If you want to get the unfiltered skinny on how the never-ending war with Iran is going, it’s written in the dust. Responsible Statecraft’s Trita Parsi reported this week that U.S. service members marooned in the Persian Gulf have been expressing themselves in messages fingered onto a dusty aircraft flap. The anonymous graffiti, which calls to mind the helmet scrawls of disgruntled soldiers in Vietnam, include “Operation Epstein Fury,” “Peace deal #64 incoming … ALL THIS FOR THE HOLY LAND,” and “Bibi’s cucks.” Sounds like things aren’t going so well! “I have no frame of reference, I can’t compare it to the sentiments of U.S. soldiers in previous conflicts,” Parsi wrote. “But I suspect these are new sentiments, or at least a new willingness to express them this openly and directly.”
Whether these sentiments are new is indeed unclear, but it’s not without a frame of reference. Trump has always been fairly explicit in his disrespect for the grunts who do most of the work—and all of the dying—in this racket that we call “war.”
It’s not just donnie…it’s most of the Republican party. Sure, maybe a few outliers respect the actual troops for something other than photo-ops and for a wedge issue to try to hit liberals with.
Most of the right’s love of military is concentrated in…love of defense contractors and plenty of fascist posturing.
I was serving in the US military the first time Trump got elected. It was an awful time for us military folks. He tried (and failed) to ban trans people from serving during that term. This was after we had announced free trans surgery for service members, so a bunch of people had already outed themselves.
I remember when he almost started WWIII by getting into a fight with Kim Jong Un online. He decided he was gonna fly to North Korea and give him a piece of his mind.
NO ONE goes to North Korea. No sitting president has ever gone there. They’re one of the most dangerous and isolated countries in the world. The citizens live in poverty because the government controls who gets to eat. Most citizens are members of their military, because military members and their families get extra rations. They mostly survive on imports from China, because their land isn’t suited to grow enough food for their own population.
Regardless, they’re isolated from the rest of the world, so all they know is whatever their state media tells them, and they’re heavily brainwashed. They’re taught that the rest of the world is suffering worse than they are and that they should be grateful to live in one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet. Keep in mind, they live like paupers from the 1950s.
They’re also taught that the Kim family are essentially immortal gods who descended from the mountains to help them. Yes, Kim Il Sung, their original leader, is still the “Supreme Leader” of North Korea. When he died, the population was informed that he’s just moved to a higher plane of existence so he can better serve the nation. His son Kim Jong Il took over his seat on the mortal plane, and when he passed away, it was the same story. Now his son, Kim Jong Un is the current mortal leader, and getting into a spat with Trump.
Trump refused to listen to his aides and went to North Korea anyway. ‘Good,’ we thought. 'He won’t be our problem for much longer.’ But unfortunately, something we didn’t expect happened. They became best friends.
Trump returned home raving about how incredible of a guy Kim Jong Un was and how efficiently he ran his country. He immediately started comparing the US to that dictatorship and asking for changes to make things like North Korea.
Fortunately for us, our government at the time was a majority Democrat government, so checks and balances stopped Trump from doing a lot of awful things. He bitched and moaned all the time, but he rarely got his way. So his first term was pretty uneventful.
Then he lost the election to Biden and refused to quit. He spouted all that nonsense about “stolen elections” and swore to run again. I was coming up on retirement eligibility and decided to take that option. I retired in the middle of the Biden administration.
And I’m so glad I did. I thankfully never had to exercise my refusal to obey orders during my service, but I’d definitely take advantage of that right during this current administration if I was still serving. A lot of us weren’t happy with Trump, and I still have buddies in the service who feel trapped and can’t get out of their enlistment without breaking laws and going to jail. It’s a dark time, but there are still plenty of allies in the military and I’m glad to see public recognition of that starting to show.
What gave it away? Was it the “losers and suckers” comments? Or the nigh-unstoppable dismissive arrogance and miserable legislative support?
How anyone got past “I like soldiers who don’t get captured” is just insane to start with.
I sometimes wonder if he resents decent people for their decency. Like, the concept of giving up something for someone else obviously makes no sense to him, but maybe at some level he understands that some people do it easily, and maybe if he could understand it people might start to genuinely like and care about him.
More than likely he probably just thinks decent people are suckers to be used by him, the main character.
I’m sure he thinks the idea is dumb, but what he really hates is someone getting attention for being a decent person. That’s his real kryptonite. Having to give deference to people with qualities he could never bring himself to have while they are lauded for it.
Well he did refer to vets as “suckers and losers” in his first term, so I’m pretty sure it is the latter.
The ol Bill Hicks position: “For the war, against the troops”
They’re just realising this now?
