By Carol Lucas
Beaufort is a military town. We honor the men and women who are stationed here and train to be our protectors. Knowing they will put their lives on the line to do whatever has to be done, many of our merchants show their appreciation by offering discounts, and while these gestures might be small, they are heartfelt. Beaufort is military through and through.
Thus I am compelled to ask this: why would anyone who is even remotely involved with the military, past or present, come out in favor of a presidential candidate who not only avoided the draft himself, but makes no effort to hide his disdain for those same people we in Beaufort revere?
This is something that not only mystifies me, but also makes me wonder just where their priorities lie. And I might add, it makes me angry, as it should you.
It’s no secret that Donald Trump, who came from a very wealthy family, managed to secure a deferment based upon a diagnosis of “bone spurs.” Social media is rife with jokes about this, and obviously we will never know whether or not this was legitimate, although Trump himself once called the condition “temporary” and “minor.”
What we do know is that he has been openly contemptuous of those who did serve. This initially came to the forefront when he declared of John McCain, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” This wason July 18, 2015 when he was a candidate for President of the United States.
Four years later, March 19, six months after McCain’s death, Trump could not let go of his grudge against McCain when he stated, “I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be.”
It was Chris Cillizza, CNN editor-at-large who offered this: “Those two comments – almost four years apart and more than six months after McCain’s death – provide telling bookends to understand just how much Trump has changed Republican politics (and politics generally), and not for the better.”
Suckers and losers! Those words were used by Trump as he continued his bashing of our troops.
It was John Kelly, retired Marine Corps General, who served as Trump’s chief of staff for two years and ultimately revealed this side of Trump’s contempt.
“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them,'” Kelly said of Trump. “A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”
This brings me to the latest “stunt” on the part of Mr. “temporary and minor bone spurs.”
The Trump campaign released a TikTok video of the former president’s controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday where cemetery officials said, in a statement to ABC News, that a photography-related “incident” occurred, leading to a report being filed.
Apparently two Trump officials, who were asked NOT to take photos, engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with cemetery staff. What Arlington released follows.
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement read.
Here is the bottom line, or lines, lest you think this can be reduced to only one.
First, how does a man who has done nothing but denigrate the military, have the gall to then use a military setting for political purposes? The answer to that one is quite simple. His immorality has no depth. Period.
Then consider why the big show of support now? Not only was this for his own self aggrandizement (big surprise), but also to emphasize which group of fallen “suckers and losers.” You see these men died in Afghanistan, a big campaign talking point for Donald Trump. Biden, and by way of being VP, Kamala Harris, were in office when when the obviously disastrous withdrawal took place. This has been one of Trump’s focal points in his campaign.
And consider this. A new account of Trump’s time as commander in chief comes from Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Trump’s national security adviser. McMaster, unlike other generals who served under Trump, had previously held back from sharing direct criticism of his former boss after leaving the White House. That said, appearing on “Anderson Cooper 360,” McMaster argued that Trump bears some responsibility for the Afghanistan withdrawal for his negotiations with the Taliban, including pressure on Afghanistan’s former government to release thousands of Taliban fighters from prison. (reported on CNN)
In my research, I discovered that progressive veterans group VoteVets claimed (posted on X) that “Trump only cares about the fallen when he can exploit their sacrifice for his own gain.”
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, quickly zeroed in on Trump’s “unusual” pose in the snap.
“Smiling, thumbs up at the grave, is unusual to say the least,” Never mind that Trump negotiated the ‘deal’ and is the reason we left.”
In conclusion, know that I support our military without reservation. When I visited the wall in DC for the first time, I wept upon discovering the name of a former student. While I felt we were in Vietnam for many of the wrong reasons, I was appalled by the reception those vets received upon returning home, and I verbalized that disgust.
So I have no problem verbalizing that same disgust for someone who vilifies the military while striving to be Commander-in-Chief.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
