Tough Guy

There is no more consequential decision a president makes than committing the nation to war. There is a process of getting congressional approval to declare war and a full explanation to the American people of why war is justified and what the goals and end game are. The current Trump war got none of that. We got a video made and released in the middle of the night from his gold encrusted estate in Florida. He didn’t have the decency to even wear a tie. But he did have that ridiculous white hat on with USA across the front of it. Where was Tony Soprano to tell him to take the hat off when he was declaring war as he told the guy to take his hat off in his friend’s restaurant? Trump was asking our military to do something he avoided and insulted them over the years for committing to the defense of the country.

Let’s start with the mysterious bone spurs in his heels that helped him avoid the draft in 1968. He was healthy and athletic. He went to a podiatrist who had an office in one of Trump’s father’s many buildings in Brooklyn. The daughters of the doctor have long maintained their father gave the diagnosis as a favor to Trump’s father for Trump to avoid the possibility of being sent to Vietnam. Trump has a history of criticizing veterans who served and even died for their country. Retired Marine General John Kelly served as Trump’s Chief of Staff in his first term. Kelly told CNN, “A person who thinks those who defended their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there’s nothing in it for them’. A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it didn’t look good for me.’

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told The Atlantic magazine that Trump once allegedly asked about a wounded Army captain who was singing “God Bless America” at an event. Trump said, Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.”

In 2018, Trump canceled a visit to an American cemetery outside of Paris. He blamed the rain and said “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him the sixty miles there. The Atlantic magazine reports Trump rejected the visit because he feared his hair would become wet in the rain. The Atlantic quoted senior staff members saying Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a seperate conversation, the magazine said Trump referred to more than 1,800 marines who were killed at the battle of Belleau Wood in World War I as “suckers” for getting killed. The White House denied the story.

Trump never liked the late Senator John McCain. He said he was never a fan and didn’t get a thank you for giving McCain the funeral he wanted. Trump famously said McCain wasn’t a hero because he was captured. McCain spent five years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton where he was tortured.

Now we are engaged in a war that has global implications for millions of innocent people and our military is being asked to give their lives for our country if necessary. I hope it’s not raining when Mr. Tough Guy has to go to a cemetery to honor those he’s called “suckers and losers”.