It’s happened before and undoubtedly it will not be the last revelation regarding Trump’s unvarnished feelings toward wounded combat veterans and those who serve our country in the armed forces. With the firehose of disgusting and disqualifying Trump behavior that we are all drinking from, it is important from time to time to remind everyone of recent revolting highlights, before they’re lost.
It was revealed that Trump commented to Chairman Mark Milley, at the 4-star general’s swearing-in ceremony back in 2019, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded. Never let Avila appear in public again, Trump told Milley.” It was within earshot of a few witnesses. Luis Avila, who served five combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, was left almost completely paralyzed by the detonation of an improvised explosive device in 2011. He was there at the ceremony to serve his country and sing the national anthem. There’s only one word to describe this interaction from Trump. He is a scumbag. How on God’s green earth could 60% of a major political party still support him?
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Doubling down on his despicable and disrespectful rhetoric towards US military personnel, Trump said, referring to Mark Milley, it was a “treasonous act” that was “so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” This was his reaction to the disclosure that Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley had reached out to his Chinese general counterpart, on two different occasions following Trump’s election defeat and the chaos of the January 6th insurrection, in order to reassure him of American stability and that the democratic transition of power was proceeding. Despite the appearance on the surface that things were devolving after Trump would not accept his defeat, and they certainly were to a great and unprecedented degree, Milley was confident and comfortable in his back channel communicating. Thank God we had an independent, steel-spined 4-star general helping to keep a lid on things and steer the ship while his rudderless, violence-inciting commander-in-chief was threatening to take American democracy and the constitution over the waterfall and all of us along with it.
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Speaking about the participants in last week’s GOP debate at the Reagan Library in California, Governor Gavin Newsom commented that far from seeing anyone on that stage who could be the next President of the United States, he couldn’t even see how any of them even qualified to be the next Vice President. Hyperbole aside, the debacle and clown show of a second debate illustrated just how petty, immature, and incapable most of the field running against Trump is. Sure there are a few of them up there who can demonstrate from time to time the class, poise, and experience necessary for a prospective head of state to the most powerful nation on earth, however, that sort of pedigree was rarely on display last Wednesday night. They seemed more concerned with arguing over who paid for fancy curtains than they were with going after their chief rival and leading candidate the twice-impeached, sore-loser, sexually assaulting, disgraced, 91-time indicted, tax evading, champion fraud of all time Donald Trump. Going after Trump and just shining a light on everything he has done should be like shooting fish in a barrel. I mean, has a field of political candidates ever had an easier, more flawed opponent to target than Trump yet collectively been so incapable of telling the truth and taking him out? Never, ever. It is remarkable.
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Going into the weekend the Republican-led Congress, more consumed with smearing Joe Biden with baseless impeachment proceedings and taking their hands off the wheels of governing, did their best to shut down the government and drive us off the cliff. The always flappable, unprincipled Kevin McCarthy, incapable of influencing and corralling his own far-right caucus, had to be bailed out by Democrats and a group of mainstream Republicans who still feel a responsibility to be adults, keep our government open, and do the job they were sent to Washington for. The far-right kooky, chaos-caucus led by the likes of Matt Goetz, Lauren Boebert, and Andy Biggs makes the Three Stooges look like a viable trio of highly functioning, capable leaders of representative government. The antics, temper tantrums, and outright hostility toward stable governance from the “Freedom” Caucus has made Kevin McCarthy’s job virtually impossible. But My Kevin has no one to blame but himself. Let’s remember all of the steps McCarthy has willingly taken over the years that have directly enabled Trump and the growth of his Party’s unhinged, extreme faction. While he is not entirely to blame for the crazy disease bedeviling him and infesting the halls of Congress these days, he is certainly the biggest author of his own misery. Good luck Kevin.
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To top this “not fake news” list off of recent inexcusable offenses and incompetent, demoralizing bumblings, it would not be complete without Trump’s predictably disgusting comments while speaking at a California GOP event this weekend. True to form, he decided he had to be vile and trashy and get a repugnant jab in on his number one political foil before Biden, Nancy Pelosi. Mentioning her, he quickly turned to Pelosi’s husband, Paul, and the violent attack that almost killed him in his home. That attack was almost certainly spawned by Trump’s incitement and consistent demonizing and dehumanizing of Pelosi. For him to mock the near-fatal attack on an 80-plus-year-old man, a grandfather, and loving husband, an attack that his political violence-normalizing rhetoric is responsible for is nothing short of galling and vile. Sadly as we have all become familiar with, it is emblematic of the cruelty, meanness, and lack of civility and decency that he’s poisoned the Republican Party with. His base loves this stuff. God help us all.