LETTER: Trump and the Military

In 1968, when over half a million Americans were serving their country in Vietnam, Trump dodged the draft by getting a medical deferment for a bone spur in his heel. When asked by a reporter which heel it was, Trump couldn’t remember.

In 2015, Trump mocked John McCain, who had been a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, by saying, “He’s not a war hero. I like people who weren’t captured.”

In 2018, Trump canceled his visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because he didn’t want to get his hair wet. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” he said about our fallen soldiers.

On the same trip he called the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood “suckers” for getting killed.

He called George H. W. Bush a “loser” for being shot down by the Japanese as a navy pilot in WWII.

I am shocked by the disrespect our president shows to the military.

But nothing surpasses the outrage I felt when I learned that Trump was informed that Russia was paying bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. What did he do about it? Worse than nothing. He rewarded Russia by pushing for them to be allowed to rejoin the G7 and sending a $5.7 million aid package to Putin.

We need a president who respects and protects our military. Vote Trump out.

Philip Riffe
Hesperus CO

Post Contributor

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