Friday, October 30, 2020

Voting Military Folks?- Trump Called Fallen Troops "Losers"

If you're in the military, like my dad was, you should be pretty horrified at the Atlantic's report Here's the article from Politico. com (a non-partisan political news website): 
(corroborated with 2 other reputable outlets) that the "Commander in Chief" called American service members who died in World War I as “losers” and “suckers” in conversations with his staff during a visit to France in 2018. Story>


Trump scrambles to recover from report that he called fallen troops ‘losers’

‌President Donald Trump and his aides are scrambling to contain the fallout from reports that he made denigrating remarks about U.S. service members and America’s war dead.

Addressing reporters in the Oval Office, Trump again attacked The Atlantic for its account of him allegedly calling fallen Marines “losers” and “suckers,” and sought to defuse the escalating controversy. The Atlantic’s account was subsequently corroborated in part by news outlets including The Associated Press and The Washington Post, which reported other explosive allegations about the president’s perception of the nation’s military.

“It’s a fake story written by a magazine that was probably not going to be around much longer,” Trump said. Trump’s latest repudiation of The Atlantic report came hours after top Biden surrogates denounced the president in a press call — seizing upon a potential inflection point in a general election campaign that in recent days has left the Democratic nominee emphasizing his opposition to violence at protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

Trump canceled a planned 2018 visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because he said the rainy weather would dishevel his hair and the burial ground was “filled with losers.”

On Friday, however, it was Trump who found himself playing defense, having to explain his support for the military less than two months from an election in which he will rely on a political base of voters made up of a disproportionately high percentage of veterans.

Biden and his campaign quickly pounced. The former vice president, who had been scheduled to give a speech on the economy in Delaware on Friday afternoon, instead spent much of the event rebuking Trump.

"I've just never been as disappointed in my whole career with a leader that I've worked with, president or otherwise," Biden said. "If the article is true, and it appears to be based on the things he said, it is absolutely damnable. It is a disgrace."

Earlier Friday morning, during the Biden campaign call, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she was “appalled” by The Atlantic’s report, which alleged that Trump canceled a planned 2018 visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because the rainy weather would dishevel his hair and the burial ground was “filled with losers.”

But Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, also acknowledged she was “not shocked to hear yet more instances of Donald Trump belittling the sacrifices of those who have shown more bravery than he’s capable of.” Duckworth lost both legs when the Blackhawk helicopter she was co-piloting was shot by Iraqi insurgents in 2004.

“Of course he thinks about war selfishly. He thinks of it as a transactional cost instead of in human lives and American blood spilled, because that’s how he’s viewed his whole life. He doesn’t understand other people’s bravery and courage because he’s never had any of his own.”

Trump was mystified as to why the U.S. government placed value on finding soldiers who were missing in action because he believed “they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got,” according to the Washington Post.

 The remarks echoed disparaging comments about veterans that Trump made in 2015, insulting the late Sen. John McCain.  Don't forget DT's 2015 tweet calling McCain a "loser."

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I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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