With the news cycle exploding over reports that Donald Trump called American soldiers who died to stop a German attack on Paris “losers” and “sucker,” it’s obvious that Trump had only one choice: Spend the day honoring America’s military by chasing a little white ball around his private golf course in Virginia.
But if Trump’s scheduled for Saturday seemed incredibly callous and tone deaf, his continuing reaction to the scandal is just as predictable as the way he shaves off just a few strokes on his scorecard. Trump’s most recent tweets starts off with a series of lies about all the great things he’s done for the military. A list that for some reason doesn’t include stealing the money that was meant to be used for housing, schools, and hospitals to be used for his nonexistent and useless “Wall.” Then Trump declared that The Atlantic author Jeffrey Goldberg was a “slimeball reporter” who was ruining all his hard work in doing things like the Veteran’s Choice bill that President Obama actually signed.
Trump also accused Goldberg of “making up a horrible charge” and said that he was “maybe working with disgruntled people.” Disgruntled people apparently covers any White House official because the statements first reported by Goldberg have been confirmed by The Washington Post, and the Associated Press, and Fox News. Not only that, Losergate is perfectly in line with everything Trump has said since before he was elected. Oh, and Trump couldn’t even make it two tweets without taking a swing at John McCain.
After making his attack on Goldberg, Trump declared that the whole affair reminds him of the “Dirty Dossier.” By which he apparently means the collection of information put together by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele—a collection that’s turned out to be remarkably accurate. But Trump didn’t stop there. He blamed the Steele dossier on John McCain, then lumped in McCain with “the radical far left.” Then Trump returned to demanding that Fox News fire reporter Jennifer Griffin for reporting that her sources confirmed The Atlantic story. After all, how dare Griffin not lie to protect Trump?
Trump has always claimed superior military knowledge, apparently conferred on him by years of wearing a very fancy uniform and being abusive to other students at his preppy academy. And, of course, by his ability to bribe a doctor into writing him an excuse to get out of serving in Vietnam, proving that he’s not “a sucker.” This superior knowledge allowed him to declare that he knew “more about ISIS than all the generals do” in 2015.
There’s also nothing new at all about his attack on fallen soldiers, or their families. During the 2016 campaign, Trump openly disparaged Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed by a car bomb while serving in Iraq, and then issued a series of attacks on them over a period of days. Trump not only called John McCain a “loser” during the campaign, but declared that his service was not heroic because he was captured.
Six months into his time in the White House, Trump attacked military leaders for defending the benefits of the NATO alliance. Trump declared it “crazy” and “stupid” to fund bases designed to protect allies and prevent wars from being fought in the United States. When generals and historians tried to explain, Trump snarled at the whole room. “I wouldn’t go to war with you people. You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.”
The really amazing thing isn’t that Trump called veterans losers. It’s that this time people seem to be paying attention.
(Note: To fund the wall he never built, Trump also stole FEMA funds that were supposed to go to Hurricane Dorian's victims in Alabama. Maybe that's why Alabama is always on his mind when a hurricane is coming. Either he feels guilty, or it triggers his greed reflex.)