainly did it. He has nothing but contempt for the people who would serve their country instead of making a quick buck. I mean, he didn’t care or take action when Russia offered bounties for the killings of American troops.
Will these latest revelations hurt Trump? Who knows. As I have said they are nothing new. This is exactly the man Trump has shown himself to be for years, decades even. He’s a consistent liar and con-artist, but not a very effective one, because we’ve seen who he was from the start. The real horror is that his base just doesn’t care. And that’s what remains truly surprising.
(via The Atlantic, image: LANGSDON/AFP via Getty Images)
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Published: Sep 4, 2020 02:48 pm