You Make The Call

So, did Donald Trump diss the military, referring to slain soldiers as "suckers" and "losers", as has been reported?

"The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."  --  Dr. Phil McGraw (among others).

Now, let's delve into past behavior, shall we?  Here is Candidate Trump, from 2015:

Of course, that wasn't the first time Trump insulted John McCain.  And Candidate Trump wasn't finished.  Nope, not done by a long shot.

And once Candidate Trump became President, even though a reported 60% of veterans voted for him, Trump just didn't return the love.

And in 2018, ombrophobic Trump didn't attend a ceremony near Paris honoring soldiers who died in World War I.  Funny, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn't have any trouble attending.  Maybe the rain bothered Trump's bone spurs.

Trump dismissed the highly respected Admiral William McRaven, the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the raid against Osama bin Laden as a "Hillary Clinton fan" and backer of former President Barack Obama in an interview.*

He's directed 5% cuts at Veterans Affairs, which for some time he left in the control of non-veterans who happened to be members of his Mar-a-Lago club.*

He's neglected to visit combat zones, unlike other presidents, suggested troops' midterm election ballots not be counted, passed up Veterans Day ceremonies other leaders made time to attend and repeatedly said he knows more about military issues than generals do.*

Readers, this blogger loves and respects our veterans and active duty soldiers very much, as I'm sure you do.  I am very proud to say that I can pull up my tree on Ancestry.com and show you soldiers from my family who served in every war from the American Revolution through the Vietnam War, excepting only the Spanish-American War.  I have ancestors named Somerled, William The Conqueror, Robert The Bruce, Brian Boru, and Charlemagne.  A prominent surname in my family is Wilhelm, and that surname is so synonymous with knighthood that one chronicle mentions a knight's feast in Bayeux around 1171 A.D. in which 117 Wilhelms were listed as taking part.  (The name "Wilhelm" literally means "I will don the helmet of battle for you", a vow to a feudal king).  So around Your Crusading Blogger, we do not diss soldiers.  It is a very grave offense to me.  If you agree with me, I hope you'll remember on November 3rd.

* https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/19/politics/trump-military-insults-compliments/index.html

Addendum, later 9/5:  Today, Trump dubbed the original reporter of this story, the Atlantic's Editor-In-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, as a "slimeball", and called for the firing of Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin, who corroborated some of Goldberg's allegations.  This blogger is surprised Trump didn't call her "nasty", his usual sobriquet for women who have the audacity to disagree with Trump, or act counter to his demands.  Maybe he's slipping ;).