Here’s the thing about the Atlantic story about Donald Trump calling those who serve in the military “suckers” and “losers.” It’s believable.

And Donald Trump’s defense hasn’t helped him. He was caught lying twice in his defense.

What backs up the story isn’t just that the anonymous sources are numerous, but that it’s being backed up by other legitimate news outlets. Even Fox News has backed up portions of it.

The other thing that backs it up is Donald Trump doesn’t respect the military. He said John McCain wasn’t a war hero, then said he was only a war hero because he was captured. Then he said he liked “people who weren’t captured.” As if being captured is a shameful failure for someone fighting for their nation. After McCain died, Donald Trump reportedly became furious over flags being lowered to half-mast. All this is disrespectful to the military.

In his argument against the Atlantic story, Trump said he never called McCain a “loser.” That’s a lie because we have it on tape.

Donald Trump has feuded with Gold Star families. If a president is criticized by a Gold Star family, he should keep his trap shut. Not engage into a feud with people who lost a child fighting for their nation.

Donald Trump has lied about the military. He has lied to the military. He tells soldiers and Marines how he gave them raises he didn’t give. He tells them they received their first raises in years thanks to him, which is a lie. Members of our military received regular pay raises throughout the terms of Bush and Obama. Donald Trump says he’s rebuilt the military after it was depleted by Obama, which is strange because we spent at least $500 billion a year on defense during the Obama era. Donald Trump says we have rebuilt our nuclear arsenal which is another lie. Even during last week’s convention, Eric Trump said his dad built new aircraft carriers…plural. Hey, Eric. What are the names of those new aircraft carriers…plural? In case you’re a Republican, “plural” means more than one.

Donald Trump has stopped military exercises with our allies in South Korea which makes them less prepared which makes their situation with North Korea all the more deadly. Why did he call them off? Because a dictator asked him to.

Donald Trump claimed he has called “virtually all” of the families of service members who had died during his term, then rushed out condolence letters after those families said he was lying. Trump has traveled to Dover Air Force Base to receive bodies of those slain in combat only four times, though he says he’s done it “many, many” times.

Finally, Donald Trump has kept his mouth shut over reports Vladimir Putin put bounties on the lives of U.S service members. Donald Trump doesn’t even want to hear anything negative about Russia. Even yesterday, when asked to comment on Russia poisoning another critic of Putin, Trump had to do a whatabout with China.

In the Atlantic story, when Trump was supposed to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he canceled and blamed the rain. He said neither a helicopter or car could get him there. According to four sources, the real reason was he was afraid of what the rain would do to his hair. Reportedly, he said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” Later, on the same trip, he called those who died fighting for America in World War I, “suckers.” In case you’re a Republican, World War I was before World War II.

Donald Trump later gave a story about how he called his wife, Melania, who was back at home in Washington, to complain about how he couldn’t go to the cemetery. Problem is, Melania was actually with him in Paris. In case you’re a Republican, Paris is in France which is another country.

According to aides, on the same trip he asked, “Who were the good guys in this war?”. He also expressed confusion as to why America would intervene on the side of the allies.

Regarding the flag lowered to half-mast for John McCain, Trump reportedly asked, “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser.” Donald Trump was NOT invited to McCain’s funeral.

According to three sources, Donald Trump called President George H. W. Bush a “loser” for being shot down in World War II.

While visiting the grave of John Kelly’s son in Arlington National Cemetery, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010 at 29, Donald Trump turned to Kelly, who was his Homeland Security chief at that time, and later chief-of-staff, and said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”.

Donald Trump lashed out and basically accused John Kelly of being the anonymous source for these stories. What that means is, it’s all true because Donald Trump knows he made these comments in the presence of John Kelly. It’s kinda like Trump saying reports of him suffering a mini stroke, or several, are fake news…even though NOBODY reported he had any mini strokes.

Donald Trump doesn’t understand service, honor, or principles. He doesn’t understand the purpose of the military. According to eyewitnesses, after a White House briefing given by the then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, Trump turned to aides and said, “That guy is smart. Why did he join the military?” Yeah, why didn’t he build a tower, bankrupt casinos, grift contractors, run a sham university, and steal from a charity? What a loser.

James Mattis, his former Defense Secretary said, “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.” That was in regards to Trump using the military to clear out protesters outside the White House for his church photo-op with someone else’s Bible.

When Donald Trump was planning his July 4th military parade in Washington last year, he told aides not to include wounded veterans on grounds that spectators would feel uncomfortable in the presence of amputees. “Nobody wants to see that,” he said.

Keep in mind for all this that Donald Trump did not serve in the military. Donald Trump received a medical deferment from the draft during the Vietnam War because of the alleged presence of bone spurs in his feet. His niece claims in her book that Trump’s dad paid a doctor to concoct the bone spurs. In the 1990s, Trump said his efforts to avoid contracting sexually-transmitted diseases constituted his “personal Vietnam.”

My father came home from Vietnam wearing shrapnel in his skin. I’m glad Donald Trump can equate that to gonorrhea.

I see posts from current service members and veterans saying they don’t care. They argue they serve the president, no matter who that president is. Keep in mind, cult members need aggressive deprogramming.

But here’s the deal, kids. When you sign up to serve, you take an oath to protect this nation. The man sending people to risk their lives should have at least a basic understanding, respect, and appreciation for those who took that oath and are taking the risks.

And those who have taken the oath need to understand it applies to protecting this nation from a national security threat posing as a president.

Donald Trump is a loser. Those voting for him are suckers.

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Email Clay Jones at [email protected].