CNN, with John Kelly’s help, resurrects the lie that Trump insulted America’s veterans
The old adage is that a lie will travel halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants (or boots) on. That’s what CNN and former Trump White House Chief of Staff John Kelly are counting on because they’re resurrecting debunked claims that Trump attacked America’s veterans and those who died in battle. After all, as the late, unlamented Harry Reid said in 2012 after lobbing charges against Mitt Romney that he knew were false, helping to keep Mitt out of the White House, “Romney didn’t win, did he?”
John Kelly is another member of the military cadre that turned so hard against Donald Trump, despite having served as Donald Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security and Chief of Staff. I have no idea why that happened. Was it because he was always a NeverTrumper whom the Vichy Republicans placed near Trump (who desperately needed people in his administration) to rein him in or spy on him? Or was it because he was a true believer who found Trump the man untenable?
Actually, I don’t believe that second hypothetical because of the fact that Kelly is now asserting provable lies against Trump. That doesn’t sound like a disenchanted man suddenly speaking the truth. That sounds like a Vichy Republican who’s no longer spying on the chief but, instead, is lying about the chief.
This saga starts with a hit piece in The Atlantic right before the 2020 election. According to that article, Trump savaged veterans and those who died serving the United States:
Donald Trump, in a White House meeting, asked that a military parade exclude wounded veterans, because "nobody wants to see" amputees. My story here: https://t.co/4PUGrR7tCS
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) September 3, 2020
According to that article, Trump was supposed to visit Belleau Wood, the site of one of the U.S. Marine’s most famous battles in June 2018. He allegedly refused to go there, however, because it would mess up his hair and, moreover, he had no respect for the “suckers” and “losers” who died that day. However, people with first-hand knowledge, including John Bolton, who despised Trump, were adamant that this was a lie. “I was there,” [Bolton] said, about the decision to cancel the Belleau Wood trip, and “I didn't hear that.”
Moreover, contemporaneous documents establish unequivocally that Trump’s visit wasn’t canceled because of Trump’s haircare or disdain but because his transport couldn’t travel there in heavy rain:
Regarding the lede of this story: I obtained documents from the Navy via #FOIA about Trump's 2018 trip to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris and the documents say his transport was canceled by the Navy due to rain. https://t.co/oNWsvAPy1z pic.twitter.com/keFtW7QC8b
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) September 4, 2020
White House official has sent an image of redacted email apparently showing "bad weather call" was indeed cause of Trump not attending Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in 2018.
— Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) September 4, 2020
Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller were also both there - and deny Atlantic storyhttps://t.co/jQNgHX0Fd7 pic.twitter.com/Gzre4oYEs9
Trump is also not a man who pulls back in revulsion from those injured serving their country:
Nor is this a man who disrespects the military (one of my favorite Trump clips):
If you want disrespect for the military, I give you two see-it-with-your-own-eyes examples:
Nevertheless, despite all this proof that Trump didn’t run from Belleau Wood, insult veterans, or back off from amputees, CNN and Kelly have raised that zombie:
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”
So, why the lie? Well, for the same reason they told the lie in 2020: Because they could and it was good for the Democrat campaign. Here’s Joe “Watch Checker” Biden repeating the lie:
Reporter: "When you hear these remarks -- 'suckers, losers, recoiling from amputees' -- what does it tell you about President Trump's soul and the life he leads?"
— The Hill (@thehill) September 5, 2020
Joe Biden: "...You know in your heart, you know in your gut, it's deplorable. It's deplorable." pic.twitter.com/Q2BBsY4N4e
The thing to understand is that Democrats don’t just play to win. After they win, either by fair means or foul, they grind their opponent in the dust, whether in a gulag or concentration camp or simply by destroying their lives and reputations so irrevocably that they can never recover. It’s a two-fer. Not only do Democrats rid themselves of a current opponent, but the mangled body of their enemy (or their enemy’s reputation) also serves as a warning for all who would stand against them. (See, e.g., Andrew McCarthy’s powerful essay and Victor Davis Hanson’s interview with Tucker.)
I sincerely hope these tactics backfire this time around. But that will only happen if Americans can drag themselves away from their easily available, legal pot, their video games, their reality TV, and their streaming video series long enough to realize that something has gone terribly wrong with their country under the Democrats’ aegis. If they recognize that Trump is the first step, not the last, in the country’s takeover, maybe, just maybe, they’ll wise up.
Image: Internet meme with apologies to Martin Niemöller.