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| Trump and the troops |
| 2019-12-30 |
| h/t Instapundit [Spectator] - Thanksgiving Day, the most American of holidays, found President Trump performing one of the nation’s few remaining civic rites: supporting the troops. When the President secretly flew to Afghanistan to feed and thank servicemen at Bagram Air Base, he got a cheering hangar full of airmen in return. Those turkey-stuffed troops were a captive audience, of course. Still, enthusiasm for Trump among American servicemen, both active-duty and veteran, seems to be one of the more genuine things about this surreal phase of American politics. In polls, support for the president among veterans far outpaces that among Americans at large. Whenever Trump visits the troops, military leaders struggle to rein in the display of unauthorized MAGA paraphernalia. One former US Central Command planner described the support for Trump among much of the military as ’downright cult-like’. Surprising indeed being treated like human beings & patriots instead of expendable robo-cops |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #4 The author of that extremely well-written article disapproves of the pardons, but he's downright scathing about the generals: When the [generals'] uniforms come off, opportunities abound. There are Rolodexes to be exploited and sinecures to be won in the military-industrial complex. The more cerebral can find think-tank perches and mix business with pleasure. It might not be tech money, but selling planes to your Naval Academy roommate can at least net a winter home on the Gulf Coast and ensure your kids go to Southern Cal instead of Southern Miss. For the handful of military superstars in winner-take-all America, the rewards are far richer. Airport nonfiction shelves, five- or six-digit speaker’s fees and even private equity jobs await. For these modern nabobs, victory isn’t a prerequisite to cashing in. Robert Clive and his fellow East India Company men at least had to break somebody else’s empire before they could gorge themselves. Our Clives just do a bit of damage to their own before the meal arrives. Small wonder that while America’s troops must listen to their generals, her veterans increasingly feel no such compunction. |
| Posted by: Lex 2019-12-30 13:50 |
| #3 One side sees patriots and the other side sees mercenaries. |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2019-12-30 12:28 |
| #2 As the old sarge would say - Are you prepared to die on that hill? Jefferson's 'consent of the governed' is bookended by Lincoln's 'willing to give the last full measure of devotion.' The Left expects you to die for their power. The Right expects you to die for your own freedom. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-12-30 07:18 |
| #1 enthusiasm for Trump among American servicemen, both active-duty and veteran, seems to be one of the more genuine things about this surreal phase of American politics. Surreal phase, indeed. Of all US institutions, the military is the only non-surreal one that remains grounded in reality, competent, admirable and professional. Compare: A) Vast majority of Active Duty US servicemen : sane, grounded, zero tolerance for BS identity politics and virtue-signaling because of their urgent and serious calling. B) Vast majority of politically-active Americans : borderline or outright insane, crazed with blood-feud hatred of Genghis Mussolini Orangier and his irredeemable perfidy, zero time for anything but identity politics and virtue-signaling because of the demands of the 24/7, All-Hatred, All-BS-All-The-Time, ineffably f-able SHITSHOW |
| Posted by: Lex 2019-12-30 01:23 |