Sunday, September 06, 2020

Why I Don't Particularly Care What Trump Said (or Maybe Didn't Say)

 The initial story is by Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic, but of course it has spread far afield:

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 .... [he] 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.

Anonymous sources, so huge grain of salt.

Whether Trump said that stuff or not, it's not like he hasn't said the same kind of stuff before. The only military personnel he's ever not been publicly disrespectful toward or about have been the war criminals he's pardoned and the veterans in his administration who haven't stopped kissing his ass (and quit or been fired) just yet.

That attitude was evident before he was elected -- see "McCain, John" -- and he got elected anyway, so he has good reason to believe continuing with it won't alienate his base.

Do I care? Not at all, for a couple of reasons.

First of all, as a veteran myself, I can't honestly say that those of us who signed up for military service weren't "suckers."  US foreign policy, and especially US military policy, is a gigantic scam. Its main purpose seems to be shoveling money at "defense" contractors, and if some body bags have to be purchased and filled to keep that gravy train running, that's a price American politicians have proven all too willing to have their military servants pay. Just sayin' ...

Secondly, look who's talking. I wouldn't trust God Emperor Halfwit Bonespurs XLV to clean the head at a Marine Corps barracks or crack eggs in a Marine Corps chow hall without adult supervision, so why on earth would I place any importance on his opinions concerning what the Marines at Belleau Wood did?

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