As Donald Trump’s support among active-duty troops continues to slip, especially in the wake of his latest military scandal, former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor called out Trump for claiming that he never threw a fit over lowering flags to honor Senator John McCain.
Trump has a history of disrespecting the military. After all, he dodged the draft five times to avoid serving during the Vietnam War while thousands of brave Americans sacrificed their lives. McCain himself was brutally tortured as a prisoner of war, but Trump even disrespected that sacrifice by declaring that McCain is not a war hero because he got captured.
After McCain died in 2018 from brain cancer, Trump continued disrespecting him, including by whining about flags being lowered to half-staff in his honor.
According to The Atlantic:
When McCain died, in August 2018, Trump told his senior staff, according to three sources with direct knowledge of this event, ‘We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,’ and he became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. ‘What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser,’ the president told aides.”
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The outburst is only part of a larger bombshell story about Trump’s disdain for the troops that includes him refusing to visit an American World War I cemetery in France because the rain would ruin his hair and because he considers the 1,800 US Marines buried there “losers” and “suckers.”
Of course, Trump took to Twitter in a panic to deny that he was angry about McCain being honored.
I was never a big fan of John McCain, disagreed with him on many things including ridiculous endless wars and the lack of success he had in dealing with the VA and our great Vets, but the lowering of our Nations American Flags, and the first class funeral he was given by our….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2020
..Country, had to be approved by me, as President, & I did so without hesitation or complaint. Quite the contrary, I felt it was well deserved. I even sent Air Force One to bring his body, in casket, from Arizona to Washington. It was my honor to do so. Also, I never called..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2020
….John a loser and swear on whatever, or whoever, I was asked to swear on, that I never called our great fallen soldiers anything other than HEROES. This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2020
Taylor, however, called Trump out for lying.
Mr. President, this is not true. You were angry that DHS notified federal buildings to lower the flags for Sen. McCain. I would know because your staff called and told me. https://t.co/C28fqZ4Whu
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) September 4, 2020
It should also be pointed out that Trump’s own tweets prove he’s lying about never calling McCain a “loser.”
Via @fitsnews: “Donald Trump: John McCain Is ‘A Loser’” https://t.co/sgiETvdUqi
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2015
This story is huge because Trump cannot afford to lose military support. Because once a dictator loses the backing of the military, their rule comes to an end. No wonder Trump is freaking out.
Featured image via Flickr/White House, under Creative Commons license 2.0
