[Vision2020] Trump disparaged U.S. war dead as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers,’ report says

Fri Sep 4 06:09:55 PDT 2020

Bury Me With Soldiers
by Rev. Charles Fink
(Father Charles R. Fink, a Roman Catholic Priest of St. Philip Neri’s Church in Northport NY, served in Vietnam from March 1969 to March 1970 as a sergeant in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade.)

I've played a lot of roles in life;
I've met a lot of men,
I've done a lot of things I'd like to think
I wouldn't do again.

And though I'm young, I'm old enough
To know someday I'll die.
And to think about what lies beyond,
Beside whom I would lie.

Perhaps it doesn't matter much;
Still if I had my choice,
I'd want a grave 'mongst soldiers 
When at last death quells my voice.

I'm sick of the hypocrisy
Of lectures of the wise.
I'll take the man, with all the flaws,
Who goes, though scared, and dies.

The troops I knew were commonplace
They didn't want the war;
They fought because their fathers and
Their fathers had before.

They cursed and killed and wept...God knows
They're easy to deride...
But bury me with men like these;
They faced the guns and died.

It's funny when you think of it,
The way we got along.
We'd come from different worlds
To live in one where no one belongs.

I didn't even like them all;
I'm sure they'd all agree.
Yet I would give my life for them,
I know some did for me.

So bury me with soldiers, please,
Though much maligned they be.
Yes, bury me with soldiers, for
I miss their company.

We'll not soon see their likes again;
We've had our fill of war.
But bury me with men like them
Till someone else does more

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.TomandRodna.com/MoscowCares

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

> On Sep 4, 2020, at 5:31 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Human decency prevents me from expressing my true feelings regarding Trump’s handling and expressed opinion of the U.S. military.
> 
> Courtesy of  the Los Angeles Times at:
> 
> https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-09-03/trump-us-war-dead-losers-suckers-report
> 
> ———————————————
> 
> Trump disparaged U.S. war dead as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers,’ report says
> 
> DELRAY BEACH, Fla. —  A new report details multiple instances of President Trump making disparaging remarks about members of the U.S. military who have been captured or killed, including referring to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.” 
> Trump said Thursday that the story is “totally false.”
> 
> The allegations were first reported in the Atlantic magazine. A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to the Associated Press, including the cemetery comments.
> 
> The Defense officials said Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2018.
> 
> Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. Trump responded by saying he didn’t want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
> 
> The White House blamed the canceled visit on poor weather at the time.
> 
> In another conversation on the trip, the Atlantic said, Trump referred to the 1,800 Marines who died in the World War I battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
> 
> Trump emphatically denied the Atlantic report Thursday night, calling it “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine.”
> 
> Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as they returned to Washington from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Trump said: “What animal would say such a thing?”
> 
> White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said: “It’s sad the depths that people will go to during a lead-up to a presidential campaign to try to smear somebody.”
> 
> Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said: “If the revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the president of the United States.
> 
> “Duty, honor, country — those are the values that drive our service members,” he said in a statement Thursday night, adding that if he is elected president, “I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice — always.” Biden’s son Beau served in Iraq in 2008 and 2009.
> 
> The Defense officials also confirmed to the AP reporting in the Atlantic that Trump on Memorial Day 2017 had gone with his then-chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
> 
> The senior Marine Corps officer and the Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, also reported that Trump said he didn’t want to support the August 2018 funeral of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a decorated Navy veteran who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, because he was a “loser.” The Atlantic also reported that Trump was angered that flags were flown at half-staff for McCain, saying: “What the f— are we doing that for? Guy was a f— loser.”
> 
> In 2015, shortly after launching his presidential candidacy, Trump publicly blasted McCain, saying, “He’s not a war hero.” He added, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
> 
> Trump only amplified his criticism of McCain as the Arizona lawmaker grew critical of his acerbic style of politics, culminating in a late-night “no” vote scuttling Trump’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That vote shattered what few partisan loyalties bound the two men, and Trump has continued to attack McCain for that vote, even posthumously.
> 
> The magazine said Trump also referred to former President George H.W. Bush as a “loser” because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.
> 
> ——————————————-
> 
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
> 
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
> http://www.TomandRodna.com/MoscowCares
>   
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Trump”
> http://www.tomandrodna.com/MoscowCares/Songs/Donald_Trump/Youre_a_Mean_One_Mr_Trump.mp3
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