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In fairness to Trump (there's a sentence I never thought I'd write...)
"“He said I stood over graves of soldiers and I said: ‘These people are suckers and losers,"
That's technically correct. He did not say those things in public.
Edit I watched the ad, it does not specify that Trump said these things in public, just that he said them which is true.
He said them privately to staff members.
Confirmed by Trump's former Chief of Staff, John Kelly:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/john-kelly-confirms-trump-privately-disparaged-us-service-members-vete-rcna118543
But my favorite quote out of all this is the one that barely gets mentioned:
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/02/trump-troops-fallen-soldiers-john-kelly
Trump saying at a 2017 Memorial Day event in Arlington National Cemetery: "I don't get it. What was in it for them?"
Trump is ENTIRELY transactional. The idea that good men would fight a war for their country purely because it's the right thing to do escapes him entirely.
Sounds like a perfectly reasonable question to me... far more reasonable than simply assuming the people who perpetrated the US's colonialist mass-murder campaigns in the third world was simply "good men" (supposedly) "doing the right thing."
Good job making Trump sound more rational than you, hero.
This take just baffles me.. you can disapprove of a war, and still respect people willing to put their life on the line for something they believe is right. Even in war, opposing sides have a long history of showing their enemy a certain amount of personal respect, even though they clearly disagree about something to the point of killing each other over it.
Your take is just condescending and unempathetic. You can respect someone for sacrificing themselves without agreeing with them about what they're sacrificing themselves for. Regardless, it shouldn't be hard to see how someone fighting to depose an infamously brutal dictator (Iraq) or a fundamentalist regime that stones women for wanting a divorce (Afghanistan) can believe that they are doing something good.
Masquenox is a troll. Don't take their bait.
Can confirm, they're a disingenuous idiot troll.
After reviewing their comment history, I think Masquenox has strong controversial opinions and a bellicose attitude, but is not a troll.
After reviewing their modlog history, I think Masquenox displays a level of emotional incontinence that is effectively the same as trolling.
lol putting that up on the shelf with 'verbal incontinence', I like it.
I do set a line between 'cantankerous' and 'troll' more leniently along the annoyance scale than others. I say let the dork be a dork, not everyone has social skills.
I do see what you mean. I think when a dork engages in repeated personal attacks they cross the line for me regardless of their intent.
It's a philosophical question akin to Baudrillard's "simulate a robbery" idea.
'Repeated personal attacks' -- oh, well I missed that, that's different from clumsy or cranky.
Thanks. Now I have to go ask the duck what "bellicose" means...
It means you're looking for a fight, which usually involves bouncers and shit.
I should have listened to you.. I took the bait, but got out now :P
A Toast to the Troops... All the troops. Both Sides.
RIP to Sgt. Rufus "Baby Ears" McGuffin. He died doing what he loved. Ripping the ears of babies and putting them on a big necklace that he would wear around camp.
"All the troops, both sides" is half my point when pointing out that enemy combatants historically have often held respect for each other.
Yes, I respect a combatant fighting for something they believe in that's bigger than themselves, people not fighting for personal gain, but because they want to give someone else a better life. That's regardless of what side they're on- even if they're on the side I'm actively trying to kill.
Torturing POWs to death as a form of respect
Just another "All American Hero," eh?
Apply your bullshit logic to the Waffen-SS or the KKK, then. Go on... I'll be waiting for you right here.
Really, genius? I guess this must be the first time you've ever confronted the idea that not all people who experience warfare are mindless zombies willing to die for whatever cause the rich people (or you) told them they should die for? You and the rest of the shitlib hive mind on here are hysterically cramming onto the jingoism train simply to own Trump without realizing what a self-own that is turning out to be.
Are you talking about the "infamously brutal dictator" in Iraq that the US helped into power? That the US helped to deploy chemical weapons in his war with Iran? That one?
Are you talking about the "fundamentalist regime" that only exists thanks to the massive support the US provided to these very same fundamentalists back in the 80s together with their fundamentalist allies in Pakistan? That "fundamentalist regime?"
Good job, hero - you've highlighted why we should all be asking, "What was in it for them?"
Ok, I'll try to make this simple for you: I can hold respect for a combatant that puts their life on the line in an effort to do something they believe is making the world a better place, rather than for personal gain.
The KKK is immediately excluded, because there was/is little to no sacrifice being made by those lynching others. The same goes for SS soldiers running a concentration camp. I was quite clear in pointing out that what demands respect is the act of putting your life on the line to protect or help others.
As for who put those regimes in place: That is completely irrelevant as to whether you can have respect for an individual who sees the atrocities committed by the regime, and believes they are doing good by fighting it. I have a hard time thinking that a soldier in Afghanistan is thinking a lot about who put the Taliban in power, or what they personally stand to gain from the fight when they decide to go there.
Now you're just coming off as disingenuous. So that I won't need to repeat myself, just read my comments and try to figure out for yourself where you can find backing for what your accusing me of instead of putting words in my mouth and purposefully misinterpreting my comments or taking individual phrases out of context.
Take your time, I won't be waiting up.
Nah, you're still just making up opinions you want me to have so that you can think I'm an ass. Then you're twisting my words in order to convince yourself I'm saying something I'm not.
It's honestly kind of impressive that you're able to go from "I respect people who are willing to risk their own well being in order to protect others, without care for personal gain." to what you just wrote. Like... that requires some pretty heavy handed misinterpretation.
You're making arguments to attack positions I'm not trying to defend, and you seem completely unaware that you're missing the mark.
I've repeatedly tried to clarify this for you, but the way you're blatantly ignoring my actual position, and instead making up proxy opinions that you ascribe to me and find it easier to argue against makes me think you're either a troll or a pigeon. Either way arguing with you is rather pointless when you'd rather make up what you think my opinion is, and argue against that, than try to assess a position I'm actually willing to defend.
Lol, this is actually top-level trolling, you really know what buttons to push to keep people going.