HRC, sotto voce: “Didn’t really win E-lection, either.”
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Absolutely.
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Right, because even if it was sarcasm (narrator: it wasn’t), clearly what we needed during that time of uncertainty and FUD was the president turning the White House briefing room into open mic night at the Chuckle Hut.
I had forgotten about all his stream of consciousness blathering on about hydroxychloroquine during those briefings (including how he had been taking it every day) until I was reminded by a recent documentary that I watched on the pandemic. He should have left the jokes and medical advice to the professionals but we all know how he apparently knows everything about everything.
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the Congressional Medal of Honor is “actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”
Harris campaign should buy local ad time near Bethesda Medical, play this sound bite on a loop, and make sure all the wounded vets are set up to vote absentee in their home states.
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Hey, I like Jimmy Carter!
I like presidents who actually do their fucking job, and don’t try to steal when they lose.
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I used to remind my MAGA relatives that had TFG just gotten out of the way and let Fauci and Brix do their jobs, he would have cruised to a landslide re-election victory.
But he couldn’t do it. Everything, always, has to be about him.
If it weren’t for the millions who died unnecessarily because of his narcissism, it would be a classic Greek tragedy. Instead, it is a Keystone cop crime against humanity.
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Don’t forget Devin Nunes - he got one, too. 
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I think that the main reason that he thinks the Medal of Freedom is a higher award than the Medal of Honer is that as president, HE gets to decide who gets the MoF. And in his mind, the highest possible honor that a human can get is the appreciation of the dear Orange Leader.
And of course like most narcissists, he doesn’t really comprehend self sacrifice or putting the needs of other ahead of himself. For him, people that do that are dangerously unpredictable because they can’t easily be bribed or threatened.
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I had this disturbing thought after someone else likened TFG’s rambling to bad stand-up comedy that maybe TFG is actually attempting to do what he thinks is stand-up comedy in his press conferences and rallies, except he has no idea of what is funny or what comedic timing is or how a punchline should be delivered.
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This. I’ve argued that this is his true superpower. It’s how he beats the media and his critics. He never, ever backs down. He always moves forward, like a shark. I’m not saying this is an admirable trait. It’s infuriating and awful. It’s sociopathic in the extreme. But it works for him. I’ve never in my life seen anyone (well, I have a cousin who comes close), who never apologizes or admits a failure, and gets away with it and thrives. Pointing it out, providing fact-checking, shame, even ridicule doesn’t defuse it. If someone could crack the nut of how to counter this behavior, they would be my hero.
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Trump is so inarticulate, and his speech is so rambling and confused, that it’s often not clear what he’s trying to say. Nevertheless, I don’t think he’s saying that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is “better” than the Medal of Honor. If Trump could speak in clear sentences, I think what he wants to say would come out something like:
- Receiving the Medal of Honor is a greater honor than receiving the Medal of Freedom.
- However, receiving the Medal of Honor often comes at great cost to the recipient; they typically earn it at the cost of very severe injury or death.
- Therefore, it might be better to receive the Medal of Freedom, because you get to enjoy a significant honor but without the risk of death or disfigurement.
There’s a philosophical question here: is it better to win a greater honor but pay for it with your life, or a lesser one and still enjoy your health and happiness?
Trump seems to suggest the second option is better. That’s his opinion (and I might even agree with him). But – in this case – I don’t think he’s denigrating the MoH or its recipients.
It is true, however, that he’s said things on other occasions that seemed to disparage or disdain soldiers, including those who have made great sacrifices.
To my mind, the important issue isn’t Trump’s attitude toward veterans, but the fact that we have a presidential candidate who is apparently incapable of expressing simple ideas. If his trademark sloppy, rambling, vapid, stream of consciousness utterances are a reflection of what’s happening inside his head, then that’s not a man who’s capable of running the country.
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I agree almost completely with what you say. Almost. I do honestly think Trump is disgusted by people who have permanent injuries, and disdains anyone who dies for what he sees as a useless or stupid reason (the one thing I agree with Trump about is that war is mostly stupid). But he knows he can’t say that out loud. He can’t even bring himself to lie about it. And he likes awards. Awards are nice, especially if he’s receiving one or giving one to someone who sucks up to him.
But 100%, you’re right that he’s unbelievably inarticulate. If he were some random guy on the street, you’d think he might have a learning disability or perhaps a brain injury. I’m not denigrating people with either of those conditions; I’m saying Trump manages to skate by with very meagre and often barely comprehensible language skills.
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Yet another way Obama was better.
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He has markedly declined from what he used to be like ten or twenty years ago. And the decay seems to be accelerating.
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Hopefully, Harris will be elected, and then she can balance things out by giving one to his cow.
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Trumpelthinskin has only one thought in mind: a zero sum game. I will do for you if you do for me. That’s why he doesn’t understand service. He can’t imagine doing something for someone without a benefit to himself.
The love the military members have for him has always baffled me and still does They continue to support him through “suckers and losers” the MOH disaster, and all the lies. Can’t figure it out.
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We are not a monolith. During Trump’s last term his favorability rating in almost all branches was below 50% (USMC was the only branch to poll favorably, until he fired General Mattis). I cannot find recent polling data.
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Sounds good to me. Frankly, between Devin and the cow, I think the cow deserves it more.
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Yeah, there is often some sort of poorly remembered, badly expressed, and usually exaggerated kernel of something factlike behind his statements.
It is certainly not the case that everybody in the military has an authoritarian mindset. But it can be a comfortable place for those that do. The clear chain of command, the simplistic reduction of conflict to us versus them, and the fact that the central enterprise is about the use of force are all going to appeal to those with authoritarian beliefs. OTOH, Trump’s dishonesty and his strictly transactional nature are anathema to the military mindset of shared hardship and self-sacrifice.
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