Way back in July of two thousand and fifteen, Donald Trump showed just what kind of political candidate (not to mention person) he was by blurting out in a interview how he really felt about Senator John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” At the time, Trump was still running against numerous other Republican for the presidential nomination. After making that statement, one of those rivals, Chris Christie, called another one, Jeb Bush, and tersely said that "Trump is out". It was a logical assumption, given not only the offensive and stupid nature of the quote, but also that it came from a man who had never served in the military, and who famously avoided the draft during the Vietnam war because of a mysterious bone spur. The quote gets even worse when you consider that it is not only a slam at McCain, it's also an insult to any American soldier that has ever been taken captive. Such a deep insult towards members of the military from someone who has never served in it would derail any normal candidate's' campaign. (Imagine what would have happened if Barack Obama had said such a thing when he was running against Senator McCain in two thousand and eight).
Sadly, as we all know, Christie was wrong and Trump's cult like stranglehold of a certain segment of the American public would somehow lead him to the White House despite this and numerous other terrible things he said that should have doomed him in a rational world. And now another scandal concerning Trump and the military has arrived. In the Atlantic magazine, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg quoted several anonymous sources as saying that Trump once referred to visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris by saying “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” The article also said that he referred to those soldiers who died as "suckers". The article goes on to mention several other dismissive things about the military Trump is supposed to have said as president. Trump has, of course, vehemently denied saying these things, although Goldberg's reporting has been partly upheld by others ( including, oddly enough, Jennifer Griffin of Fox News).
To me there is no doubt that Trump said these things, given not only his history of other offensive quotes, but also his general view of the world. Trump is, put simply, a psychopath that has spent his entire life looking out only for himself. He sees all other people as lesser beings, and can not even comprehend the idea of risking your own life and limb in the service of your country. Consider that during the entire length of the coronavirus Trump has never truly shown any sort of sadness or regret, even as the country approaches two hundred thousand deaths.
The media has jumped on Goldberg's article, saying that it may hurt Trump's standing with the military two months before the election. I must say I'm a little puzzled by this; as president, Trump has violated the emoluments clause, been impeached by the House of Representatives for seeking to extort information from a foreign country, had it revealed that he possibly committed criminal offenses by paying off a porn star and a stripper to avoid them from going public about their alleged affairs with him during the twenty sixteen campaign, tried to dismantle the post office to give himself an electoral advantage, and has had seven different associates either plead guilty or be found guilty of crimes. One of them, Roger Stone, after being found guilty of obstruction of justice, lying to congress and witness tampering, (all of which he did to help the president), was pardoned by Trump, in a move that the New York Times pointed out, was far more openly corrupt than anything Richard Nixon ever did.
Given all of that (and a host of other horrible and corrupt things that Trump has done that I didn't mention), it seems a bit crazy to me that some stupid and thoughtless comments about the military may be the thing that brings him down. But, if this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, then by all means I'll take it. Anything to bring back some level of order and decency in our country is a good thing.
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