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Everyone Knows It’s True
As Trump vehemently disputes reports that he has disparaged veterans, some silences speak loudly.
No US military officers have stepped forward to vouch for Donald Trump. And let us not forget the twin brothers - US Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and US Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman.
Trump had both officers unceremoniously removed from their jobs in the White House because they told the truth under oath at Trumps impeachment trial in the House.
Who can forget how Trump crapped all over Navy Captain/Senator John McCain? Or the Gold Star family of Khizr Khan? Or the Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson?
Vengeful and vindictive is Donald Trumps MO ... and Everyone Knows It’s True.
As Trump vehemently disputes reports that he has disparaged veterans, some silences speak loudly.
9/7/20
Donald Trump generates a lot of noise. He talks. He tweets. He is echoed and amplified by a vast claque, on TV and online, made up of Americans and foreigners, humans and bots. Never has he shouted louder than in the days since my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg reported the president’s disparaging comments about those who have fallen, been maimed, or taken prisoner in war. Trump’s protestations have been seconded by his wife. The first lady’s endorsement of Trump’s pro-military credentials has been repeated by Trump Cabinet secretaries, as well as by Fox News talking heads, and by a recipient of a Trump pardon. Amid the clamor, it’s easy to overlook those who are not yelling, those who are keeping silent. Where are the senior officers of the United States armed forces, serving and retired—the men and women who worked most closely on military affairs with President Trump? Has any one of them stepped forward to say, “That’s not the man I know”? How many wounded warriors have stepped forward to attest to Trump’s care and concern for them? How many Gold Star families have stepped forward on Trump’s behalf? How many service families? The silence is resounding. And when such voices do speak, they typically describe a president utterly lacking in empathy to grieving families, wholly uncomprehending of sacrifice and suffering.
President Trump disparaged the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after that naval officer warned superiors of a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier. The uniformed military will remember how Trump has abused one of the greatest commanders of the age, Admiral William McRaven, who commanded the operations that captured Saddam Hussein and killed Osama bin Laden. Trump has also abused General Stanley McChrystal, a former commander of forces in Afghanistan. And how did he treat Marine General John Allen, another former Afghanistan commander, who later coordinated the fight against ISIS? “His record = BAD” Or Marine General James Mattis, Trump’s own former secretary of defense? “The world’s most over-rated general.” So perhaps it’s no surprise that when Trump went looking for military character witnesses, he could find so few to vouch for him. So when it is reported—first in The Atlantic, then by The Washington Post, the AP, CNN, and Fox News—that multiple sources have heard Trump sneer and jibe at America’s fallen, the reporting rings true because it is consistent with the public record. The denials ring false because they defy that public record. The things reported fit in the mouth you know. Everybody knows it’s true, and most especially those who have been tasked to deny it.
No US military officers have stepped forward to vouch for Donald Trump. And let us not forget the twin brothers - US Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and US Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman.
Trump had both officers unceremoniously removed from their jobs in the White House because they told the truth under oath at Trumps impeachment trial in the House.
Who can forget how Trump crapped all over Navy Captain/Senator John McCain? Or the Gold Star family of Khizr Khan? Or the Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson?
Vengeful and vindictive is Donald Trumps MO ... and Everyone Knows It’s True.