Trump's Anti-Military Actions and Rhetoric

My family, like many, has a deep, rich heritage of serving this country. In researching my roots, I’ve found ancestors that fought in nearly every major war our country has been involved in.

At least three of my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, and one of them went on to fight in the War of 1812 (through this particular line, I’ve also discovered that I’m distant cousins with George Washington!).

Numerous ancestors of mine fought in the Civil War; at least two fought for the Union, and a half dozen or so (I still haven’t figured out the exact number) fought for the Confederacy.

Two of my great-grandfathers (both of whom were injured) and one of my great-great-uncles fought in World War I, and the latter was wounded and died just a few days later.

Nearly all of my great-uncles (two of whom were injured, and one of them struggled with PTSD for years as a result), as well as at least two great-great uncles and one of my great-grandfathers, served in World War II. Another great-grandfather didn’t serve in a military capacity, but was a physicist who worked for Sperry Gyroscope, a company that made, among other things, bomb sights, gun sights, and the ball turret seen on aircraft such as the B-17.

Both of my grandfathers, as well as my step-grandfather, served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Three of my uncles have served in the military, and one served during both Gulf Wars.

Members of my family continue to serve our country to this day, though not in an official military capacity; you don’t need to be wearing a military uniform to be working to protect this country. Additionally, many of my family’s closest and oldest friends have served as well, both in the military and in related capacities.

I wouldn’t be alive were it not for the sacrifices of these brave people. They put their lives on the line to defend us, to keep us safe, and to protect democracy and freedom. One of them even gave his life for this noble pursuit (for which a song was written that told his story). I owe all of them a debt that can never be repaid, and I do my best to always show gratitude and respect to all who have served, regardless of political ideologies or personal feelings. This is why I share my family’s stories on both Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day every year. I post their photos and tell people who they were because I want to ensure that their stories are never forgotten. However, while my family’s stories are powerful, they’re hardly unique.

Virtually every American citizen has at least one ancestor that served in some capacity, from the front lines to medical brigades to making the weapons and tools needed to win wars. Equally important to their sacrifices are those made by their families and friends, who were separated from them for months and years at a time. We, as a country, set aside November 11 each year as a day to honor all of these people, to thank them for all they’ve done, and to renew our vows that their sacrifices won’t be in vain and that we will always be there to help them.

A cursory glance at a history book shows that we haven’t always honored these vows. Our leaders have made no shortage of questionable decisions regarding our military, from using dubious reasoning to justify invasions to pushing policies that had a clear adverse impact on both active military and veterans. The fact that Congress had to override a presidential veto to pass the War Powers Act in 1973, which specifically reins in the president’s ability to wage war without the consent of Congress, shows that our leaders, particularly our presidents, have not always given either our military or our veterans the respect and honor they deserve.

We are in more danger of breaking these vows now than at perhaps any time throughout this history, and it is because of the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Donald Trump campaigned as, among other things, a pro-military candidate. He promised to “rebuild” our military, claiming that Obama and other presidents had shrunken the military (that the military had shrunken is partially true, but it was a direct result of the defense sequester, which was itself a direct result of Congress’ failure to pass a budget). He promised to protect and care for veterans, to clean up corruption at the VA and to make sure they weren’t forgotten. He promised to make sure the military had proper funding for all defense projects.

To be fair, he has done at least some of this. Military funding has increased drastically under his administration, and he’s signed new laws and regulations to address the systemic problems at the VA (whether or not they’ll be effective long term, of course, remains to be seen). He has put new leadership in place (several of whom were deeply controversial due to their inexperience and direct ties to the president) and signed legislation to protect whistleblowers (something that’s rather ironic, in retrospect) at the VA so that legitimate problems can be reported without fear of repercussions. But his actions and rhetoric completely undermine what good he has done because they show that he doesn’t truly have any respect for the military, that they exist purely to help him politically.

The issue isn’t that Trump doesn’t like the military; on the contrary, he clearly has a great love for the military. But it isn’t the way most people love the military; rather, it’s a love that is fueled by his narcissism and twisted by his ego. He cannot control his vindictive nature, which has led to him repeatedly insulting and endangering our military and our veterans; in some cases, he’s done this quite literally.

In short, he “loves” the military the way he loves most things: he extolls adulation on them only so long as he considers them loyal to him and him alone. The second someone does something he considers disloyal (which, due to his massive and desperately fragile ego, is an EXCEEDINGLY low bar), he considers them a traitor and immediately lashes out at them with brutal and vulgar attacks, and he hasn’t made any exception for the military or for veterans.

A full accounting of how Trump has attacked and disrespected the military could easily fill a book. Hundreds of articles have already been written about his appalling attitude towards our men and women in uniform, and there will doubtless be many more. Nonetheless, I feel it important to at least discuss some of Trump’s more egregious actions because they show a disturbing pattern of behavior that cannot be ignored. For ease of reading, I’ve grouped them into three categories: Direct Attacks, Disrespectful Conduct, and Nonfeasance, Misfeasance, and Malfeasance, and I’ve provided citations for each item.

1. Direct Attacks

a. Trump has attacked at least two Gold Star families, a truly reprehensible and inexcusable action.

i. He attacked Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, after they spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He accused them of not writing their speech, suggesting that Hillary Clinton’s speechwriters wrote it (which the Khans fiercely deny), and suggested that Ghazala’s silence during the speech was because she “wasn’t allowed to have anything to say,” the implication being that it was because they are a Muslim family^[1]. This is a HEINOUSLY offensive Muslim stereotype, and a clear indicator of Trump’s Islamophobic views. Ghazala responded several days later, both in interviews and an Op-Ed^[2], explaining that her silence was because photos of her son, which she cannot bear to see now, were on the screen behind them, and it was all she could do to not be overcome by emotion. Trump continued attacking them for several days^[3], as did his supporters and sycophants, many of whom lobbed horrifically racist attacks at the Khans^[4].

ii. He attacked Myeshia Johnson, the widow of La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush in Niger, after she revealed his callous and uncaring phone call to her. According to her, Trump couldn’t remember her husband’s name, and used a disrespectful tone^[5]. Trump sent out a tweet denying that he’d been disrespectful and clearly insinuated that Johnson was a liar^[6]. Sgt. Johnson’s mother and Representative Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), both of whom were with Myeshia during the call and listened to it on speakerphone, defended her description, and Rep. Wilson also stated that Trump said that Sgt. Johnson “must have known what he signed up for”^[7]. This set off a feud between the two that went on for some time afterwards, with Wilson calling Trump “a ‘jerk’ and a ‘liar’ who ‘doesn’t know how to be president’,”^[8] and Trump repeatedly calling her “wacky”^[9] and insisting that she lied about what he said on the phone call^[10]. The fact that he insulted and denigrated both a Gold Star family AND a sitting Congresswoman makes this particularly reprehensible and unforgivable.

b. Trump has attacked former Senator John McCain on multiple occasions, lashing out for refusing to support his policies^[11], for withdrawing his endorsement after the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape^[12], and even denigrating his military record. As far back as 1999, Trump suggested that McCain was considered a hero only because “he was captured"^[13], which is both false and a blatant misrepresentation of McCain’s service. During the 2016 campaign, Trump repeated this claim, noting that he didn’t consider McCain to be a hero because he likes “people who weren’t captured”^[14]. The two men traded barbs until McCain passed away in August of last year, and Trump has continued to attack and disrespect McCain since. Last May, when Trump made a state visit to Japan, the military was ordered by the White House to “minimize the visibility” of the USS John McCain while he was there^[15]. A few weeks later, in a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Trump suggested that he was “happy” that McCain was “gone”, and implied that he had gone to Hell^[16]. These repeated attacks on McCain, a true hero for his actions during the Vietnam War, are a level of repugnant beyond my ability to adequately describe.

c. Trump has attacked at least three generals who formerly worked in his administration.

i. He lashed out at H.R. McMaster, his former National Security Advisor, after the former stated that there was “irrefutable evidence” of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Trump sent out a tweet that implies that McMaster left important information out of his comments, which was nothing but a mishmash of debunked conspiracy theories^[17].

ii. Trump implied that John Kelly, his former Secretary of Homeland Security and later Chief of Staff, was lying when the latter recently said that he told Trump not to hire a “yes man” for Chief of Staff because doing so would lead to impeachment. Trump claimed that Kelly never said this, and that he “just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does.” Stephanie Grisham, the current White House Press Secretary, later said that Kelly was “totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president.”^[18]

iii. Trump recently unleashed a barrage of attacks on James Mattis, his former Secretary of Defense, calling him an “overrated general” and “not tough enough”^[19]. Trump also attacked Mattis after he resigned late last year, claiming he fired the general because he was “not too good”^[20].

d. Trump attacked Admiral William McRaven, the Navy SEAL commander who carried out the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, after he called Trump’s constant attacks on the press “the greatest threat to democracy.” Trump responded by calling him a “Hillary Clinton fan” and an “Obama backer” (neither of which are true, and also give the CLEAR suggestion that Trump believes anyone who doesn’t support him is hopelessly biased and lacks any credibility whatsoever), and suggesting that he didn’t do enough to capture bin Laden^[21].

e. Trump repeatedly attacked Robert S. Mueller III, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former FBI director, after the latter was appointed as Special Counsel to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 election. From the day Mueller was appointed, Trump has derided him (on an almost daily basis) as biased, conflicted, and a liar. As of this writing, Trump has tweeted about Mueller at least 256 times, accusing him of being unfair, of surrounding himself with “hardened Democrats”, and spinning ludicrous conspiracy theories to suggest that the entire intelligence community is biased against him^[22]. He has continued these attacks, long after the investigation was completed, with the latest tweet being posted on November 15.

f. Trump attacked retired General William McChrystal purely for the crime of voicing his opinion of the president. In an interview with CNN, McChrystal stated his belief that Trump was immoral and dishonest; in response, Trump fired off an angry tweet saying that he had “a big, dumb mouth” and that he was a “Hillary lover”^[23], which implies, like his jab at General McRaven, that anyone who supports his political opponents is untrustworthy.

g. Trump attacked two distinguished and decorated veterans because they testified against him in the impeachment inquiry.

i. After Bill Taylor, a Vietnam veteran and the current Acting Ambassador to the Ukraine, testified that Trump had indeed tried to get the Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. He has repeatedly called Taylor and his lawyer “Never Trumpers” (a claim that is demonstrably false^[24]), which clearly implies that anyone with an ideology that is opposed to his cannot be trusted. He then went on to suggest that “Never Trumpers” are “human scum”^[25].

ii. While lashing out at Taylor, Trump and his proxies have also worked overtime to smear Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, a decorated hero of the Iraq War, for the same reason. When Col. Vindman sat for closed door testimony in October, Trump sent multiple tweets lambasting him as a “Never Trumper”^[26], which, as noted above, is Trump-speak for “traitor”. Trump’s proxies and supporters took this line literally, questioning Col. Vindman’s patriotism and even going so far as to suggest he was in actuality a Ukrainian double agent^[27]. During the Colonel’s November 19 testimony, the official White House Twitter account fired off a barrage of tweets and retweets insulting and denigrating him; they tried to smear his credibility^[28], and even went so far as to suggest, as other supporters had, that he might be working for the Ukraine^[29]. These are some of Trump’s most vile attacks on military personnel and veterans to date, both in content and in the fact that he used an official government account to spread lies, smears, and vile partisanship.

2. Disrespectful Conduct

a. In the hotly contested 2018 Florida gubernatorial race, Trump suggested not counting absentee and mail-in ballots, saying that they should “go with election night”^[30]. Absentee and mail-in ballots are generally the last counted, and a large percentage of these are from active military personnel serving overseas^[31]. This suggestion is deeply offensive to all who have served because it questions their very right to participate in the democratic process. As such, this is both anti-military and un-democratic.

b. Trump routinely ignores the advice of military commanders and Pentagon advisors. He is known to clash with military advisors frequently, and some of them have intentionally ignored his orders because they know him to be wrong^[32]. Other times, he has taken actions with little to no consultation with his advisors, leading to a mad scramble to invent a policy on the fly^[33]. Trump also routinely belittles them by boasting that his intelligence is superior to theirs; during the campaign, he bragged that he knows “more about ISIS than the Generals”^[34], and in 2018, he claimed that he knew more about NATO than General Mattis^[35]. That he disdains the knowledge and experience of people who have served for decades and considers himself the true authority on military matters is unbelievable offensive.

c. Trump routinely lies or exaggerates claims about what he’s done for the military and veterans. Perhaps the most well-known is his oft-repeated boast that he passed the VA Choice Act, which was in fact signed by President Obama in 2014^[36]. Trump appears to be conflating a bill he signed in 2018, called the VA Mission Act, with VA Choice, but they are in fact distinct bills; the former merely builds on the latter, granting veterans more options. Nonetheless, Trump has repeated this false claim dozens of times, and has even claimed to have invented the idea himself^[37]. He also repeatedly claimed that the pay raise given to the military in 2018 was the first “in 10 years”, but this is, like his claim about VA Choice, demonstrably false^[38]. But he has repeated this claim numerous times, as he does with many of his lies and half-truths. By doing so, he insults the military by denigrating the accomplishments of previous Commanders-in-Chief.

d. When Trump talks about the military, he often refers to them using very possessive language. In numerous remarks^[39] and tweets^[40], he frequently uses the possessive adjective “my”, e.g. “my generals”, and “my military”. This implies that he views them as somehow being under his ownership, that they exist to serve him, which is contrary to the Constitution, military rules, and common sense. Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution states that “[t]he President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States”, which means that they are the highest ranking member of the military. They can issue direct orders to the military (thought the power to declare war specifically rests with Congress, per Article I) and appoint people to head various military and defense departments. But the president does not own the military. No military officer “owns” anyone that is subordinate to them, and it is a dire violation of protocol and heinously offensive to suggest otherwise^[41].

3. Nonfeasance, Misfeasance, and Malfeasance

a. Though Trump has taken numerous actions fueled by his hatred and bigotry, one of the more vile examples was banning transgender people from serving in the military^[42]. He and his supporters defended the ban by citing inaccurate figures^[43] and making assumptions that aren’t backed by a shred of factual evidence^[44], and refusing to admit that bigotry played any role in the ban, but the facts say otherwise^[45]. There is no medical or economic justification for this ban, and it does great damage to the military by impacting the mental health of those in uniform. Thousands of transgender people currently serve in the military, and many have been decorated for bravery and valor; all of them are now in danger of being discharged, and it would likely be an Other Than Honorable Discharge, which would mean they lose eligibility for certain benefits and services^[46]. Taking away the rights and privileges of people who have bravely served their country for decades purely for the sake of bigotry is fundamentally anti-military, anti-LGBTQ+, and un-American.

b. Trump’s bigoted policies haven’t stopped at punishing transgender personnel, sadly. As part of his crusade against immigrants, dozens of non-citizen members of the military have been deported (the exact number is unknown, but there are dozens of confirmed cases as of this writing), despite clear protocols and rules designed to protect them^[47]. They put their lives on the line to protect their country, and we broke our promise to protect and care for them and their families^[48]. As with banning transgender people from serving, these deportations aren’t backed by any legitimate justification whatsoever. Instead, they are yet another example of Trump’s insistence on injecting hatred into everything; his entire presidency exists because of his anti-immigrant crusade, and this is merely the latest example of it.

c. As has happened under every president, some of the missions Trump has ordered have been unsuccessful. Lives both civilian and military have been lost, and in at least one case, the target escaped. But Trump refused to accept responsibility, even for missions he personally approved. Just weeks into his presidency, Trump approved a raid in Yemen to capture Qasim al-Raymi, the current head of al-Quaeda; sadly, he escaped, and dozens of civilians, including women and children were killed, as was a Navy SEAL named William “Ryan” Owens. Trump’s response was to place all of the blame on the generals who carried out the mission, saying “they lost Ryan”^[49]. In October of 2017, four Army Special Forces soldiers were killed in an ambush in Niger, and, yet again, Trump refused to accept responsibility. He claimed that he never authorized the mission, but that he supported it^[50], and blamed the generals who oversaw the mission for the loss of our men^[51]. Past presidents have almost always accepted that no matter the circumstances, they are ultimately responsible for the lives of our uniformed defenders, but Trump does not. He has not once in his life accepted that he caused even the smallest failure, preferring to blame everyone else, which is antithetical to the most basic tenets of the military.

d. He has pardoned multiple servicemen that were convicted of murder, premeditated murder, and other war crimes^[52]. More recently, he interfered in the sentencing of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was convicted of abuse of a corpse^[53]. The Navy had demoted Gallagher, and Trump ordered this to be reversed^[54]. However, it didn’t end here; the Navy then tried to terminate Gallagher’s position as a SEAL, and Trump intervened once more, issuing a direct order to stop the action^[55], which in turn led to the Secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer, being forced to resign for refusing to follow such a clearly immoral order^[56]. Multiple generals and legal experts have argued against such interference in the military Justice System^[57], which is among the best in the world, but Trump has opted to ignore them all. These actions denigrate the military by setting precedents that could legitimize war crimes and make future convictions far more likely (which is why few previous presidents EVER intervened in military justice). Other countries won’t trust our military because they will fear that we won’t hold those who commit illegal and immoral acts accountable. Furthermore, these actions are also an attack on the men and women in the military justice system who investigate and prosecute these crimes; it gives the appearance that the president doesn’t trust them to do their job, which further erodes confidence in the system.

e. While we’re on the subject of war crimes, Trump has repeatedly attacked and threatened the International Criminal Court in The Hague^[58]. The ICC is the primary international body for investigating and prosecuting war crimes, and while the United States has never been an official member, we have generally worked with them^[59]. Trump’s administration has been downright hostile to the ICC because he views the court as an infringement on our sovereignty, and he has gone so far as to threaten to repeal and deny visas to any ICC investigators who try to come into the country^[60]. This makes it more difficult to prosecute war crimes because it sows mistrust of the ICC by suggesting that only the U.S. should be allowed to prosecute its citizens. In doing so, it also risks legitimizing war crimes, especially with Trump’s propensity for praising dictators.

f. During October 2018, in direct response to fearmongering from Fox News about a large group of migrants from Central America making their way to the United States, Trump sent thousands of federal troops (which some experts suggested was potentially illegal), as well as various National and State Guard units, to the border with Mexico^[61]. They were tasked with securing the border, as well as helping with various maintenance and construction issues. But the fact is that there was never any real threat, despite claims from Trump and his supporters to the contrary^[62]. These are people fleeing horrific violence that are, in fact, following the rules when trying to enter the country; the vast majority turn themselves in to Border Patrol so that they can formally request asylum. This was a flagrant abuse of his military powers, and a colossal waste of money and resources.

Unfortunately, Trump has done more than just send troops on a frivolous deployment designed to stroke his own ego. As part of his racist obsession with protecting our southern border from a threat that simply doesn’t exist, he has also stolen military resources to fund his ill-conceived border wall^[63]. Congress refused to fund the wall, so he has instead used his authority to move funds from the Pentagon to begin construction (which, contrary to his CONSTANT claims, has not truly begun). Numerous military and defense projects have had to be cancelled or delayed, which will hamper our military in numerous ways, because the funds were taken away.

g. Hidden within the new tax code Trump passed in December of 2017 was a provision that substantially raised taxes on the children of deceased veterans^[64]. When a member of the military is killed in action, their spouses and children are eligible for certain benefits, often referred to as Survivor Benefits. These have always been subject to certain taxes, but the rates have been kept minimal for obvious reasons, but Trump’s tax code changed the way the benefits given to children were classified, which made the tax rate skyrocket. The House and Senate have passed several bills in an attempt to fix this problem^[65], but as of this writing, none have passed both houses. However, this provision should never have existed in the first place; the fact that it does shows that Trump and the GOP were concerned more with giving tax breaks to their rich donors than with how their most vulnerable constituents might be affected (though, in fairness, tax codes are generally so large and complex that it’s impossible to predict every possible consequence).

h. Trump’s foreign policy is guided entirely by his incompetence, narcissism, and greed; this in turn endangers and weakens our military by straining alliances, denigrating our credibility and reliability, and incensing other world leaders.

i. Trump has repeatedly heaped praise on brutal dictators and attacked our closest allies. He has consistently expressed admiration for Putin, and even sided with him over our own intelligence agencies when asked about Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election^[66]. Trump has lauded Kim Jong Un on numerous occasions, despite the fact that he is one of the most oppressive dictators on the planet^[67]. Similarly, Trump has frequently extolled Xi Jinping, despite China’s appalling human rights abuses, and even congratulated him on getting rid of term limits^[68]. He also praised Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, a man who has bragged about throwing drug dealers to their deaths from helicopters^[69] More recently, he praised Mohammed bin Salman of Saudia Arabia, and refused to accept or even acknowledge the irrefutable evidence that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered on the Crown Prince’s orders^[70], and even vetoed a Congressional attempt to block him from selling $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia^[71].

As if cozying up to such brutal men and refusing to call them out for their heinous crimes weren’t bad enough, Trump has also attacked our allies on numerous occasions. He has attacked Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada^[72]; French President Emmanuel Macron^[73], and German Chancellor Angel Merkel^[74]; these three lead countries that are among our most important allies, and the damage Trump’s attacks have done cannot be overstated, and will take years, possibly decades, to undo.

ii. Trump has withdrawn the United States from multiple treaties and agreements (one of the few campaign promises he’s kept, which, needless to say, isn’t something to brag about), which hurts our military because of the implications for our credibility and reliability^[75]. While pulling out of any international agreement damages our reliability, Trump has pulled out of several agreements and treaties that have had or could have serious direct effects for our military. One of his signature campaign promises was to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal, which he accomplished in May of 2018^[76]; since our withdrawal, Iran has already begun to enrich uranium above the limits stated in the agreement. Another of his campaign promises was to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords; he began some of the initial work to do so in 2017, and served formal notice of his intent to withdraw only a few weeks ago^[77]. As of this writing, we are literally the only country in the world that is not party to this agreement.

In a shocking and unexpected move, Trump also withdrew the United States from a Reagan-era treaty with Russia that banned medium-range missiles^[78]. There are other treaties and agreements Trump has either withdrawn us from or refused to continue supporting, but these three are the most pertinent to this discussion because Trump has made the world fundamentally less safe. In addition, he has greatly harmed our credibility and made it harder for our military to work in tandem with our allies because other countries no longer have a reason to trust us; why should they trust that we’ll honor an agreement when the next president could undo it with a stroke of their pen?

iii. Since declaring his candidacy, Trump has repeatedly attacked NATO, calling it “obsolete”^[79] and “unfair” (this point is mostly in regards to certain members not paying what they promised to pay, which is actually a legitimate criticism). He has even reportedly floated the idea of pulling out of NATO altogether^[80], which only lends credence to the idea that he’s a Russian asset; there are few things Putin wants more than to severely weaken or abolish NATO. Recently, Trump announced that he’s slashing the amount of funding we give to NATO, which could weaken its ability to respond to threats^[81]. Attacking NATO is also a direct attack on our military because they work in tandem with NATO to keep us at peace. This is also yet another impingement on our credibility because it shows that we don’t value alliances the way the rest of the world does, or even the way we used to, and this, again, hurts our military by making it more difficult for them to work with our allies.

These are just some of the anti-military attacks, rhetoric, and policies Trump has pushed since declaring his candidacy. As previously noted, a full accounting could easily fill a book. I also freely admit that, having never served in the military myself, I’m not exactly qualified to speak to what is or isn’t in the best interest of our military, and I’m not pretending otherwise. My family’s centuries-long record of service, particularly the fact that both of my parents were children of Navy officers, gives me unique insight into the needs of our military and how they should be treated, but it isn’t a substitute for actually wearing a uniform and serving. I don’t pretend to speak on their behalf because I can’t. Instead, I speak as a private citizen who sees Trump for what he is: one of the most anti-military presidents this country has ever seen.

It doesn’t matter that Trump has taken some actions that are good for the military, such as increasing funding. A few good actions cannot negate a wealth of malicious actions, and there is no amount of good that can undo Trump’s words and deeds. He has denigrated our military by directly attacking them, by disrespecting them on numerous occasions, and by pushing policies that are clearly harmful to our military. Multiple soldiers have died as a direct result of his actions, and he has refused to accept even that responsibility.

If there is one fact that shows how anti-military Trump truly is, it’s the fact that multiple high-ranking officers, both current and retired, have spoken out against him. This is an exceedingly rare occurrence because the chain of command is one of the most important parts of military life; you don’t speak ill of your superiors, and you don’t refuse orders without a DAMN good reason. All who have spoken out have said the same thing: Trump is unstable and too impulsive to be an effective Commander-in-Chief. His actions have demeaned and endangered our men and women and uniform. Any “love” he has for the military is so twisted by narcissism that it can’t be called that at all. He disgraces everything our military stands for with his actions and rhetoric, and this cannot be ignored or explained away.

The only thing more disgraceful than Trump’s treatment of the military is that he is supported by the Republicans, who have long claimed to be the “pro-military Party”, despite the overwhelming evidence that Trump is one of the most, if not THE most, anti-military presidents we have yet had.

Sources:

Pages

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Trump's Anti-Military Actions and Rhetoric

No comments:

Post a Comment