Trump Disrespects The Military And Doesn’t Protect Our Service Members
August 26, 2020
Tonight, Dan Crenshaw said that Trump will protect our service members, but that’s not true — based on his record in office, he disrespects the military and fails to stand up for service members.
Trump failed to stand up for American service members.
USA Today Editorial: “Trump Says He Supports The Troops. His Record Suggests Otherwise.”
Axios: “President Trump has never confronted Vladimir Putin with intelligence indicating Russia paid the Taliban to kill U.S. troops, he told ‘Axios on HBO’ in an interview on Tuesday… In Tuesday’s interview, he was definitive: ‘I have never discussed it with him.’ Pressed on why he didn’t raise the matter in Thursday’s call, he said: ‘That was a phone call to discuss other things, and frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.’”
Trump disrespected military leaders and ignored their advice.
Washington Post: “They stunned nearly everyone in the room, and some vowed that they would never repeat them. Indeed, they have not been reported until now. ‘I wouldn’t go to war with you people,’ Trump told the assembled brass. Addressing the room, the commander in chief barked, ‘You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.’”
Washington Post: “President Trump intervened in three cases involving war crimes accusations on Friday, issuing full pardons to two soldiers and reversing disciplinary action against a Navy SEAL despite opposition raised by military justice experts and some senior Pentagon officials.”
Trump abdicated responsibility for his decisions and their consequences as commander-in-chief.
Politico: “Trump Deflects Responsibility On Yemen Raid: ‘They Lost Ryan’”
New York Times: “But former commanders and military scholars said that in sending troops before having a strategy, Mr. Trump has put the cart before the horse, eroded the tradition of civilian control over the military, and abdicated the president’s duty to announce and defend troop deployments.”
Trump said “our military was bad” and “a mess” before him.
TRUMP: “We have a brand-new, beautiful military. When I took over, it was depleted, it was a mess.”
TRUMP: “We had nothing. I had—I inherited empty—empty—no ammunition; our military was bad. We’ve rebuilt our military, $1.5 trillion.”