Trump: Highest Civilian Honor Better Than Highest Military Honor Because..

[ClydeR]

..people who got the civilian award didn't get injured.

Speaking from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during an event on fighting antisemitism, Trump praised the late Las Vegas casino magnate as "one of the greatest businessmen in the world," before addressing Sheldon Adelson's widow to make a comparison between the Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, which is typically given for significant achievements in the arts, public service and other fields.

"I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That's the highest award you can get as a civilian. It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version," said Trump as he spoke from the podium in front of multiple American and Israeli flags.

He added, "It's actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers. They're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they are dead. She gets it and she's a healthy, beautiful woman."

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What a shameful picture those paragraphs painr. Does Trump care that his words belittled military heroes? No, not as long as Miriam Adelson continues to rain money on Republicans.

Trump gets a cut of all donations to the Republican National Committee to spend on personal matters. And his personal cut comes before other GOP candidates get any.

[Methais]

A Thread For ClydeR

[ClydeR]

..people who got the civilian award didn't get injured.

You know what that reminds me of? This..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wefb0ESoVDo

[ClydeR]

Here's something else that I was reminded of..

At his welcome ceremony at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, across the Potomac River from the capital, Milley gained an early, and disturbing, insight into Trump's attitude toward soldiers. 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, Holly-anne, 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.)

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[ClydeR]

Wow. Trump earned a scathing admonishment from the Commander of the VFW..

We would like to remind Mr. Trump that the 12 times he had the honor of awarding the Medal of Honor as president of the United States, those were heroes not of his own choosing. He bestowed those medals on behalf of Congress, representing all Americans of a grateful nation. We hold the donation of their lives in service to our country in the highest esteem, and so should he.

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[ClydeR]

I just remembered another event demonstrating Trump's immense disrespect for veterans. With so many occasions where Trump expressed the same sentiment, it's hard to attribute it to mere mental lapses.

“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”

In the statement, Kelly is confirming, on the record, a number of details in a 2020 story in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, including Trump turning to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, and saying, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”

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[ClydeR]

In his convention speech last night, Biden slammed Trump for Trump's lack of respect for Veterans..

We get it. But guess who doesn’t get it—and doesn’t respect our veterans. We know from his own chief of staff, the four-star general John Kelly, that Trump when in Europe would not go to the grave sites, the one of—in France—the brave service members who gave their lives to this country. He called them suckers and losers. Who in the hell does he think he is? Who does he think he is? There’s no words for a person. They are not the words of a person—not worthy of being a commander-in-chief, period. Not then. Not now. And not ever. I mean that. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

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[joeyb]

who cares what he says? I mean, he hugged the american flag that one time so obviously he loves america and veterans. many people are saying this! thank you!

[ClydeR]

On Monday, Donald Trump visited the sacred ground of Arlington National Cemetery, where many of America's war dead are buried, and posed for photos. In the strangest of these pictures, the former president is smiling and giving a thumbs-up by the grave of a Marine. It's an image of a man who has no idea how to behave around fallen heroes.

Trump was at Arlington ostensibly to honor the memory of the 13 service members who were killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The event was supposed to be respectful and private; according to a press-pool note, the families of the troops had asked that there be no media coverage in the area where the service members were buried. But Trump seemed to have other ideas.

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Between the opening paragraphs above and the closing paragraph below, the article discusses Trump's prior disrespectful behavior toward veterans, some of which I have already discussed in this thread. It's a devastating collection of facts, which cannot be attributed to spin, lack of context or misspeaking.

Monday's wreath-laying at Arlington was, in part, Trump's attempt to clean up the mess he has created, and to establish some credibility as a champion of men- and women-at-arms. But in the end, it merely served to remind Americans how little he understands about service, sacrifice, and heroism.

[ClydeR]

US Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery
Haley Britzky
By Haley Britzky, CNN

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday. Section 60 is an area in the cemetery largely reserved for the graves of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” the statement said.

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The article calls it a "stark rebuke."