Trump wants a Military Parade
But what has he done to deserve one?
Does he deserve one?
The general consensus appears to be something between 'No' and 'Hell no!'
He was reportedly fascinated and
excited by the French celebrations that he witnessed in Paris on July
14 2017 to mark Bastille day and decided that he wanted one for
himself.
The spin of course, is that it's for
the troops. U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Mattis explained:
"We are all aware in this country
of the president's affection and respect for the military'.
Others were not so enthusiastic, with
Senator Barbara Lee asking how much this parade was likely to cost
and being told by OMB Director, Mick Mulvaney that it was likely to
be in the region of $10 million to $30 million.
Would this be a good time to remind
people that there are 40,000 homeless Veterans in America, 22
Veterans commit suicide every day and there are Gold Star families
that need support?
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/veterans/
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/veterans/
But Trump wants his parade.
Even Brian Kilmeade, of Fox News was
heard to remark; 'It sounds like a waste of money to me'.
CNN military and diplomatic analyst and
retired Rear Admiral John Kirkby put it like this:
I worry that it's more about honouring
Donald Trump than it is honouring the troops in that it's really
about feeding his ego and his love of pomp and circumstance and being honoured. The other thing that bothers me is that it's anethical to American military culture.
about feeding his ego and his love of pomp and circumstance and being honoured. The other thing that bothers me is that it's anethical to American military culture.
We're not against parades, troops march
in parades all over the country on July 4. It's not about the parade
itself, it's about going down Pennsylvania Avenue with tanks and
missiles and that kind of ostentatious military hardware display is
just not something that we do. We are the world's most powerful
military and we don't need to 'show the gear' to do that. The last
thing that bothers me about it is the money.
Despite his claims that 'I am the most
militaristic person ever' and 'I am stronger militarily than any of
them or that in prep school he received more military training than
most actual soldiers did, “I felt like I was in the military in a
true sense,” Trump hasn't always seemed to show respect or
gratitude to American Veterans.
For one thing he doesn't seem to
understand the concept of PTSD, responding to a question on mental
health and suicide among veterans with:
“... When you talk about the mental
health problems, when people come back from war and combat and they
see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many
times over and you’re strong and you can handle it. But a lot of
people can’t handle it. And they see horror stories. They see
events that you couldn’t see in a movie, nobody would believe it.
Now we need a mental health help and
medical. And it’s one of the things that I think is least addressed
and is one of the things that — like your question — one of the
things that I hear the most about when I go around and talk to the
veterans. So we’re going to have a very, very robust, level of
performance having to do with mental health. We are losing so many
great people that can be taken care of if they have proper care”.
https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ForVeterans.aspx
https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ForVeterans.aspx
Trump of course, did not serve in the
military.
He became eligible for the draft on his
18th birthday, June 14 1964 and was registered with the Selective
Service System 10 days later.
He received 4 consecutive student
deferments followed by a 5th deferment, this time a medical deferment
for 'bone spurs' though he initially claimed not to remember which
foot it was in.
'I had a doctor that gave me a letter'
he explained to the New York Times. 'A very strong letter on the
heels'.
Donald Trump has never seen active
military duty (unless there is a movie of that name).
He did however receive the Purple Heart
– though as is usually the case with Trump, it wasn't entirely
legitimate...
At a rally in Ashburn, Virginia, Trump
claimed that he had received a Purple Heart medal from a retired
Lietutenant Colonel who supported him.
“I said to him, 'is
that a real one or a copy? And he told me, 'that's my real Purple
Heart. I have such confidence in you' and I said;
'Man,
that's like big stuff, I always wanted to get the Purple Heart, this
was much easier!'
This turned out to be untrue, NBC's Katy Tur tweeted later that she had spoken to the Veteran and he had told her that it was a copy of his Purple Heart and not the original.
Trump has claimed that avoiding STD's
in the 80's was his 'own personal Vietnam',
adding that;“Its amazing, I can't even believe it. I've been so lucky in terms of that whole world. It is a dangerous world out there, it's like Vietnam, sort of , It's my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier!” Further, referring to women's vaginas as 'potential landmines', he added that: 'There's some real danger there!'
adding that;“Its amazing, I can't even believe it. I've been so lucky in terms of that whole world. It is a dangerous world out there, it's like Vietnam, sort of , It's my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier!” Further, referring to women's vaginas as 'potential landmines', he added that: 'There's some real danger there!'
October 26 1967.
31 year old Lieut. Commander John
Sidney McCain was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North
Vietnam as part of a twenty-plane strike against the Yen Phu thermal
power plant in central Hanoi.
As he approached his target, warning
systems in his A-4E Skyhawk alerted him to the fact that he was being
tracked by enemy fire-control radar.
He chose not to break off the bombing
run, instead he held his dive until he had released the bombs at
about 3,500 feet.
However, as he started to pull up from
the dive, the wing of the Skyhawk was blown off by a Soviet-made SA-2
anti-aircraft missile fired by the North Vietnamese Air Defense
Command's 61st Battalion.
Knocked briefly unconscious by the
impact, his parachute landed him in a lake where he nearly drowned
and was forced to inflate his life vest with his teeth, as he had
badly broken both of his arms and his right leg.
A badly injured John McCain is captured by Vietnamese civilians in Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi, Vietnam |
He was pulled from the lake by a crowd
of Vietnamese, who beat and spat on him, stripped him of his clothes
and crushed his left shoulder with their rifle butts. He was
bayoneted in his left foot and abdomen and transported to Hanoi's
main Hỏa Lò Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by
American POWs.
He would never again be able to lift
his arms above his head.
He was refused medical care for his
injuries unless he gave his captors military information – which he
refused to do, giving only his name, rank, serial number, and date of
birth, the only information he was required to provide under the
Geneva Conventions and under the U.S. Code of Conduct).
When pressed for information and for
the names of his fellow service members, he instead gave them the
names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line.
He was eventually given rudimentary
medical attention when the North Vietnamese discovered that his
father, John McCain Sr was a high ranking Admiral but after 6 weeks
in hospital, he had lost 50lb in weight and was transported to a
different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi.
In mid-1968, his father, John McCain II
was named commander of all U.S forces in the Vietnamese theatre and
in response, the North Vietnamese offered him the option of
repatriation as a propaganda exercise.
McCain refused, unless every man taken
before him was also released, quoting Article III of the military
Code of Conduct, which stated that; 'I will neither parole nor
special favours from the enemy”. From August 1968 he was subjected
to unremitting and horrifying torture. He was bound painfully with
ropes, beaten every 2 hours and suffering from untreated dysentery.
George “Bud” Day and Orson Swindle, fellow POWs, told PolitiFact that POWs sometimes were forced to talk when they were tortured, but they tried to tell lies to mislead their captors. ”We were all tortured and we wrote confessions under the pressure of torture,” said Swindle, who was a cellmate with McCain and active in his campaign. “John McCain never collaborated with the enemy. He, like every one of us, submitted to severe torture. John McCain did nothing dishonorable. He was heroic.”
At one point, McCain broke down and signed a confession. But he deliberately used misspellings, grammatical errors and Communist jargon to show he was writing under duress:
“I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died, and the Vietnamese people saved my life. …”
On Christmas Eve 1968, a church service for the POWs was staged for propaganda purposes;
George “Bud” Day and Orson Swindle, fellow POWs, told PolitiFact that POWs sometimes were forced to talk when they were tortured, but they tried to tell lies to mislead their captors. ”We were all tortured and we wrote confessions under the pressure of torture,” said Swindle, who was a cellmate with McCain and active in his campaign. “John McCain never collaborated with the enemy. He, like every one of us, submitted to severe torture. John McCain did nothing dishonorable. He was heroic.”
At one point, McCain broke down and signed a confession. But he deliberately used misspellings, grammatical errors and Communist jargon to show he was writing under duress:
“I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died, and the Vietnamese people saved my life. …”
On Christmas Eve 1968, a church service for the POWs was staged for propaganda purposes;
Refusing to co-operate, McCain ignored
North Vietnamese instructions to be quiet, shouting "Fuck you,
you son of a bitch!" and flipping the finger whenever a camera
was pointed at him.
In all, McCain spent almost six years
as a POW, two of them in solitary confinement. He was finally
released on March 14 1973 after the signing of the Paris Peace
Accords.
He retired from the Navy on April 1,
1981, having attained the rank of Captain.
He was designated as disabled and
awarded a disability pension and moved to Arizona.
His military decorations and awards
include the Silver Star Medal, two Legions of Merit,the Distinguished
Flying Cross, three Bronze Star Medals, two Purple Heart Medals, two
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and Prisoner of War Medal.
Clearly none of this impressed Donald
Trump, who famously said:
“He’s not a war hero, he was a war
hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump has a history of disregarding the sacrifices that Veterans have made.
He finished construction of his retail
and luxury condominium in 1984. In 1991 he wrote a letter to John
Dearie, the then chairman of the state Assembly Committee on Cities,
advocating that they ban vendors on 5th Avenue - including the
disabled Veterans.
'The image of New York city will
suffer. I hope you can stop this very deplorable situation before it
is too late”.
“While disabled veterans should be
given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the
detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and
businesses?” Trump wrote in a 1991 letter. “Do we allow Fifth
Ave., one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping
districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and
seriously downgrading the area?”
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/veterans/
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/veterans/
Khizr Khan’s wife ‘probably … wasn’t allowed to have anything to say’
Further controversy ensued at the
Democratic National Convention when he seemed to feud with Gold Star
family, Ghazala and Khizr Khan who had lost their son Humayan Khan in
Iraq.
Mr. Khan, addressing Trump directly,
pulled a small constitution from his jacket pocket and held it above
his head.
“Have you even read the United States
constitution?” he asked of Trump.
“Have you ever been to Arlington
cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died
defending America – you will see all faiths, genders and
ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”
In an interview with the New York Times
opinion writer Maureen Dowd, Trump’s only comment was: “I’d
like to hear his wife say something.”- which I doubt. He doesn't
usually seem too interested in what women have to say and I don't
think Melania (wherever she is) is especially talkative in public.
Trump does have a habit of projecting
his own opinions – the truth as he would like it to be rather than
the actual truth – onto other people and attributing his own claims
to them.
“If you look
at his wife, she was standing there,” Trump said. “She had
nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have
anything to say. You tell me.”
The family denied this, with Mr. Khan,
a Harvard-educated lawyer replying that his wife had not spoken at
the convention because it was “too painful” for her to talk about
her son's death.
“Mr. Trump”, he said, “is totally
void of any decency because he is unaware of how to talk to a Gold
Star family and how to speak to a Gold Star mother”. He also said
that one of his son's personal "heroes" was Arizona senator
and former prisoner of war John McCain.
Mrs. Khan choked back tears as she told
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell later, that she “cannot even enter the
room” where her dead son's pictures are. When she saw her son's
picture on the screen behind her in Philadelphia she said “I
couldn't take it. I controlled myself that time, it's very hard”.
US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan who was posthumously awarded a bronze star and purple heart for his heroism in Iraq, where he died in 2004. |
Trump Attacks Gold Star family on
Twitter
Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of
IAVA, (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America)
“... a direct attack on a gold star
family for their patriotism is unprecedented. This is about honour,
this is about integrity and it's completely out of bounds.
Gold star Moms are sacred. There are 22
million Veterans in America. You don't attack their patriotism, you
don't attack their integrity – 14 Muslim-American soldiers are
buried at Arlington.
This is a learning moment for America,
where they are learning a lot about gold star families, they're
learning a lot about our military, they're learning a lot about the
sacrifices of Muslim-Americans”.
John McCain, the GOP presidential
nominee in 2008, urged Trump “to set an example” and said: “I
cannot emphasize how deeply I disagree with Mr Trump’s statement
[about the Khans]. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do
not represent the views of our Republican party, its officers, or
candidates.”
Obama had this to say:
“As commander-in-chief, I’m pretty
tired of some folks trash-talking America’s military and troops,”
the president said. “No one – no one – has given more for our
freedom and our security than our Gold Star families [those whose
family members died in service].
“[They] have made a sacrifice that
most of us cannot even begin to imagine. They represent the very best
of our country. They continue to inspire us every day, every moment.
They serve as a powerful reminder of the true strength of America. We
have to do everything we can for those families and honor them and be
humbled by them.”
Khizr Khan responded to Trumps remarks
by saying on CNN that Trump had a “black soul”.
Ghazala Khan told NBC, as she had
written in the Washington Post a day before, that the reason she had
remained silent on stage was that she was too overcome by grief over
her son’s death to speak about it.
“I didn’t talk because I don’t
have the heart when it comes to Humayun. I can’t,” she said. “I
can’t talk – my words will be not that strong or I will start
crying.”
Trump tells grieving Gold Star Widow that her husband:
'Knew what he had signed up for'
Trump drew further criticism in October
2017, for disrespecting another Gold Star Family when he was accused
of telling grieving widow Myeshia Johnson that her dead husband had
'Known what he signed up for”.
For 12 days, Trump said nothing, not
even a tweet, about the four Americans killed in action, and had no
contact with their Gold Star families.
According to two people who overheard
the call, Trump told Johnson that her husband "knew what he was
signing up for" although his death must still be painful. One
witness who confirms these were Trump's words is Sgt. Johnson's
mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson.
The other is Rep. Frederica S. Wilson
(D-Fla.) , who was with the family when Trump called.
From left to right:
U.S. Special Forces Sgt. Bryan Black
U.S. Special Forces Sgt. La David Johnson.
U.S. Special Forces Sgt. Dustin Wright
U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson
All four were killed in Niger, West Africa on October 4, 2017.
He denied speaking to Sgt. Johnson's widow disrespectfully, both on live tv and also
on Twitter. He tweeted:
Sgt. La David Johnson and three other
U.S. soldiers were killed in an ambush by militants aligned with the
Islamic State during an operation in Niger on Oct 4. They were
escorting 30 Nigerien troops through an area about 120 miles North of
Niamey. Two other U.S soldiers and eight Nigerien troops were injured
also and Sgt. Johnson's body was found 2 days later on October 6th.
Johnson, a native of Miami Gardens,
Florida, had enlisted in the Army in January 2014 as a Wheeled
Vehicle Mechanic. His awards and decorations include:
The Army Acheivement Medial, the Army
Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Army
Service Ribbon, the Army Parachutist Badge, the Army Air Assault
Badge, the Driver and Mechanic Badge and the Marksmanship
Qualification Badge - Sharpshooter with Rifle.
Trump was apparently unaware that he
was on speaker-phone at the time and his callous remark was overheard
by Sen Frederica Wilson who was in the car with Sgt. Johnson's wife
and mother at the time.
Trump claimed that Sen Wilson was
lying., however both Army Sgt. La David Johnson's mother and Mrs.
Johnson herself confirmed that he HAD said those remarks to them
while they were in the car on the way to the airport where fallen
Sgt. Johnson's body was being repatriated.
Sgt. Johnson's mother, Cowanda
Jones-Johnson stated;“President Trump DID disrespect my son and my
daughter and also me and my husband”.
Myeshia Johnson herself stated quite
clearly:
“The president said that he knew what
he has signed up for, but it hurts anyway. It made me cry because I
was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said he couldn't
remember my husband's name. The only way he remembered my husband's
name is because he told me he had my husband's report on front of him
and that's when he actually said 'La David'. I heard him stumbling
on, trying to remember my husband;s name and that's what hurt me the
most because if my husband is out there fighting for our country and
he risked his life for our country then why can't you remember his
name?”
Trump supporters fake a facebook post
and falsely claim it was written by Gold Star Widow Myeshia Johnson
Trump supporters faked a facebook post
which they claimed was from Mrs. Johnson in which she seemed to
support Trump , criticise Senator Wilson and accused her of lying
about Trump for political gain.
Slight problem though. It was fake
news..
Look at the date of the post.
17 October 2017 which IS the date of
the condolence call, but the time listed is more than an hour BEFORE
the acutall call, which was actually 4:45 ET time.
So unless Mrs. Johnson had access to a
time machine then she didn't write that facebook post.
Furthermore the picture shows a Facebook profile with a square profile picture – but Facebook implemented an update in August 2017 which changed the shape of the profile picture from square to round.
Again – time machine?
Nonetheless there are still many people
who still believe that Mrs. Johnson called Senator Wilson a liar and
claim that she supports Trump. It's not true.
So do you still think that Donald Trump
deserves a military parade costing up to $30 million while homeless
Veterans sleep on the streets and commit suicide at a rate of 22
every single day?
So who, if anyone actually deserves a military parade in their honour?
This guy?
This guy?
Donald Trump on the left, receives a bowling trophy in 1964 |
Or this guy?
Lieut. Commander John Sidney McCain in 1965 |
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