Losers and Suckers

Can anyone seriously doubt that Donald Trump called World War I Marines "losers" and "suckers," as reported on Thursday by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic? Or that he wondered aloud why anyone willingly serves in our military? And that he didn't want wounded veterans participating in a parade?

No, and here's why: 

These comments follow logically from Trump's own words.

1. Though his most well-known "loser" is probably former Senator and POW John McCain, he has also described many others this way: Bill Kristol, Chuck Todd, Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, Marco Rubio, Rihanna, Seth Meyers, Tina Brown, and a host of unnamed Twitter users.

2. He's disparaged the military before. He called James Mattis "the world's most overrated general"; he said that General John Kelly, his former chief of staff, "misses the action and just can't keep his mouth shut"; and he bullied Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman for his impeachment testimony, calling Vindman "very insubordinate" and someone who "did a lot of bad things."

3. "Suckers" is another one of Trump's words.  It's a concept he fears.  "Why is the United States always the sucker?" he said in February, opining that Europeans take us for granted. And when he announced troop withdrawals from Germany in July, he said, "We don't want to be the suckers anymore."

4. He has no understanding of military service.  As Nancy Pelosi said on Friday, "Every day Trump makes clear that he does not comprehend what it means to sacrifice for one's country--as he consistently puts his own interests ahead of our national security and those who defend it," citing his refusal to stand up to Vladimir Putin. I would add his praise for Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, his coddling of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his sending troops to build the border wall.

5. Finally, why wouldn't Trump want wounded veterans in his parade? Recall his 2015 mockery of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski's disability, or consider Trump's derogatory comments on women's "ugly" faces.  Clearly he disdains anyone who doesn't meet his standard of appearance.

Though General Kelly could confirm The Atlantic report if he were willing to speak out, we don't really need him to.  Donald Trump's history of insults echo from one week to the next.  His language and behavior pollute the office he holds, and for this reason alone we should vote him out.

The Wrath of Putin

It's hard to imagine any American president looking forward to meeting Vladimir Putin.  Some of the pictures posted earlier this week of Obama and his Russian counterpart were painful with Obama looking stiff and uncomfortable and Putin looking mean.  The first line of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" (Hello darkness my old friend) came to mind as I imagined what Obama must have been thinking.

Hello Putin my old friend

I’ve come to talk with you again

I know that you’re a really scary guy

That’s why I look like I just ate a fly

But we’ve got to talk ‘bout the problems everywhere

If I dare

Take on the wrath of Putin.

Meeting you is not my choice

Somehow I tend to lose my voice

You remind me of an old nightmare

Where I find myself exposed and bare

And my eyes are stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night

And touched the wrath of Putin.

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more

Russians protesting their president

Russians resisting their government

Russians holding signs we never used to see

That show they dared

Take on the wrath of Putin.

“Fools,” said I, “You do not know

This guy’s a wicked, wicked foe

Make sure he doesn’t notice you

Make sure he doesn’t poison you”

But my words, like silent raindrops fell

And echoed

In the wrath of Putin.

And the people stood their ground

For in protest they were bound

To force the end of an oppressive reign

Where the ruler’s had too much to gain

And the crowd said, “We’ve had enough of this thug and his fellow thieves

So we won’t shrink

From all that wrath of Putin."