As a vet I often wondered how other vets could support trumpig

[Duncanpup]

I personally never really thought much about the oath of enlistment I took oath in 84, until trump was elected then we all saw the threat to constitution by trump and GQP.

And we that are not a cult stood up and took notice fast, it’s been a education for me in that in wether you swore a oath upon enlistment or you didn’t, it comes down to if have the morals to try and do what is correct , compared to if you are just a ignorant racist who is fed bullshit from the right and believe it and want our country to be infected with it.

And 1/6 fucked with my head , the repig Clyde saying it was a tour, yea sure five people got smoked on that tour and Clyde is a veteran. And we all see the disease that infected the GQP.

[AZProgressive]

1. 1/6 was a shock to me too

Another shock is an event like that is now normalized.

I took the same oath and it bothers me a lot a President like Trump didn't take his oath seriously.

[rampartc]

3. if he can't take his marriage vows seriously, why expect any other oath to be binding?

if he is willing to fake "bone spurs" to avoid responsibility, how can he be responsible for anything.

if bankruptcy is his "go to" option to avoid paying contractors and maintain a billionaire lifestyle ......

no, i do not get the trump phenomenon. if he had showed up in my platoon in vietnam i doubt he would have been a problem 50 years later.

[atreides1]

8. Well

Trump had a history of going back on his word, long before he ran for office...not sure why anyone really expected him to take his oath seriously...the man will say anything if it gives him power or fills his pockets...he learned that lesson from his father!!!

[maddiemom]

10. But he HUGGED the flag to show how much he loves this country!

BTW, as a senior citizen, my scouting days are a ways back, but I seem to remember there were rules about handling the flag in our handbook. Wasn't there something about NOT doing any sort of gratuitous touching like that?

[maddiemom]

12. I checked, and I guess there is no such rule.

There were complaints about the Trump hug, but it was noted that Reagan even KISSED the flag. Those Republicans! Never any doubt about THEIR patriotism!

[PatSeg]

25. They sure do love FLAGS, don't they?

They are just oblivious to what the flag stands for, because they only understand and value things, not ideas.

[uponit7771]

33. +1, the shock was how many inside helped. Flynn's brother is still fuckin serving as a flag officer

... and he had a direct hand in slowing down the response of the DC NG

[atreides1]

2. Well

Veterans like Clyde, Cotton, and Crenshaw...are loyal to a political party, are loyal to Trump, and are not loyal to the country. All, because they want to wield power over the lives of the rest of us...they want to rule, not govern!

They are the current iteration of those who marched with Mao, Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler...

I took the oath and I remember that I swore to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution...I still consider my oath to remain in effect...

[no_hypocrisy]

4. My guess is how Trump made them feel good.

Trump came across as a military Babbitt. An evil one. A caricature of a coach, a manager, and a booster.

Giuliani had the same effect on the NYC police department, coming across as though he were the only one who recognized the risks they took for citizens every day, their sacrifice, their under appreciation.

Trump made the vets overlook or forget that he never spent a single day doing military service. Military school was equivalent for them.

Trump told them that with their support, NOBODY in the world would disrespect the United States again EVER.

In their minds, the Commander-in-Chief who "got it". No wonder they followed behind him in lockstep.

[Dave Starsky]

19. Trump's "military school" was a reform school.

It wasn't some sort of pre-ROTC program to prepare for a military career. It was ever and always a last-ditch attempt to get him out of his mom's hair and try to keep the little shit from being shipped off to juvenile hall.

When I was growing up, parents were always threatening to send us to reform school if we didn't shape up. Trump's parents actually did.

[Woodwizard]

5. I don't get it either

45 is everything you are trained not to be in any leadership in the military. But I knew my share of assholes while I was in.

[Lonestarblue]

6. I think I've been shocked at how this nation has changed every day since 2016.

I knew Trump was corrupt, but I never dreamed that he would be able to corrupt the entire Republican Party to this extent. I suppose their corruption had been more hidden before Trump, but he brought everything into the open—the blatant racism, the projection of all the underhanded/illegal things Republicans were doing onto the Democrats, the hatred for the press, the migrant concentration camps, the allegiance to Putin and Russia, and now the whole voter suppression/voter nullification laws they’re passing to get rid of democracy entirely.

Republicans have somehow convinced a significant minority of people that if they don’t win, the country—and they—will be so harmed that Republicans must win all elections by any means possible, and that includes outright overturning the votes of citizens, whether by laws they’re passing or by violence. Many white Christian evangelicals have bought into the cheating, lying, and stealing of elections because they know they can’t convince the rest of the country to support what they want.

I never thought I would see so much hatred and anger in this country. The resistance to efforts to stop the pandemic was astonishing. Knowing that you could wear a mask to help stop people dying and refusing to do so just to show support for a charlatan like Trump was just beyond belief. I will never understand that mindset.

I hope Democrats are able to hang on to majorities in Congress in 2022 because having Republicans in control again is just too frightening. They are taking our country into a whole new form of government right in front of us.

[calimary]

7. Totally THIS.

[HariSeldon]

20. Have you ever seen a supersatured solution crystalize

...when one solid crystal is dropped in? I think that's maybe what happened to the Republican Party, but with corruption. It was there, but introducing one obvious, solid bit of it exposed the rest and locked everything up solid so now nothing moves.

[PatSeg]

27. Interesting analogy

The visual is quite effective. Trump brings the worst out in people and makes that dominant.

[Hekate]

30. Yes, and that's a good analogy

[zaj]

22. Watch this...

Jonathan Haidt: The moral roots of liberals and conservatives
https://go.ted.com/6bms

[Lonestarblue]

28. Thank you. Very interesting TED talk.

I must admit that I have a difficult time considering the other side’s viewpoints, especially now. But I do think there is possibility when we can identify the things that benefit most people, which is what Biden’s jobs/infrastructure plan does. I have believed for years that we cannot simply leave the red, rural areas of the country to rot. Investing in the creation of alternative energy offers the possibility of bringing jobs to rural areas, especially versus the fossil fuel jobs where the people must go to where the jobs are located rather than having access to jobs near where they live. A good example are the coal miners of Kentucky and West Virginia. They could learn to manufacture wind turbines or make batteries in their current homes. But for them to take fossil fuel jobs, they would have to move to places like West Texas. A big problem, though, is that no one will buy their homes and it costs money to uproot a family and move.

Where I have most difficulty with the other side is that, after Trump, I see them as coming from a place of utter hypocrisy and having no true moral positions. Obviously, that isn’t true of all conservatives, but it’s really hard to see beyond the lies and conspiracies that are the Republican Party today.

[Naio]

9. Maybe they have brain damage.

[LymphocyteLover]

11. didn't they play Rush Limpballs and Fauxnews incessantly at army bases?

Also, a good percent of military recruits come from more conservative rural areas, and those people love the shitbeast

[joetheman]

38. Yes! And this must be stopped. nt

[Crowman2009]

13. I think it also depends on how they felt about their deployments.

The ones who leaned right wing were the nutjobs who were under the illusion that Iraq & Afghanistan were winnable,. never occuring to the that the whole thing was a cash grab by the 1%.

Furthermore, those like myself hated every damn day of those deployments and couldn't wait to get the fuck outta there, and would discuss with like-minded folks about post-enlistment/deployment plans while playing loud music.

[Duncanpup]

16. You and my son in laws bro

They done like you Iraq Afghan be well

[ananda]

14. I'm not a vet, but I've been wondering the same thing.

Racism I guess.

[70sEraVet]

15. Seems like most of my old Navy buddies are Trumpers

I thought 1/6 would shake them out of it -- like I imagined that once the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed, the German people must have gone "Look where following that man has led us!"
But I think my old Nav buddies blame the LIBERALS for driving the MAGA crowd to attack the Capitol.

[uponit7771]

34. +1, you'd think the German population would be 100% sick of the Nazi's but they weren't until...

... their children brought it up to them.

I think Arnold put it best; The generation of Germans after the war thought they were right about the world even in defeat.

Look the post world war 2 polls below ... shocking and the reason why dems in the US must demonize the 1/6 terrorist and not allow punk asses to revise the date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification

In 1946, 1 in 3 in the US occupation zone said that Jews should not have the same rights as those belonging to the Aryan race.[85]
In 1950, 1 in 3 said the Nuremberg trials had been unfair.[85]
In 1952, 37% said Germany was better off without the Jews on its territory.[85]
In 1952, 25% had a good opinion of Hitler.[85] - Look familiar ?

[Alien Life Form]

17. USAF here

The problem IMO is the country itself.

Too many give lip service to the idea of freedom and democracy but they remind me of a poem I real long ago in someones dedication of a book "to that influential man in world affairs..the man that neither knows nor cares"

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

18. Racism trumps all.

[zaj]

24. Racism is one implementation of authoriarianiam

Remember the basket of delporables?

That basket is a personality type called basket of right-wing authoriarians.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism

In psychology, the right-wing authoritarian is a personality type that describes somebody who is naturally submissive to his authority figures, acts aggressively in the name of said authorities, and is conformist in thought and behavior.[1] The prevalence of this personality type in a population varies from culture to culture, as a person's upbringing and education play a strong role in determining whether somebody develops this sort of personality. With the American population, the prevalence is somewhere between 20% and 25% of the population.[2]

[zaj]

21. Right-wing Authoriarianism

Right-wing authoriarians join the military, police, religion, and similar hierarchical organizations because they believe submission to authority is a moral issue.

They also value team and loyalty as a moral issue.

They justify whatever they will justify whatever their teams authority says as morally right. And whatever the other team says it's morally wrong.

Check out...

Jonathan Haidt: The moral roots of liberals and conservatives
https://go.ted.com/6bms

[Niagara]

23. Perhaps this might explain why

Way back in early of 2016, tRumpig was conning potential voters into believing that our military was depleted. He insisted that our military didn't have modern equipment, that the defense budget was underfunded, and that there wasn't presently veterans health-care available to our veterans.



Of course in typical tRump fashion, he was conning people and blaming all these problems on our current President Obama at the time. I'm sure RW pro-tRump channels like Faux ran with his bogus claims and in the process getting former military service members upset about lies that weren't true. It's all propaganda to keep the uneducated dumbed down; to keep them angry so that they keep voting against their own interest. I would also like to point out that tRump has a lifetime of experience of conning people into believing what he says.



If any former veteran gives him credit for something that he didn't actually do, you can always point out that the Veterans Choice Act was passed in 2014 by the Obama Admin. On August 8, 2020, during a press conference when tRumpig was bragging what he did for our veterans, a reporter pointed this out and tRump said that he was finished and abruptly ended the press conference.


Thank you for your service, Duncanpup.

[Wounded Bear]

26. Took the oath in 1970. Still in effect AFAIC. I agree with you...

[Skittles]

31. it makes me sick how they support any repuke

repukes do not give a DAMN about our troops

[GoodRaisin]

32. Unfortunately many of our vets live in the Fox News bubble.

They've been brainwashed into supporting a pig.

[Nexus2]

35. And what about this? [article]

Dozens of Retired Generals, Admirals Sign Letter Backing Trump for Reelection

Some 235 retired senior military officers have signed a letter backing the reelection of President Donald Trump and warning that electing former Vice President Joe Biden would lead to growing influence in government by "socialists and Marxists."

A letter released Monday by the Trump-Pence campaign was signed by eight four-star generals or admirals, 42 three-star generals or admirals and at least one Medal of Honor recipient: retired Marine Maj. Gen. Jim Livingston.
It can be argued that this is the most important election since our country was founded," the open letter from the retired officers said. "With the Democratic Party welcoming to socialists and Marxists, our historic way of life is at stake."

"We believe that President Donald Trump is committed to a strong America," the letter continued. "As president, he will continue to secure our borders, defeat our adversaries, and restore law and order domestically."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/09/15/dozens-of-retired-generals-admirals-sign-letter-backing-trump-reelection.html

[Champp]

36. Isn't this the Jack Meehoff republican sucker letter?

fools who signed it truly a sorry lot of anti-democracy buttheads.

[mnmoderatedem]

37. next time, ask them these questions

how heroic is it to use a fake bone spurs excuse to get out of serving in Vietnam?

how patriotic is it to say John McCain, who spent five years as a POW and was tortured by the Vietcong, as not a war hero because he was captured?

What do you think of trump declaring Vietnam vest as suckers and losers?

enjoy their reaction. Probably jut befuddled looks as they try to scramble for justifications.