avatarJohnny Silvercloud

Summary

The provided content outlines a critical perspective on President Donald Trump's actions and statements that are perceived as disrespectful and detrimental to the U.S. military and its veterans.

Abstract

The article titled "Suckers and Losers." delves into a series of incidents and policy decisions during Donald Trump's presidency that have been widely interpreted as showing a lack of respect and understanding for the military community. It details Trump's controversial remarks and actions, such as calling fallen soldiers "suckers" and "losers," attempting to end National Guard deployments prematurely, seizing masks intended for VA hospitals, and pardoning war criminals. The piece also highlights the negative impact of Trump's foreign policy decisions, his use of military resources for personal gain, and his overall treatment of veterans and active-duty personnel. The author argues that Trump's behavior not only undermines military values and discipline but also endangers American lives and interests, while straining international military relations.

Opinions

  • The author believes that Trump's presidency has been marked by a pattern of disrespect towards military professionals and veterans, as evidenced by his actions and rhetoric.
  • Trump's decision-making processes are portrayed as being influenced by personal gain and political optics rather than strategic military considerations or the well-being of service members.
  • The article suggests that Trump's foreign policy, particularly regarding Syria and Afghanistan, has been erratic and potentially harmful to U.S. military interests and alliances.
  • The author expresses that Trump's treatment of military personnel, including his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic within military ranks and his use of military funding for non-military purposes, demonstrates a lack of genuine support for the armed forces.
  • The piece conveys a sense of betrayal and disappointment among some in the military community, implying that those who continue to support Trump despite his actions may be complicit in undermining military integrity and values.
  • The author criticizes Trump for using the military as a political tool, such as during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and his reelection campaign, which is seen as a departure from the non-partisan role traditionally expected of the U.S. armed forces.

“Suckers and Losers.”

How Trump is correct, and the military is filled to the brim

U.S. Soldiers standing in formation. Photography Credit: Johnny Silvercloud

Losers.

In 2020 it’s discovered that President Trump stated that the military is full of suckers and losers.

Let’s look at a short (or long) history of disrespect and disdain for military life and professionalism:

· In May 2020, President Trump was trying to end National Guard deployments one day before they could claim deployment benefits. Changed position only after backlash.

· ⁠The Trump admin seized 5,000,000 masks intended for VA hospitals. Kushner distributes these masks to private entities for a fee, who then sells the masks to the government. VA Hospitals speak on low supply, but VA officials — Trump sycophants — lied about these shortages to appease their Sith Lord Emperor.

· ⁠Trump fired Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, after he disparately tried to warn superiors that the deadly Corona Virus was spreading across his naval vessel. The virus subsequently spread throughout the crew of the ship.

· ⁠Trump, in a poor attempt to look like a presidential hero, killed Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani of Iran’s Quds Force in the most war-crime-as-hell manner, ignoring all military experts, with no regard for how such an action would effect the battlefield. The “battlefield”, means “deployed troops” in Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan at the time. This man risked diving into a whole war with Iran to “look tough”. And no, Iran would not be like Iraq. Thousands of American lives would be killed. Even though no war with Iran occurred, this very act legitimizes the probable targeting of American general officers deemed a threat to them. Trump has fucked military officers of a future operation somewhere.

· ⁠After Iran’s retaliatory strike due to Trump recklessly targeting Maj. Gen. Soleimani, 109 US troops suffered brain injuries. Trump dismissed these as “headaches”. With over twenty years of wars on multiple fronts, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are the signature injury of warfare of our time. Imagine a whole-ass president — who has the ability to order thousands of men and women to their deaths by way of being Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces — bullshitting his ass on a near-invisible injury that’s been plaguing our modern war veterans since 2001.

· ⁠On July 20, 2017, in room 2E924 of the Pentagon, Trump told a room full of Generals, “You’re a bunch of dopes and babies. Imagine going to the best military schools and have the best military training and experience, some teetering into trauma like PTSD and you’re told this by your Commander-in-Chief, who ducked and dodged the Vietnam draft with forged medical papers. Friends may have died in your arms, and you are told this. By this guy.

· ⁠Trump’s foreign policy decisions concerning the military are so vapidly stupid (it’s almost like Putin wrote his whole foreign policy) he made Gen. Mattis say “fuck it,” and quit as Sec Def.

· ⁠Trump pardoned multiple war criminals (and uses them for fundraisers?), which deeply diminishes the decisions of commanders who have to, well, command a unit along standing military values and discipline. Trump has no military experience, yet whimsically decides to pardon men who are decidedly criminals on the world stage. Imagine trying to prevent war crimes in a unit of hundreds of people and a president undermines the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Eddie Gallagher, ex-Navy SEAL, was explicitly turned in by his own team, unit and command. Perhaps you fail to read between the lines here. His team — his clandestine SOCOM team — turned him in, agreeing that he’s a living war criminal a real “problem”. If you think it’s difficult for cops to agree with judging their own with misconduct, imagine a highly trained Special Operations military unit actually breaking their blue code of silence. Damn.

· ⁠Trump mocked Lt. Col. Vindman for his rank and uniform. He threatened said purple heart officer, resulting in the Army providing him protection from reprisal. The total republican party including their conservative media joined in to target Lt. Col. Vindman in massive, full-scale smear campaigns.

U.S. Soldiers early morning, going on a 5–7 mile run. Photography Credit: Johnny Silvercloud

· ⁠Trump’s Chief of Staff worked — in secret — to deny comprehensive health coverage to Vietnam Vets who suffered from Agent Orange.

· ⁠There’s two things you can do for your country when you’re young: fight our wars or win our gold medals. Trump decided to deport many who done the former. No respect for sacrifice.

· ⁠After a mysterious phone call with Turkey’s president (Erdogan), on Oct 7, 2019 Trump ordered the immediate removal of U.S. Special Forces out of Syria. This random act (which functions as a SURRENDER, by the way) resulted in the massacre of Kurds who were America’s decades long loyal (albeit stateless) ally in the Middle-East. This action unilaterally robs all U.S. military warfare commanders the wind beneath their wings in regards to deal making and diplomacy. Can’t trust a military officer parlaying because their president will disregard whatever they were trying to do anway. Adjacent to that, Russia’s forces took control of the main U.S. military facility in Syria due to Trump’s orders to abandon in haste. Russia now owns the airstrip we built — along with whatever intelligence material found in papers, scraps, or any equipment that wasn’t carried away.

· ⁠Also, Turkey subsequently bombed US Special Forces during that hasty abandon order.

· Also also, after hastly removing SOCOM from Syria, Trump ordered U.S. SOCOM operators to ingress back into a now Russia-controlled Syrian war zone to take out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an ISIS leader. Trump then celebrated like the low-budget reality TV show character he is with stupidly framed stock photos that screams “look at me, I’m commanding” with a bunch of wires unplugged from those computers. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is somewhere between the fact that the U.S. SOCOM in Syria alongside Kurds in the region were tracking al-Baghdadi before Trump’s interference, and the fact that Trump notified Russian forces that U.S. Special Forces were coming. Fail to read between the lines? Imagine a rival force like Russia knowing when a secret, clandestine team of military elites were moving in and out of their area of operations. Russia can then cut on any sensors, study communications, try to hack stuff, watch, study and assess operation procedures and Special Forces protocol, and then adjust their own from there. Surrendering Syria to Russia and then going back in there was very, very, bad. There’s no telling what damage was done here. One can only speculate.

· ⁠Trump then sent thousands of American troops to defend the oil assets of Syria. Went from insurgent/terrorism deterrence to gas guard — because that’s where the money is.

· ⁠In Sept 2019, he made an Air Force cargo crew, flying from the U.S. to Kuwait stop in Scotland (where there’s no U.S. base) to refuel at a commercial airport (where it costs more), so they could stay overnight at a Trump property (which isn’t close to the airport). Trump stole money from military travel.

· ⁠In Sept, 2019, Pentagon pulled funds for military schools, military housing funds, and daycare to pay for Trump’s vanity (border) wall.

· ⁠In Aug, 2019, emails revealed that three of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago acolytes, are now running Veterans Affairs to the ground. They had no experience in veterans affairs. None of them served in the military. They never went through any type of approval process to serve as managers. With Trump’s approval they directed actions and criticized operations they were too incompetent to understand, without any oversight. They wasted valuable staff time in hundreds of pages of communications and meetings, emails show. Emails reveal disdainful attitudes within the department to the trio’s meddling.

· ⁠Children of U.S. troops who are deployed or positioned abroad are no longer guaranteed citizenship. This includes US troops posted abroad for years at a time (August 28, 2019). This, fucks with Troop families being that many troops marry non-American civilians and making that naturalization process more difficult, is making American Soldiers lives more difficult.

· ⁠On Aug 2, 2019, Trump is also tapping into military retirement funds to fund his useless border wall. He hates military so much he doesn’t give a damn about the retirement end-game for our troops.

· ⁠On July 31, 2019, Trump ordered the Navy strip medals to prosecutors who were prosecuted war criminals. Not exactly a law and order type of guy here. He literally punished military lawyers for doing their jobs and keeping the military clean. No regard for law, order and discipline.

· ⁠Trump denied a U.S. Marine of 6 years entry into the United States for his citizenship interview (2019)

· ⁠Trump made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them fly at his July 4th political campaign event (2019)

· ⁠Trump demanded US military chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade (2019)

· ⁠In June, 2019, Trump sent troops to the border to give his vanity wall a paint job.

· ⁠Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (2019)

· ⁠Trump started his D-Day commemoration speech by attacking a private citizen (Bette Midler, of all people) (2019)

· ⁠Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have cut off all child support if Tiffany joined the military. If he loved the military so much, why is there a problem with having a child serving? Even the Royal family of the United Kingdom had a living Prince squatting in the military, serving in Afghanistan. What’s wrong with military service?

· ⁠On May 27, 2019, Trump turned away US military from his Memorial Day speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain. Trump ordered the USS John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan.

· ⁠Trump purged 200,000 vets’ healthcare applications (due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment system) (May 13, 2019)

· ⁠Trump deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless (April 16, 2019). Later reversed, but such policy shouldn’t exist in to be reversed in the first place.

· ⁠On March 20, 2019, Trump complained that he didn’t get a pat on the pack for attending John McCain’s (war hero) funeral. I shouldn’t have to explain how perverse this is.

· ⁠Between 2018 and 2019, Trump refused to sign his party’s funding bill, which shut down the government, forcing the Coast Guard to go without pay, which made service members rely on food pantries. However, his appointees got a $10,000 pay raise.

· ⁠Trump banned service members from serving based on gender identity (2019).

· ⁠He denied female troops access to birth control during deployment.

· ⁠He tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen (2019)

National Guard in Washington D.C., Summer 2020. Photography Credit: Johnny Silvercloud

· ⁠When a man was caught swindling veterans pensions for high-interest cash advances, Trump’s “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau” fined him one dollar. A guy was cheating veterans out of the little money they have. He “punishes” this person legally, with forcing the criminal to pay one freaking dollar.

· ⁠Trump tried to engineer another surrender in Afghanistan by making deals with the Taliban (adversarial force) WITHOUT talking to the government of Afghanistan at all. You know? That government the United States helped install in 2001? Yeah them. Didn’t talk to them. At all.

· ⁠Trump called a retired general a ‘dog’ with a ‘big, dumb mouth’ (2019)

· ⁠Trump increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost (2018)

· ⁠He finally visited troops 2 years after taking office, but only after 154 vacation days at his properties (2018)

· ⁠He revealed a covert Seal Team 5 deployment, including names and faces, on Twitter during his visit to Iraq (2018)

· ⁠Trump lied to deployed troops that he gave them a 10% raise (2018). He tried giving the military a raise that was lower than the standard living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn’t going to work. Then after giving them the raise that Congress made him, he lied about it pretending that it was larger than Obama’s. It wasn’t.

· ⁠Trump fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays.

· ⁠Trump called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he’s most thankful for himself (Thanksgiving, 2018)

· ⁠Trump urged Florida to not count deployed military votes (2018)

· ⁠He canceled an Arlington Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain (2018).

· ⁠Trump — seemingly the America’s first Confederate president — defended Confederate names of Army bases repeatedly.

· ⁠Trump wanted to stain the military’s uniform as American police forces are with implicit directive to terrorize protesting civilians across America. numerous military generals, many retired, including one SOCOM general, gave word for the military to ease back, and be careful where this is going. The fact that Trump wanted to get the military to stain it’s integrity and honor in joining police brutality, is profane.

“I don’t think active-duty military deployments are necessary, especially in DC,” an active-duty Army captain wrote. “I believe the president is deploying the military for political reasons and our reputation will be irreparably damaged by the association.” ~ Army Captain, Military Times.

· ⁠After being thwarted from using America’s oppressed as a “battlespace”, Trump sought to use a bunch of unnamed, unbadged, untagged men to dress in a military fashion and began disappearing people in the Streets of Oregon. You know, like gestapo shit. In imitating military by way of dress, Trump stains the uniform with a totalitarian oppressive stench that most troops did not sign up for. There is no respect for military.

· ⁠While in Europe commemorating the end of WWI, he didn’t attend the ceremony at a US cemetery due to the rain — other world leaders went without him (2018).

· ⁠He used troops as a political prop by sending them on a phantom mission to the border and made them miss Thanksgiving with their families (2018). Yeah, the caravan manufactroversy.

· ⁠Trump changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act, causing the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many vets to run out of food and rent. (2018)

· ⁠Trump doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections (2018)

· ⁠Trump forgot a fallen soldier’s name during a call to his pregnant widow, then attacked her the next day (2017)

· ⁠Trump sent commandos into an ambush due to a lack of intel, and sends contractors to pick them up, resulting in a commando being left behind, tortured, and executed. (Trump approved the mission because Bannon told him Obama didn’t have the guts to do it) (2017)

· ⁠He blocked a veteran group on Twitter (June 2017)

· ⁠He ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records (2017-present)

· ⁠He said he knows more about ISIS than American generals (Oct 2016)

· ⁠On Oct 3, 2016, Trump said vets get PTSD because they aren’t strong (note: yes, he said it’s ‘because they aren’t strong.’ He didn’t say it’s ‘because they’re weak.’ This distinction is important because of Snopes)

· ⁠Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a fan at one of his rallies and said: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.” (Aug 2, 2016)

· ⁠Trump attacks Gold Star families: Myeshia Johnson (gold star widow), Khan family (gold star parents) etc. (2016-present)

· ⁠Trump sent funds raised from a Jan 2016 veterans benefit to the Donald J Trump Foundation instead of veterans charities (the foundation has since been ordered shut because of fraud) (Jan, 2016)

· ⁠Trump said he has “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military” because he went to a military-style academy (2015 biography)

· ⁠Trump said he doesn’t consider POWs heroes because they were caught. He said he prefers people who were not caught (2015). Which is ironic, because he got caught in so many things himself. Trump kinda always get caught.

· ⁠Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam (1998). Imagine a whole sitting president comparing military death to promiscuous sex. You sign up, serving a man who fail to relate or understand what it means to serve.

· ⁠For a decade, Trump sought to kick veterans off of Fifth Avenue because he found them unsightly nuisances outside of Trump Tower. (1991)

· ⁠Trump dodged the Vietnam draft 5 times by having a “doctor” diagnose him with bone spurs.

· ⁠Not a single Trump throughout his whole bitch-ass family line has ever served in the United States military; spanning across five generations. As a matter of fact, his bitch-ass grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid military service. Just a bunch of bitch-ass white supremacists of a whole bitch-ass family, who by proof of Trump’s offspring, will only live to have bitch-ass kids.

· In September 2020, Trump and his political cult created a deferred payroll tax for America which will hurt military personnel the most. Diminishing payroll taxes now which has to be paid for next year later will be crushing for many Soldiers, most coming from the American poor, who have by default, their poor parents financial habits. The more profane part? Trump stated that troops won’t have to pay the deferral back “if he wins,” essentially attempting to bribe a 1.3 million Americans into voting for him, especially for something that he cannot guarantee. The fact that he thinks Soldiers are this stupid should alone be enough to throw his face in the trash.

And Suckers.

Trump considering military professionals suckers and losers is totally congruent with his pattern of disgust from military professionals as a whole. The problem here though, is not that Trump is wrong. It’s the fact that Trump is right.

A lot of military professionals are still voting for this incompetent, idiotic pathological narcissist, totalitarian white supremacist fool. I know a lot of them. They are also a part of that political cult the republican party has became. It’s no longer a political party of values that can be defended and argued with precision.

Republicans are the “Trumpian” party now. The fascists. Not patriots. Fascists. Only in a fascism could a leader sitting in a “democracy” could disrespect military professionals so much.

The baffling part of military personnel supporting Trump is the fact that Trump’s whole foreign policy seems like, after four years of thorough review, “whatever Putin wants.” Even if you don’t like Trump as a person, objectively, he is a horrible Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, having done grave damage to various relationships built, from tactical, operational and strategic. There’s no telling what classified information he has given Russia, either accidentally or on purpose. Trump objectively undone much of the work of the military has done which will take decades repair. Someone else in uniform’s job is harder because of Trump.

Suckers. And Losers. If you’re in the military and you support Trump, or have served, or have family members who are serving right now and support Trump… the sucker and loser is you.

Losers And Suckers
Military
Trump Administration
Trump
Disrespect
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