Donald Trump has said and done plenty of awful things, far more than enough to disqualify him from the presidency. So it pisses me off when people mischaracterize what he (or any politician they don't like) says, because it weakens the very real, the very deep and broad and iron-clad arguments against him. It gives ammunition to those who claim "the media" are unfair to him.
Case in point: today he spoke to a veterans' group and was asked about the high suicide rate among veterans (the question was really about spiritual care, i.e., chaplains being involved). His answer has gone spirochete, and is being reduced to "Veterans who kill themselves are weak." This is NOT what he said. This is what he said. (The video is within the linked article.)
It's fair to suggest it's yet another campaign promise that'll be ignored. It's fair to comment that "can't handle it" isn't a helpful way to describe the problem. And it's fair to wish, as I do, that someone had asked where he plans to get the money and the necessary personnel, and whether, based on past performance, the Rs in Congress would provide the funds. But I'd say he really didn't imply that suicide is about weakness. Watch for yourselves and see if you agree.
Taking stuff out of full context, twisting words -- that's SOP for all the RWS™. With a horrifyingly pathological guy like Donald J. Trump, there's no need to distort what he says. Which, by the way, is why Hillary's ads that consist only of him saying what he says are so powerful.
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"can't handle it" = "Pull up your boot straps" Is the #1 no-no. "can't handle it" cuts deep to a Devil Dog thinking about killing himself. Saying that is a stigma pasted to the forehead of anyone with mental health issues. But a Marine labeled "can't handle it" is an ignorant mistake. I would know. I would really really know.
ReplyDeleteTrump Lashes Out At McCain: 'I Like People Who Weren't Captured'...
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/18/424169549/trump-lashes-out-at-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured
Last glance at Trumps tax plan makes him and his buddies richer.
Mental health seems to be the first thing on the chopping block. Not the first thing the Govt. funds. Well...OK, just for the last 30 years+. No dental or eye coverage for the disabled either. No housing because of NIMBY slash budget, give Boeing 8 billion dollars for doing nothing in a record breaking year in sales for airplanes etc.
Trump says our military is sooo depleted. That it's disgraceful etc. Trump wants Reagan era military increases on steroids. More planes and ships etc. He said nothing about the mental health crisis. He just rolled that out on the trail.
Patty Murray has been a warrior advocate for years for the military and mental health in particular. I'm still waiting for that money. GOP wants to lay waste to Obamacare. How's that going to help the mental health crisis?
I could go on but y'all get it. "Can't handle it" in itself is a small blip. Campaigns have a blip now and then.
But put it in context and I think I'd punch him in the face. Like seriously.
I will concede he was trying to be compassionate. (pandering compassionately).
Trump will say ANYTHING to get elected. He flip flops in seconds. Literally seconds after saying the opposite.
Just the fact that Trump is using the military as a prop is sleazy. He did everything in his power to avoid war and was privileged his whole life up to and including his visit to the military academy.
Trump's paid no taxes for 2 decades and socialized his losses. He thinks that's smart. OK...For the sake of argument he's a genius. How do we pay for that war on mental health? Trump wants more loopholes. More trickle down on steroids. Create jobs by hiring govt. employees like the typical Tpub to prop up the numbers.
I hear ya man...I just disagree...
Now I must go and watch the Trump highlight reel. Top ten best kicks to the groin to Gold Star Families.
I agree that Trump's wording is poor and that he probably didn't really mean to suggest that soldiers with PTSD and those who end their lives are weak. But it's very difficult to give him the benefit of doubt given his daily exclamations of "She's weak!" and "He's weak!" or "They're weak!" depending on his target. Maybe he's so used to casting the world in terms of strong/weak and win/lose that he Just can't help himself.
ReplyDeleteIt's regrettable, but I have no sympathy if this is dragging him though tabloid-like mud. He's the one who set the bar on the ground. It's time for him to swallow some of his own medicine.
I agree with both of you, and maybe I overreacted to the way it's been characterized because I found it too similar to how the Foxolimbeckians take Obama out of context. I'll take back seat to no one in my disgust for Trump and pretty much anyone who can rationalize supporting him. I just think that in this narrow case, his words weren't as bad as they've been described. Because addressing the issue, even if poorly, is vital on both sides of the aisle.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as I also implied, I think it's less likely happen under R control than D.
"She's weak!"
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the between two ferns episode with Hillary?
Zach asks."Do you like your coffee like Obama?....Weak."
Even giving Trump all benefit of the doubt. Today Trump was Captain America sincere.
ReplyDeleteIt's too little too late, and after all, that's what most reasonable people would think. A preponderance.
We are about to get introduced to the real Trump. Trumps' world is going to crash down around him in the next 30 days. Trump will wish that a fat Miss Universe is all the news is talking about. Watch and see. They just shut down his charity in NY. Trump U and now the TV show peoples are coming forward with Trump stories of how he treated the contestants and crew.
I can't imagine this is the end. I can't believe someone has not hacked Trump.
I saw that "Ferns" episode. Also the one where he asked Obama how it felt to be the last black president.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely confident Trump will lose, because the idiocy knows no bounds.
It's OK...Trump said something on a hot mic and it has made the news.
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