As old DJ's used to say, “The hits just keep on coming” when it comes to the Trump Administration. But the revelations this weekend were even more odious than usual. It was revealed by the New York Times and confirmed by the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and British Intelligence, that Trump was briefed by intelligence officials back in March that Putin and the Russians had a program to pay bounties to members of the Taliban to kill American and British soldiers in Afghanistan. Not only was there no response to this outrage, the Trump administration actually took actions to help the Russians including working hard to get Putin back in the G-7. Trump and his minions have done alot of disgusting things in the last four years but this one is really unconscionable. I'm not sure how even the most rabid member of the MAGA cult defends this. Trump claims its “fake news”, but that argument has been bullshit for so long, its almost like he doesn't care to even cover his tracks anymore. If you have drunk so deep of the rancid kool-aid that you will defend this….then just stop mouthing platitudes like “we support the troops” or “thank you for your service”. The words ring hollow. And for those of you who plan on voting for this guy a second time…I ask again…What the hell is wrong with you?
Here's a thread from John Fugelsang…just in case you still believe that trump “cares about our troops”
1)
-Faked a disability 5 times to avoid a war he didn't oppose
-5 non-rich guys went to Vietnam in his place
-Tried to kick homeless vets off 5th Ave
-Stole from vets via his fraud online U
-Lied about donating $1 million to veterans' nonprofits
-Said he'd make troops commit war crimes
-Pardoned a guy who committed war crimes
-Falsely claimed he signed Vets' Choice into law
-Insulted POWs
-Insulted Gold Star Families
-Fined for misusing funds from 2016 Vets fundraiser
-Called Generals “dopes & babies”
-Falsely accused US service members of stealing funds for Iraqi reconstruction
-Deployed 5,600 soldiers to the border in a midterm election stunt
-Personally insulted Generals Allen, Mattis, Kelly, Powell, McChrystal; Purple Heart recipients Mueller & Vindman, & Admiral McRaven
-lied about donating $6 million to veterans groups in 2016
-Sided with Putin against all branches of military intelligence
-Blew off Veterans Day cemetery ceremony in France bc it was raining.
-What he said to Myeshia Johnson, widow of ambushed Sgt. La David Johnson. Not gonna repeat it.
-He's trying to cut SNAP. Do you understand how much that hurts military families & vets?
-His budget seeks to cut medicaid. Do you understand how much this hurts military families & vets?
-Froze pay for all Fed agencies via Executive Order – Fed workforce is 31% veteran, approx 623k vets
-Undid regulations on predatory lenders who target military members
-He's trying to destroy the Post Office, which employs thousands of veterans
-Declared a fake national emergency to divert billions from the Pentagon to fund a wall he lied that Mexico would pay for
-Downplayed & trivialized troops w/traumatic brain injuries in Jan 2020
-Insulted troops with PTSD
-Used the national guard to tear gas US protestors so he could be photographed w/an upside down bible
-Forced West Point cadets to travel back for graduation during a plague, endangering their health & the health of their families, for a photo-op
-Said 26,000 military sexual assaults were to be 'expected' bc America lets women serve
-announced that transgender troops could no longer serve, via a tweet, without informing the Pentagon.
-Invited the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11
-claimed, stupidly, that his military budget made up for his lack of military experience
-Told wife #2 he'd disown their daughter if she entered the service
-remember his fake 'veterans hotline?'
-Lied to US troops in Iraq that he'd given them their 1st pay raise in over a decade
-Trump Institute fired a vet for 'absences' after he was deployed to Afghanistan
-Claimed if an armored Humvee was hit by an IED, soldiers “go for a little ride upward & they come down.”
-blamed military leaders for the deadly failed Yemen mission he approved
-He can't stop defending the Confederacy
-said his expensive prep school gave him “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.”
-attacked Navy Captain Crozier, who sounded COVID alarm for his sick sailors
-used military against peaceful protests by citizens of color
-Had gov't give hydroxychloroquine to 1300 vets w/COVID-19 despite evidence it was dangerous
-didn't know what happened at Pearl Harbor
-pulled out of Syria w/no notice, abandoning US allies
-Russia posted footage of Syrian base, built by US, that they now own
-exploited 4 murdered Americans in
#Benghazi
for crass political purposes, after his own party had cleared the Obama WH in multiple investigations
(15)
-He keeps trying to destroy NATO
-BC of his govt shutdown, members of US military worked w/out pay for the 1st time
-No Other President Would Have Survived Defrauding Veterans’ Charities
-Said in 2018 that he was too busy to visit the troops: “I don’t think it’s overly necessary”
-Ordered Navy to Strip Medals From Prosecutors in Eddie Gallagher's War Crimes Trial, even though Gallagher was extremely guilty.
Now this. Read it to a
#maga
or
#kag
loved one
-Putin is financing the murder of our troops & Trump can't stop siding with him.
-Russia bought the murder of our soldiers.
-Trump has known for months but did nothing
(18)
The Pentagon & cabinet presented him with many options:
-a diplomatic complaint to Moscow
-a demand that they stop offering bounties for murder of US troops stop
-an escalating series of sanctions
Trump has refused to say or do anything.
Well, that's not actually fair.
Trump did a few things after learning Putin was paying for dead US troops in Afghanistan.
He lobbied other countries for Russia to be let back into the G7.
He also talked to Putin June 1.
Days later he signed off on a plan…….to permanently withdraw up to 1/3 of the approx 34k U.S. troops currently based in Germany.
Which is part of Putin's dream of dismantling NATO.
DT never told Germany he was going to do this.
Oh, and in May he withdrew from the Open Skies treaty, like Putin wanted.
Trump did Putin's bidding in Syria this year.
He abandoned our Kurdish allies to slaughter.
They fought by our side and died bc they trusted our leadership.
He then handed over a US military base in Syria to Russian soldiers, to the delight of Russian news media
(23)
Remember Helsinki?
He groveled before Putin & asserted that Russia didn't interfere in the US election?
And he trusts Vlad over all US military intelligence?
“He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be”
Well in May 2020, on a phone call with V/Putin, Trump told him the investigation into Russian interference in the election was a “hoax.”
Again, he chose Putin over US military intelligence.
He had known about Putin's boutny on the heads of US troops for almost 2 months.
But even during the period where DT officially accepted the Russian attack on our election he:
-still wouldn't hold them accountable
-refused to take any action on Russian interference in our next election.
-turned a blind eye to the growing Russian cyber action in the U.S.
But this thread isn't about Putin; or Trump's corruption, racism, ignorance, his record of sexual assaults, his incompetence, or the vast amount of things he's been wrong about.
This is just about his despicable treatment of the US Armed Forces.
-He said “our military is a joke” in a 2016 debate w/HRC
-He fired Lt Col Vindman for doing his duty
-He fired Vindman's brother for being Vindman's brother
-Plans to de-fund Stars & Stripes
-He made our military stand down & watch allies be slaughtered & our base overrun
-Had military pit stops in Ireland go hours out of their way to stay at his resort so our tax$ would be pumped into his property
-His stupid wall-based 2017 govt shutdown hurt vets & made veteran memorials unavailable to public.
-He bloody saluted a North Korean general
But there's no greater proof of his indifference to the troops he uses as props than what happened in Niger.
On 10/4/17 4 US service members died in Niger.
It took Trump 12 days to comment publicly on the soldiers’ deaths.
And when he was finally asked about the deaths……at a press conference, he deflected by falsely accusing President Obama of never calling the families of soldiers killed in the line of duty.
This was a really dumb lie, but debunking the lie became a bigger media narrative than why those men died, or why Trump lied.
“In the past 72 hours we've learned:
1. Trump knew Putin was hunting our soldiers.
2. Putin successfully killed our soldiers.
3. The Admin. knowingly sold faulty anti-body testing kits.
4. COVID-19 had its largest ever single day cases.
5. Trump tweeted a “white power” video.”-The Lincoln Project
Just a reminder that The Lincoln Project is made up of Republicans who understand the clear and present danger that trump represents to the country.
“Just let this sink in: Putin knows he can kill American Troops and Trump won't do a thing about it.”-Evan McMullin
“Question: You signed an Executive Order to protect statues from vandals. How do you plan to protect living American military personnel from bounty hunters? @realDonaldTrump”-Brian Karem
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1277202…
“The same disingenuous hacks who invoked the sacrifice of veterans to condemn athletes for protesting during the anthem are conspicuously silent when Russia puts bounties on American troops. Proving they only care about that sacrifice when they can weaponize it for cheap points.”-Nick Francona
“I am really outraged by Trump's indifference to Putin paying Taliban terrorists to kill American soldiers. I can't imagine my anger if one of my sons were deployed in Afghanistan right now.”-Michael McFaul
https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1276727310549311…
“A 'president' selling out American soldiers' lives to a foreign dictator who helped him get elected is the EPITOME of a high crime.”-Matt Rogers
“To all you f**kers that accused @HillaryClinton of all kinds of nonsense – she never sold out American soldiers to Putin. NEVER. Putin was terrified of her. You own @realDonaldTrump. #TRE45ON.”-Ken Olin
“If Trump acts like a Russian asset,does all the things a Russian asset would do, places Russian interests above US interests, defends Russian intelligence above US intelligence, provides classified information to Russians, helps Russia achieve its goals,then he's a Russian asset”-David Rothkopf
“Just so I have the white supremacy straight, a black football player respectfully kneeling is TREASON, but a white President allowing a f**king BOUNTY on US soldiers is PATRIOTIC?”-Mikel Jollett
“After Trump learned Russia was trying to kill US troops in Afghanistan he announced plans to remove US troops from Germany. A move that only benefits one country: Russia.”-Ben Rhodes
“I don’t believe this for a minute, but if it were true, it means that Trump is not even pretending to serve as commander in chief. And no one around him has the guts to ask him to. More evidence of their deadly incompetence.”-Susan Rice
https://twitter.com/JoshNBCNews/status/12769818420…
“The New Orleans Saints faced harsher consequences for bounties in a football game than the Russians did for offering $$ to kill US troops.”-Maddie McComb
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” has been played at Trump’s rallies since 2016, after his speech at the Republican national convention that year, and after he won the presidency. The Stones have had enough.
https://twitter.com/zekejmiller/status/12772698769…
“A guy in an affluent Florida retirement community shouting “white power” from a golf cart is the perfect distillation of Trumpism. (Also this should be really big deal and no one should let Republicans get away with pretending they haven't seen it.)”-Michelle Goldberg
https://twitter.com/mckaycoppins/status/1277214427…
“Republicans have had literally a decade to come up with a replacement plan for Obamacare”_Catherine Rampall
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/127730385409…