Trump Told General Milley to Banish Wounded Military Veteran From Events: ‘No One Wants to See That’
A new profile on General Mark Milley delved into his efforts to preside over the military despite his numerous concerns with former President Donald Trump.
And they're going to vote for him.
And unironically call it patriotism 🤣
Military support for him really waned over his first term. Previous year the general consensus was enlisted were ruby red voters while officers/lifers leaned blue. In '20 that nearly flipped with enlisted becoming a toss up leaning red and officers/lifers breaking hard blue.
If Trump suffers a stroke and ends up in a wheelchair and/or partially paralyzed himself, I think this comment gives everyone permission to feel happy about that.
I've moved on to DnD style ethics, if something bad happens to someone whos evil aligned, that action is a good action. The old ethics were written for the powerful in an attempt to justify their power and demonize any challenges to it. I don't require specifics anymore. Its good and funny when bad things happen to bad people. And the worse the things, the funnier it gets.
Uh hello this is the based department, we're calling about the job opportunity. Unfortunately, you're overqualified.
Fuck yeah. I mean, just look at Always Sunny. QED.
I would give him a small bell he can tap on to communicate. And talk to him in Spanish all the time.
Rosie O’Donnell walking away from an explosion only to turn her head and reveal that one half of her face is missing…
This comment and all the comments in general he's ever made.
I prefer presidents that don’t pardon war criminals
The headline buries the lead. He calls all soldiers "killers." This an article everyone should read.
Buries the lede*
The lede is the opening paragraph. This was not burried.
Yeah it's not news that reminding people of the Iraq war makes Republicans look bad.
I hate trump. But is he wrong? American soldiers are killers. Willingly joining wars where they are the aggressors and bomb schools and hospitals.
Not every soldier carries a gun. 70% of the US military is logistics.
The average teenager has no realization about that stuff. The three main motivators for military service were (and remain) escaping poverty, service tradition, and ideology. And once you've enlisted the only choice is war or prison.
I have a lot more scorn for the adults that let Bush do it then I do for kids who didn't have a chance in hell of realizing what this country does with soldiers and veterans.
Even if he is right, he owes it to people to make the POLICY ARGUMENT rather than just shit on some veterans to protect his brand.
If he came out and said "veterans make Republicans look bad because of all their bad wars" maybe we'd cut him some slack.
The overhead to support one soldier is massive. But if we want to start referring to soldiers as killers, disparage the military, and make people think badly of them, then why spend so much money on it? Or do we just want to entice people to do a job everyone will look down on, blow a bunch of money on something everyone thinks is terrible, and treat those people like shit?
What's the thing people say they like him for? "He says what we're all thinking?"
Sounds about right for republican patriotism; 100% packaging, 0% substance.
They're like getting a gaming console for Christmas and all that's in the box is some bricks and a smelly slime you can't identify.
Edit: Comparing them initially to the wonderful excitement of a good Christmas as a kid is wayyy too positive of a thing, but I don't feel like deleting this. IDK words are hard.
Fascism has such weird body issues.
Next Trump admin, look for Liver King stuffed into a Navy crackerjack suit.
The most incredible thing to me is when they paint him as some kind of strong man, when he'd probably shit his pants if he had to pick up some furniture. I'm not going to go on some tirade of dunking on orange man, just look at the guy. He's not healthy, let alone strong. He looks like a package of gummy bears that accidentally get left in the car in July.
To be frank, that's really all Trump has is veneer. Projecting the strong man energy while also having riding around in a golf cart be his most vigorous form of exercise and wearing shitty suit cuts that can't hide his obesity; the spray tan and comb over to project the idea that he's young and outdoorsy, while he's whiter than calling the police and almost 80 years old; acting like he can relate to the common man when the dude eats KFC with a fork and knife on his private jet. Even the charity work the Trump organization has been involved in was little more than a flat out scam. If Trump was a fruit, he'd be all rind.
Fascism has such weird body issues.
Always has. The Nazis' first mass-murder victims were children with disabilities.
If you find yourself confused at how the right is all about those troops on one day and then when Trump shits on those troops they're perfectly okay with that- it's okay, that shit is confusing until you understand they only value the troops as props when it suits them.
It's also probably worth noting that Trump sees soldiers as chumps that weren't special enough to get deferrals like him.
The Republicans have done master level manipulation where the groups of people they treat the worst think they're on their side. It's astounding
What is harder to understand is why any of those props vote for any Republican, ever.
Ya know, it's funny, I suspect the wounded vets would love to look at themselves in the mirror and see that they in fact hadn't been wounded. But for them it's just not that easy.
Wait, wasn’t this already known? I swear I read Trump saying something like this even before the 2020 election. Am I having a Deja vu?
EDIT: Yes, it’s old news but now we have a reliable source and more details. Obviously he denied the claims the first time.
Wait, wasn’t this already known?
To everyone but the people who need to know.
Milley had chosen a severely wounded Army captain, Luis Avila, to sing “God Bless America.” Avila, who had completed five combat tours, had lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan, and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries. To Milley, and to four-star generals across the Army, Avila and his wife, Claudia, represented the heroism, sacrifice, and dignity of wounded soldiers.
It had rained that day, and the ground was soft; at one point Avila’s wheelchair threatened to topple over. Milley’s wife, Hollyanne, ran to help Avila, as did Vice President Mike Pence. After Avila’s performance, Trump walked over to congratulate him, but then said to Milley, within earshot of several witnesses, “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. (Recently, Milley invited Avila to sing at his retirement ceremony.)
It wasn't even a decade ago when the Republican party was all about the wounded vets and veterans in general. They were THE American heroes and were honored extensively. They used them to speak about how the libs didn't give a damn about our soldiers and all that crap.
Then Trump came in with his "I like soldiers who don't get hurt or captured" bullshit and all the POW/MIA flags disappeared and got replaced with the Gadsen flag and the Iron Cross.
They don’t have a good faith position. Trump’s attitude towards both the military in general and vets in particular- especially wounded ones - were voiced in public while he was still just a candidate for the Republican nomination. He thinks only an idiot or loser would join the military because they aren’t qualified for anything else.
People - even Putin - thought his campaign was over when he insulted Gold Star families, but the “pro-vet” republicans just supported him even more.
Any position they take is just for optics and can switch at a moment’s notice.
It doesn't really surprise me that that's Trump's stance on things, but it does surprise me that the military loving Republican voters didn't even have to think about it. They just immediately went "yeah! Fuck soldiers!!".
Hell, most of the active military personnel we have are heavily right leaning and even they didn't have a word to say about it. They just lined up, voted for him, and bought more merch.
They use them to look good but they're also the party that cuts the services they most need.
They weren't even that before Trump. They were busy dismantling the VA and cutting benefits for veterans before him. Jon Stewart had to go to Congress to argue for benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits.
If Milley did it right, he would have put the wounded front and centre after a remark like that. Just shove it in his face.
The public wasn't allowed to know because the Hatch Act prevents public disclosures like that from federal government employees.
You misread his/her comment. They were saying to park wounded soldiers at every presser, not to comment in violation of the Hatch Act.
Trump is severely wounded on the inside.
He's just sad because he thinks everyone else is better than him
And for once, he's right
Is anyone shocked by this? It's obvious what donnie thinks of the military.
This man has no soul or self awareness
Not surprised
He's right, that's why they're mostly showing strong manly soldiers and not veterans on the streets. People would be against war, if they saw all consequences.
I have to give him credit for being right. Broken clock and all. Obviously no one wants to see wounded vets. Personally I'd rather they just not be in positions to get wounded or at the very least they have proper access to medical care post injury.
E: What ignorant twats are downvoting this? I'm saying we should be working towards vets not getting injured in the first place. As in lowering the number of vets that are injured, therefore there are less of them to be seen. Second would be ensuring proper care. How the fuck is that at all controversial?
Medical care should be top priority. If we fought wars with flower petals and cotton candy, then we wouldn't need to worry about it. But war is ugly, and these are the repercussions. People should see the hard truths so that we can make better choices on how to provide for the wounded, and the possibilities when committing to that line of work.
Trump was out of line with his remarks, and clearly has no appreciation for those who serve. He wants to be able to live in his fantasy land without seeing the consequences of his actions and what being the leader of a country entails. Shame on him. If he doesn't think wounded veterans are suitable to be seen, then he isn't suited to be Commander in Chief.
You buried a good point (about reducing harm from war) in a wrapper of shit (about thinking trump's comments were at all appropriate).
I, and many Americans are happy to "see" wounded vets. They're people, just with injuries, they aren't a spectacle. That said, it is important to recognize the physical toll of our political choices, so people like aliva should not be tucked away.
Your main point of "maybe people shouldn't be injured in war to begin with" makes sense, but you're being downvoted probably because that is not what Trump meant and therefore he isn't "right."
Except me, I downvoted you because I think it's funny how indignant you got about "ignorant twats" when it was fairly obvious why people were downvoting you.
because that is not what Trump meant and therefore he isn't "right."
... and the clock isn't "right". It just happens to display the correct time for a brief moment.
You're looking at it through a lense of compassion. Go back and read what Trump said again. Do you really think he's doing the same?
Did you even read the edit? I was being sarcastic about him being "right". A broke clock is still right twice a day...
You're being downvoted because you're ignoring the current issue in the world right now. Right now this is a post where he said we need to hide the disabled veterans so nobody can see them. You said he's right about that and went on about how we need to just make war go away.
War is not going away right this second. So write this second you're only real point is that yes we must hide the veterans. We can work towards making more go away in the future but that's going to be centuries. If we even survive that long.
That's not what that says. He didn't say we need to hide the injured veterans. He said "No one wants to see that". It's understood he meant hide them from sight. Hence the broken clock reference. I was saying the statement is correct, that nobody wants to see injured veterans. I then add that the primary way to accomplish that would be to reduce the number of injured vets. The second goal would be to ensure good healthcare if they become injured despite the primary goal.