I hope the veterans who voted for, and any who have continued to defend Cadet Bonespurs, are happy. He has called those who died in battle "losers." And now he has shut down "Stars and Stripes."
It is one thing to be conservative and vote Republican. It is another thing to vote for any candidate of one's own party without first examining his character. We all knew before the 2016 election, if we were paying attention, that Donald Trump did not consider John McCain a hero for his honorable behavior while suffering torture at the hands of the enemy. "I like people who weren't captured," he famously said.
We now realize that Donald Trump sees any action in terms of what the actor gains by it. Visiting the grave of John Kelly's son in the presence of John Kelly: "I don't get it. What was in it for them?" No doubt he would respect people more who were clever enough to buy their way out of serving by getting a doctor to furnish them with medical excuses.
I don't mean to unload on veterans here. My target is the voter who reflexively votes Republican because of the party's "tough stance" on defense, while ignoring certain Republican life choices. Two of the top defense hawks who got us into the Iraq war, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, never served in the military. Cheney said he "had other priorities than military service." Perhaps he saw himself as a future leader and didn't want to risk that future?
In past years, Republicans and their Fox News mouthpieces have turned every nitpicky transgression of Democratic candidates into major outrages: missing flag lapel pins, tan suits, Nancy Pelosi's haircut. That any of them could still defend our mountain-of-filth chief executive at this point shows an astounding talent for looking the other way. May their sore necks never find relief.
I am sick to death of all of them.
