What the Hell? (or, Tump's Descent into Madness)

[Bookfan]

And Putin.

[Sef]

Disgusting:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-a ... kers/615997/

Scathing response by a retired major general:

[Bookfan]

Yes, disgusting. I'm coming back in a bit to listen.

[Lynx]

Expansion on what we all know. I hope our veterans take this to heart - he has shown over and over he is a traitor.

[mmeadow]

I don't know what it takes to finally get a groundswell of attention, but I'll take it!

I'm just confounded by the fact that few of these revelations are new. We already knew "I like people who weren't captured" and not wanting to go to the WWI centenary commemorations, etc., etc.

[Sef]

The author of that story, Jeffrey Goldberg, spent months (a year?) verifying with his sources that the information was accurate before coming out with the article in The Atlantic. None of it is new or all that shocking, considering the source, but it's creating ripples within the military community this week.

[Bookfan]

As it should. In general, the military support Republicans, including trump. But I think the top brass have been disgusted with him for some time.

I know, mmeadow. Right from the beginning, every time there was a new revelation about anything I'd think "now we ought to see some change". Nope. Over & over. I think this time it hits a fair sized portion of his base right where it hurts. And the article adds well-documented direct quotes, which I don't think we had before. Maybe it's some kind of a tipping point.

[ItsaZoo]

It will be interesting to see what happens. When my husband was a security officer at a nuke plant, they hired a lot of current and ex-military guys for their firearms experience. Almost all of them were Trumpers and shared his racial bias and other views. So now they'll need to make excuses for him, or just totally disbelieve the Atlantic article. That's not the kind of magazine they'd read anyway.

[Sef]

I swear, sometimes I wonder if trump wants to lose. He is consistently on the wrong side of every issue and has practically gone out of his way to alienate practically every single demographic.

Agree, though, that his "base" will continue to make excuses for him no matter what, and will follow him to the bitter end---if there is one.

And on a lighter note:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/trump-boat-parade-sinks-boat

[GPIG]

Bookfan, I think that's basically true about the military leaning Republican for the rank and file. When I was active I spent most of my argument time debating Republicans who believed I was a hard core socialist Democrat.

However, you would rarely hear any high ranking officer voice their political opinion. Doing so could derail their career path. Even so, and I think this would be surprising to many, I did get the feeling more high ranking officers leaned towards being Democrat than Republican. I also think a large chunk had no political affiliation at all.

From my years in service I came away with a feeling that still surprises me - the Admirals, Generals, etc that run the show are, for the most part, very intelligent, fair, nice people. I am not one for following or leading so I admit to being a bit taken back by that.

Many people I know in the business world say the same thing, the guys running the show are nice, intelligent people, the ones trying to get there tend to be jerks.

[Bookfan]

"However, you would rarely hear any high ranking officer voice their political opinion."

I assumed this is something they are supposed to keep to themselves. Even retired generals, etc. seem to keep their political views to themselves. I see this as a matter of self-discipline & principal (not to mention career advancement) , because ideally their military decisions shouldn't be made based on politics. Bottom line is defend and protect the ***constitution*** from enemies foreign and domestic. I know you already know this, GPIG. A large chunk of the population doesn't seem to understand.

[Sef]

trump's response Wade Crowfoot, head of California's Natural Resources Agency, on the fires raging across the West Coast and climate change: "It’ll start getting cooler. You just—you just watch."
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/trump-climate-change-california

I have run out of adjectives to adequately describe how horrible this man is.

[bpatters]

I haven't run out yet, but my mother is rolling in her grave hearing the ones I apply to him.

[ItsaZoo]

Agent Orange thinks that since he can identify a tree on a cognitive skills test he’s an expert on forest management. I can’t believe the BS he comes up with to blame the states and their forestry practices. I worked in the forest resources division of a paper mill for 10 years. I learned so much from real foresters who had actual forestry degrees that it drives me crazy to hear this stupidity.

[Bookfan]

Well all they need to do is rake the leaves. The problem will disappear just like covid has.

[Lynx]

Yes, just like covid has. In fact the fires, they really aren't a problem and are dying out.

[Sef]

If none of this sticks to trump, then I give the hell up.

[Lynx]

And just think of the recent resignation of Caputo whose team reportedly tried to mess with the morbidity and mortality weekly reports - no doubt to downplay actual loss of life from covid19.

They are a bunch of lying snakes.

[bpatters]

Did he actually resign? I thought he wanted a mental health leave.

They all need mental health leaves.

We need for them to take mental health leaves.

[Lynx]

I may have misunderstood it (reported from the source I read as a resignation).

They all need to resign.