Trump’s Doesn’t Care About US Soldiers
Yet another example.
When asked about his response to an Iranian missile attack when he was president, Trump noted that no one was injured, except for having “headaches.”
Of course, the reality is that there were injuries. As the NYT reported at the time, 34 Troops Have Brain Injuries From Iranian Missile Strike, Pentagon Says.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump dismissed concussion symptoms felt by the troops as “not very serious,” even as the Pentagon acknowledged that a number of American service members were being studied for possible traumatic brain injury caused by the attack.
“I heard they had headaches,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland. “I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen.”
This is utterly dismissive about the health of US troops. It is certainly not the most egregious example, but it is yet another one for the list.
And for the record–I am glad that there was no escalation after those attacks. But is it really too much for Trump to show some compassion for members of the armed services?
He repeated the headache line again yesterday (see Rupar and Berlatsky: Trump’s decompensation was the big debate day story h/t to charontwo for the link).
Side note: in watching the video of Trump’s remarks, I noted the following. The grift is unending on the far right these days. It is quite the business model: free programming of Trump rambling with ads in the corner. I wonder how many “Contagion Emergency Kits” they sold while Trump dismissed concussions as “headaches”?
Update: A more detailed story of the aftermath of that attack from a 2021 CBS piece: These U.S. soldiers were injured by Iranian ballistic missiles. They’ve been denied the Purple Heart award.
During the pandemic they were selling covid cure kits that included Viagra. I am betting those sold a bit better.
Steve
@TheRyGuy: The poison to our political discourse is the fact that your boy is a degenerate rapist, a convicted felon, a failed businessman who shifted into outright con man after he lost his father’s fortune and ran through every dollar legitimate investors foolishly lent him, a serial liar, and someone who has publicly and repeatedly spoken about wanting to have sex with his daughter. Trying to normalize him calls into question your own morals.
This is doing so much work to bury the fact that Trump has had so many intentional bad moments especially in comparison to his good moments. I noticed you disappeared during the discussion of his campaign abhorant behavior in Arlington. Or any of the first hand accounts from John Kelly about Trump’s calling dead service members “suckers.”
Or Trump’s desire to use the military within the US to suppress BLM protests. Or his interest in Soviet style parades.
Do you ever get tired of being a complete apologist for Trump and his lies and racist agenda? I mean you occasionally say “he’s do some bad things” but never actually talk about what those are. Instead you attack and threaten those of us who point out why is utterly unqualified for the office.
And beyond the military issues, you’ve also been completely silent about his racist and xenophobic attacks on Haitian Migrants in Springfield. It’s clear you recognize that those things are indefensible… because you don’t even attempt to defend them. You just nope out until there’s something you think you can “what about.”
It must suck knowing that you are going to vote for someone who does such undefendable things. Sorry, we make you feel so bad about your support of overt racists.
@TheRyGuy:
First, whataboutism is not a response to the contents of the post.
So you are admitting that this is a bad moment for Trump? (And I, suppose you would agree that his comments about McCain, his revulsion at wounded soldiers, and his unwillingness to do to the Normandy gravesites were also bad moments?).
I would suggest that these bad moments far outweigh the “normal” ones of which you speak.
@MarkedMan: 100%
@Matt Bernius: This really is an odd post to come in to defend Trump (while kind of not doing–sure, Trump says awful things, but I am the poison for [checks notes] directly quoting him?).
Indeed, not only did I quote him, but I quoted him from 2020 and this week, saying the same insensitive thing. This means he has had time to think about the situation and maybe reevaluate, and yet: nope!
Normal person?
Multiple bankruptcies
Multiple divorces
Draft dodger
Convicted Felon
Sells branded shoes, bibles, coins and other junk to rubes
Insults and shows no respect to many who have served, never serving himself
Cheats on current wife with porn star
I don’t know….I guess I just don’t know alot of normal people (eyes rolling out of head)
@TheRyGuy: For once, I find myself agreeing with you. Troops are the tools of warfare, human resources, if you will. As “the leader,” I find it unseemly to get overly concerned about concussions–except as they will affect the ongoing mission.
Before you get too excited, though, remember that a few days back, I was the guy saying that I’m okay committing war crimes to accomplish geopolitical ends. And acknowledging that I did and that they’re war crimes. There are reasons you don’t want me creating your nation’s foreign policy. And you probably shouldn’t want Trump creating it, either. For most of the same reasons.
@MarkedMan: Alas, guys like RyGuy, Trump, and me are normal human beings. It doesn’t take a special person to be a ghoulish sociopath, anyone can find the justification necessary to be/do anything. The difference is that, much like Luddite, I’m relieved that I didn’t become who I could have been. Not everyone shares such lucidity.
He doesn’t care about anybody. Why should US soldiers be any different?
Yes, Trump is the ultimate narcissist.
He likes the troops when they make him look good or say nice things about him. He hates the troops (and Gold Star families) when they don’t make him look good or don’t say nice things about him.
That’s the way he is with everyone. Wearing the uniform doesn’t grant any special status for him.
@Steven L. Taylor: We must never judge anyone, since we’re all just a mix of good and bad moments. /derp
Having to defend Trump really makes people look like fools. If only there was some alternative.
@Andy: Now I’m beginning to wonder about those people who think of Trump as just a “normal guy” (I saw something about a media interview of someone who described Trump this way, so I’m not just pointing at you, @RyGuy).
Is it possible that they think “he likes troops who make him look good, and doesn’t like troops when they don’t make him look good” is, for them, normal?
@just nutha: And now I see you making a very similar point to what I just did.
People with attitudes like that tend to make a mess and blame other people for the mess. I have seen this a lot. They can be fun to have lunch with. Don’t want them running the country, or much of anything that impacts me.
@TheRyGuy: Worse, Biden said no soldiers died on his watch. Sociopath or loss of memory.
@Fortune:
But don’t expect anything but contrived and ghoulish selective outrage from the bloggers and commenters here.
No morals. None. Chillingly amoral and intellectually light people in support of political power as the only goal. And yet they hypocritically criticize Trump all day long, while their faves disgrace themselves.
Politicians are what they are. It has always been so; it’s the observers who suck cxxx in support we should worry about. That’s the danger.
@MarkedMan: There’s all that, and there’s the fact that he tried to overturn the result of a legitimately conducted election. We all saw that. We know what he did. He he said “we love you all” when he finally could be buggered to do something – after it was clear the whole gambit wasn’t going to work.
So here you are, supporting a traitor to America and brushing off a threat to the foundations of our democracy.
I fail to understand why every single loyal American doesn’t find this disqualifying.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat discusses bullying in the context of politics, from the local level on up:
“Link”
@Steven L. Taylor: You write an article when Biden said he didn’t lose any US soldiers?
@Jack:
Why do you keep coming back to subject yourself to the sorts of potential abuse you face here day in and day out? It’s not going to be for the sake of the lurkers; you don’t explain your objections/gotchas thoroughly enough for lurkers to understand them.
@Jay L Gischer: When I was composing the list of a half dozen reasons Trump should be disqualified from office, I realized I could put that list aside and come up with another, equally bad, one. And another and another. And still never have a repeat.
@Fortune: let me see if I understand your point: It is wrong for Biden to not care enough about soldiers to remember any deaths, but Trump just sees Biden as a role model and is trying to copy him so anything bad Trump says about soldiers is actually Biden’s fault because Trump can’t think for himself and has no agency? Did I get that right?
@Erik: no
@Fortune:
You are correct. Biden said that during the disastrous debate that… checks note… led to the Democratic party pressuring him to drop out of the Presidential race. So the Democrats actually address that issue. I honestly don’t understand why you think pointing that out is strengthening your case.
Beyond that, are you suggesting that Biden mispeaking (or lying) is as bad as Trump’s actual actions and statements? Because if that’s the case, why are you upset about Biden but not upset about Trump?
Or do you just take @Jack’s position that might makes right, politicians are all bad, and that he has no problems voting for someone who will use racism to bully immigrants because… tax cuts and after all the Democrats are worse?
BTW, Jack, if that’s your position–rather than trying to project your moral depravity onto the rest of us, say it with your chest.
Also, I’m genuinely curious why the topic of Trump’s comments about members of the Military has trigger so many of our conservative commenters. I don’t remember any of you commenting on the Arlington Incident or other recent critiques of Trump’s behavior (i.e. the many posts about the racists lies and attacks on Haitian Immigrants in Springfield).
What is it about this topic that activates you?
@Fortune: Cool, because that didn’t make any sense to me. So what did you mean then?
@Matt Bernius:
The way our MAGA cultists went into hiding over Drama Queen Donnie and Vladimir Futon terrorizing Ohio with racist lies so vile even Ohio Republicans had to step in and chastise them. Very telling.
@Matt Bernius:
Please, do not get into a habit of sanewashing Jack!
He did not use his comment to lay out a political position or justify his voting behaviors. Instead, he chose to disparage the front pagers and the commentariat as contrived, ghoulish, chillingly amoral, and intellectually light people who see political power as the only motivation. At the same time, of course, he inferred that he was none of those things.
Of course, for those of us who are familiar with his posting history, including you, this is baths!t crazy talk.
Matt, I truly appreciate your interest in engaging in a good faith debate with the Trumpist commenters who frequent here. Keep up the good fight. Just never give them the benefit of translating their glib blather into a plausibly substantive argument. They don’t deserve your translations. Their writings reveal them as they are.
@MarkedMan: Indeed! It’s hard to come up with another figure from our history who is so comprehensively unqualified to election as President. Especially when you add that he won office.
@Jay L Gischer:
Yes, the difference between Cracker (& I for that matter) and Rump is that we KNOW what we are, and have made conscious decisions to keep our hands off the reigns of power. Why? Let me say that there was a reason why the lifers in prison made a guy with a weapons mandatory nickel on a first offense a member of their club.
@Erik: sociopath or loss of memory
@Fortune: Feel free to start your own blog if you feel I haven’t covered a story you would like to discuss.
We even provide a free, open forum. Have you expressed your outrage there yet?
@Jack:
This is the refuge of the Trump supporter. All politicians are the same, so it’s justifiable to support Trump because he has the right letter by his name.
It is weird team-oriented nihilism.
@Matt Bernius & @DK: It really is rather odd that this post generated this many comments from the pro-Trump types.
But at least no one has defended the ivermectin commercial, so I guess I will take what I can get!
@Andy: Heyyyyyy! Long time no see! How was your trip?
@Fortune: so not actually interested in engaging with the post then. Got it
The resident Trumpers know this is bad. That’s at the root of the “whataboutism” and all of the other nonsense they are spouting in this thread.
Trump, who thinks his stint at a military boarding school for behavioral problems amounts to military service, doesn’t respect those who actually serve. Period, full stop.
Anyone trying to justify this by talking about Biden–who LITERALLY GOT BOOTED TO THE CURB for his comment–is missing the entire damn point.
Gotta love the predictability of appearances here by @Fortune: @Jack: and the other one. They come crawling out from under their rocks when they think they’ve got something hot from one of their GIGO news sources. Charge! they cry, all excited at an opportunity to lie some more and demonstrate their wretched, collapsed characters. And every single time, they got nuthin’.
Weird isn’t enough. These people are creeps. Woman-hating, immigrant-hating, self-hating, small, empty little men. Each of them fantasize about murdering some of us here.
@Jack: “it’s the observers who suck cxxx in support”
That’s it for me. Moderators, I know that you really don’t like to ban posters, and I understand and appreciate your point of view. But I don’t need to see crap like this from our own little bargain-basement Mark Robinson.
How does this creep add anything to the conversation around here?
@wr: go easy on him. He is just lashing out because he can’t afford the 100k trump watch.
@Fortune: man… I’ll be sure not to vote for him in 2024.
@Matt Bernius: I was just replying to The RyGuy who had the best comment. I wasn’t activated. Most of the comments aren’t as interesting.
@wr:
I reluctantly second that motion.
@TheRyGuy:
Trump has good moments? Prove it. Unedited clip of at least a minute in duration, please.
@Jack:
I think that is the most perfect example of projection I have ever seen. Well played, my fascist friend.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Actually it’s easy to understand.
You’re a big meanie who hurt their little feels?
Just guessing. But it is fascinating what their triggers are.
@wr and @Michael Reynolds: I will take this under advisement.
@DrDaveT: Exactly–and was more or less the point I was making above.
The only way for many people to rationalize their support of Trump is to do the “they are all the same” bit and to see any support or opposition for/to other candidates to be exactly what they are doing: rationalizing and justifying their support of demonstrably one of the worst people ever to hold the office.
The list of transgressions is immense.
But, you know, Kamala laughs funny and seems to have had a campaign-trail conversion on fracking, so they all the same!
I mean, it is just like having a string of scam-based failed businesses, inciting an insurrection, being found to have engaged in rape and sexual assault in a civil case, having cheated on multiple wives (including with a porn star right after your third wife gave birth and paying her hush money to boot!), of bragging about grabbing women by the pussy and just kissing them because if you’re famous they just let you do it, of being convicted of business fraud, or having to pay damages over Trump “university,” or clearing using his followers as patsies by selling from NFTs, crappy watches, etc., of treating Kim Jung Un like a buddy, and flat making stuff up in the campaign trail constantly.
Oh, and “her emails” are the worst security threat perpetrated by an official, ever but all those documents stored on stages in public and in a bathroom are no big deal!
And that is just off the top of my head and I also decided to just quit because what’s the point? They don’t care.
Tim Walz seemingly exaggerating on some bio items (not great, I will allow) is just the same as terrorizing Springfield, OH over blatant, xenophobic lies.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
This post is stunningly disingenuous. Trump was not belittling the soldier’s health, he was reacting to the obvious gaslighting by the Leftist media.
@joe: LOL. No. Saying “they had headaches” about soldiers (PLURAL) who had concussions is absolutely belittling those soldiers’ injuries.
TBI is one of the most significant injuries an individual can have.
Besides, we have a whole bunch of other examples of Trump dismissing injuries or refusing to be pictured with veterans with significant injuries. Also, calling Sen. McCain not a hero “because he was captured.”
There’s no walking back Trump’s blatant and continuous contempt for anyone injured in military service. He’s a POS, and I certainly hope members of the military wake up and realize how little Captain Bonespurs thinks of them.
@Michael Reynolds:
GIGO news sources
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/read-biden-trump-debate-rush-transcript/index.html
@Fortune: To quote @Matt Bernius:
You are kind of ignoring an important part of that story (but you are ignoring an awful lot in this thread).
The day after Judge Chutkan unsealed Jack Smith’s brief, revealing further evidence about Trump’s efforts to overturn an election, let’s not waste our time on cheap distractions like Biden allegedly checking his watch at a funeral,* ad hominem attacks on people who post on this forum, vulgarities, and the most strained Whataboutism imaginable.
* I’ll confess to my own depravity: I have checked my watch at a funeral. And to anyone who attends my funeral in what I hope will be the far future, feel free to check yours.
@Steven L. Taylor: Did you write an article about Biden forgetting the dead, or when he checked his watch at the funeral and the families complained that he only wanted to talk about himself?
@Fortune:
And this is how we know that you are 100% trolling here. There’s no way that anyone, even a Trump supporter, could type that sentence with a straight face.
@Fortune: Again: create your own blog.
Plus, your whataboutism is pointless and annoying.
I haven’t written about thousands (millions? trillions?) of things. The lack of writing about X has nothing to do with the contents of what I do write.
@Kingdaddy:
Indeed! I suspect I have checked my watch at every funeral I have ever attended. I suspect 99.9% of all watch-wearing people have. It is kind of a reflexive thing.
@Steven L. Taylor: I’ve reflexively checked my watch *and not registered the time* and then had to look at it again.
I fail to see how this is a relevant issue with the no-longer-a-candidate person in question.
@Jen: https://abcnews.go.com/International/gold-star-mother-bidens-conduct-dignified-transfer-ceremony/story?id=102885936
@Steven L. Taylor: You said I’m ignoring Biden dropping out of the race. So apples to apples, if you didn’t criticize candidate and CiC Biden then it’s not about Biden dropping out of the race, it’s you not caring when the democrat does it.
@Kingdaddy: “And to anyone who attends my funeral in what I hope will be the far future, feel free to check yours.”
Just in case I’m not around or not invited, I just checked my watch in your honor.
@Fortune: Is this clown the same clown as joe and jack and ryguy and all the other losers who come around here to spout Trumpist bullshit, or are there actually multiple trolls here?
@Fortune: Let me try and spell it out for you.
You are harping on a misstatement by Biden. He soon dropped out of the race, partially because he made a bunch of misstatements in the debate. There were consequences for his misstatements and from co-partisans.
What are the consequences of Trump’s behavior?
But, again, you are the one who ignores what Trump said and wants to harp on Biden who, again, in not running.
There
@Fortune:
Saying “apples to apples” means you are advocating for comparing the same thing.
Following that line of thinking, it appears you are saying that:
* Biden checking his watch during a ceremony
and
* Biden falsely saying no trooped died under his administration
are equivalent to Trump
* Saying that traumatic brain injuries are not real (something that led to people being initially denied purple hearts from that incident).
* Not following Military Rules during a visit to Arlington and his staff saying that the civilian staffer who attempted to stop them was having a “mental health incident.”
* All of his behaviors regarding the troops that John Kelly detailed about Trump’s disrespect for troops, in particular the wounded and those who died during the war.
I’ll stop there as I think Trump’s interest in deploying Troops to put down BLM and other protests probably is of a different order of magnitude.
If this is correct, it would be helpful for you to acknowledge that you see these as all equivalent. That will help inform the discussion about what you expect us to write about.
@wr: I think multiple trolls, but with “Fortune” there’s a similarity to “Paul’s” tendency to just drop a random link without a lead-in. IDK. And I no longer care, as he’s continuing to whinge on about Biden’s issues, even though a) Biden is no longer a candidate and Trump is; and b) Trump’s offenses are by far several magnitudes greater.
@Fortune:
Are you seriously attempting to equate those things to attempting to overturn a legal election by force, extorting political favors from a foreign leader as a condition for military aid, or stashing piles of top secret files in a back room and then refusing to return them? Just checking.
@DrDaveT: If you’re changing the subject from concern about the troops to something else, why comment on this article.
@Fortune: So….what’s your view on Trump’s lies about FEMA aid and fascistic claims about immigrants getting money that NC should get?
Or Vance’s lies about 2020?
Or MTG’s assertion about weather control?
Or Trump’s call for “One Violent Day?”
Or the lies about Springfield, OH?
There are lots of posts for you to address. Or is the only important thing a misstatement by Biden?
@Steven L. Taylor: This is an open forum. I can comment on those articles if I want. If someone calls out this article for not really caring about soldiers calling it “a real poison to our political discourse”, I’ll like it if I want, right?
@Fortune:
Of course you do, that’s not in question.
Though I will point out that what you wrote above wasn’t the context of the comment you liked and defended. In no way was it accusing Steven of not really caring about the troops. Here’s the full quote:
First, TheRyGuy was accusing Steven of posting due to “a physical or mental disease” (pathological). And it wasn’t about supporting or not supporting the troops. He was trying to normalize Trump’s behavior as being just a “bad moment.” Clearly, a lot of us don’t see it that way.
Further, we see Trump’s behavior as part of a long string of examples where he continually demonstrates that he doesn’t care about the Troops for anything other than a political prop. Admittedly, if it was just that, there could be an argument that this is just normal political behavior. The issue is that said disrespect has had a record of boiling over into Trump (and his team’s) interaction with troops and policies dealing with troops.
@Matt Bernius: Biden has a record of disrespecting or forgetting the troops but I guess no one writes about it even when he was a candidate. I don’t know the commenters or Steven L. Taylor so maybe Jack was closer to the truth when he called it hypocrisy. I don’t know jack about Jack or The RyGuy either. Steven changing the subject to Springfield and weather cotrol tells me none of this was about the troops.
@Fortune:
First, thank you for being willing to stay in the conversation.
I’m honestly not aware of that. I did some quick googling and found this article at military times:
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/09/29/candidates-accuse-each-other-of-military-insults-disrespect-for-troops-in-first-presidential-debate/
The only think it points out is the “clap you stupid bastards” line. in a 2016 speech. More details on that here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/29/fact-check-2016-joe-biden-called-troops-stupid-bastards-jest/3560443001/
Whether or not you take it as a joke is entirely up to personal preference. What are the other examples in that “record” that you are thinking of?
@Fortune: You are free to comment on what you like.
I just find it telling that the other topics are not worthy of your time.
@Matt Bernius: “Candidate” Biden until July
@Fortune:
@Matt Bernius: Oh, you’re not thinking I mean he wasn’t President, right? I called him CiC earlier. I mean he was President and Commander in Chief and forgot he lost troops and no one cared. Theyre saying it doesn’t matter because he was pulled from the ticket but they didn’t complain about it then or earlier when the gold star families were complaining. Candidate versus candidate, it’s only ok if you’re a Democrat.
@Fortune: So, I guess the answer to @my question is that the only thing that matters to you is a specific misstatement by Biden.
@Steven L. Taylor: Under the Trump Doesn’t Care About US Soldiers article, the only thing I care about is you ignoring Biden’s disregard for fallen troops.
@Fortune: clearly.
And your silence on dozens of other threads are, to tweak a phrase recently in the news, a series of damning non-opinions.
It’s also a non-answer about the content of the OP.
Is this why no one disagrees with you any more even though we’re free to comment as we choose?
@Fortune:
Yes, when it comes to disrespect of the military and military service, Biden is the same as Trump.
@Fortune: I am not allowed to respond back?