In an article about Republicans who were offended by Trump’s latest gaffe (criticizing the Khans), an even more astonishing bit of Trump ignorance popped up:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who urged Republicans to walk away from Trump after the [Judge] Curiel episode, said the Republican nominee’s attack on the Khans is unprecedented.
“This is going to a place where we’ve never gone before, to push back against the families of the fallen. There used to be some things that were sacred in American politics — that you don’t do — like criticizing the parents of a fallen soldier, even if they criticize you,” Graham said. “If you’re going to be leader of the free world, you have to be able to accept criticism. Mr. Trump can’t.”
Mike Coffman, a veteran and Republican congressman from Colorado who has not endorsed his party’s nominee, said in a statement: “Having served in Iraq, I’m deeply offended when Donald Trump fails to honor the sacrifices of all of our brave soldiers who were lost in that war.”
A campaign spokeswoman for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is locked in a tight re-election battle and has only tepidly supported Trump, said Portman does not agree with the Republican nominee and called Khan a hero.
This was not the first time Trump has made controversial comments about the U.S. military.
Trump said that the nation’s armed forces are a “disaster” during a debate, in response to a question about military spending. He said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisoner of war, was not a war hero because he was captured. And he has been attacking retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who spoke at the Democratic convention, for failing to defeat the Islamic State.
Trump also drew criticism Sunday when he appeared to be unfamiliar with Russia’s actions regarding Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Crimea.
“He’s not going into Ukraine, okay,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He’s not gonna go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down.”
Trump then appeared to contradict himself when George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s “This Week,” responded that “he’s already there, isn’t he?”
“Okay, well, he’s there in a certain way,” Mr. Trump replied.
Trump’s comments were notable following his urging of the Russian government to meddle in the presidential election by finding tens of thousands of Clinton’s emails. U.S. officials said there is strong evidence Russia was involved in a hack of emails and voice mails at the Democratic National Committee.
In a statement, Jake Sullivan, the chief policy adviser for Clinton’s campaign, said that “this is scary stuff.”
“What is he talking about?” Sullivan wrote. “Russia is already in Ukraine. Does he not know that? What else doesn’t he know?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Any parent who has withstood the pain of losing a child would be offended by this soulless man. It can’t be qualified nor quantified. Look into their eyes- the pain is both palpable and indelible. To even consider a vote for him is a trip to the darkest side of humanity.
Can we please vote out Senator Portman? Most Ohioans have no idea who he is and his accomplishments barely make a sentence. Portman was one of the first to endorse Trump. So far, big money is again smearing Candidate Strickland and trying to blame him for the Great Recession when it clearly started on Bush’s watch. Strickland handed over Ohio on an economic trend upwards after working through the downturn. Strickland supported schools and teachers. Kasich and the Republicans reversed that trend and Ohio has nearly 45 months of job growth below the national numbers. The largest employer is now Walmart. And did I mention Kasich refuses to include lost teacher jobs in the numbers when he touts his “Ohio Miracle”? To Republicans, teachers are all socialists (from our education committee chairman) and annoying line item costs.
Vale,
Amazing how Republicans blame Dems for the Iraq War and the 2008 economic collapse
Who was president?
Max Boot, a conservative columnist for the New York Times wrote an opinion piece with the headline,”How the ‘Stupid Party’ created Donald Trump”.
Here is a partial quote from the article:
“…In a way, the joke’s on the Republican Party: After decades of masquerading as the “stupid party,” that’s what it has become. But if an unapologetic ignoramus wins the presidency, the consequences will be no laughing matter….It is genuinely terrifying that someone who advances such offensive and ridiculous proposals could win the nomination of a party once led by Teddy Roosevelt, who wrote more books than Mr. Trump has probably read. It’s one thing to appeal to voters by pretending to be an average guy. It’s another to be an average guy who doesn’t know the first thing about governing or public policy.
The Trump acolytes claim it doesn’t matter; he can hire experts to advise him. But experts always disagree with one another and it is the president alone who must make the most difficult decisions in the world. That’s not something he can do since he lacks the most basic grounding in the issues and is prey to fundamental misconceptions….”
…….
Unfortunately, the NYT isn’t reaching many of the hard core supporters of Trump. How can this message get out to them? How can angry people be satisfied when they think they’ve found their savior?
Thanks, Carol. The president picks the experts and decides whom to believe. Vengeful Chris Christie as Attorney general? Dr. Carson as Secretary of Ed. Who would serve such a man?
Trump lives in the ‘twittersphere.’ Short bursts and rants are the only thing that can sustain his short attention span. He has no depth of understanding about anything in the world. He has already made so many gaffes connected to his ignorance and misinterpretations that his followers should run for the hills, but they are not running because they believe that Trump, a man that lives in a gilded cage, is just like them. Trump has lots of opinions that are merely based on assumptions or lies, but he has little understanding. In addition to calling the military and disaster, he also labeled public education a disaster. If he wins this election, our country will be the real disaster!
The party of Sarah Palin and Steve King has vomited up Donald Trump. The party of no, of know nothings who believe that climate change is a hoax, that the earth is 10,000 years old and that cutting taxes on the rich will increase revenue. I would like to see the GOP flushed down the toilet of history forever. The other western democracies have 3 or 4 parties, including Greens and democratic socialists, but we are stuck with 2 corporate beholden parties, one of which has devolved into the crazy party from hell.
Joe ,
The other day “retired teacher” mention Mike Lofgren a former Republican staffer, Lofgren along with Thomas Frank illuminate how we got here . Most of those voters see a broken system that has not served them for thirty years. . Agreed their hopes and aspirations are being ignored by two parties who cater to the corporatocracy.
Trump is the natural extension of both of these parties. Dismal Democrats empower ignorant, racist ,Republicans.
We have two independents as Senators. They both caucus with the Democrats. Those multi party systems in Europe are parliamentary mostly with proportional representation. Not happening here. !
Joel: Of course we will never become a parliamentary system but if we could get rid of Citizens United, if we could have publicly funded campaigns, 3rd parties would have a much better chance. We do have 3rd parties but they have no traction, no power and cannot deal with the duopoly. They are forever marginalized and are not even close to breaking the political steel ceiling of our political system. And yet……………an independent (though he’s temporarily a D) and a democratic socialist at that, made it to the House and then to the Senate. This one man has changed the conversation, at least for this campaign season and that’s quite an achievement.
Joe I am with you. I voted, worked for and contributed to Bernie as well as participated in several Occupy demonstrations with Move On. Both have changed the conversation. I just thing that the third party will have to be the rebirth of the Democratic party. as more and more real progressives get elected. Just as the Tea party has captured the Republicans.
I was appauled when Donald Trump’s comments about John McCain failed to convince voters to select other candidates. To me those comments were well beyond the pale. For his latest comments I have no words.
Donald Trump may someday be our “Comforter in Chief”. God help us!
Having said that, his lack of understanding about the situation with Russia and the Ukraine indicates to me that Mr. trump is just plain lazy. He obviously hasn’t taken the time to really learn about current events or their history. He can’t make a coherent argument for any of his positions. In this case, he doesn’t even know what his position is.
Intelligence has never been what he’s selling. Closeted, but very real, racism has stepped up to support him; I believe that his stance on almost any other topic is irrelevant to these voters.
Trump’s ignorance was also on display when he Tweeted an insult directed at U.S. Marine Corps General John Allen who spoke at the DNC.
I wrote about it here: https://thesoulfulveteran.com/2016/07/29/the-ignorance-of-donald-trump-on-display-with-another-foolish-twitter-rant-as-he-insults-a-u-s-marine/
The thinking of a Trump voter:
A couple we are friendly with is probably typical . He lost his Union job 20 years ago. She has worked two jobs as a private contractor doing hourly wage miss-classified secretarial work for years . When asked about retirement there are no plans. So economically they could best be described as middle class but barely hanging in there with two incomes. They have a 26 year old son who dropped out of community college early on,working and living home. Asked about Sanders plan for college education the response was why should I pay for that. Followed by some negative remarks about the value of education . Asked about Sanders plan for Universal healthcare quite the opposite response do you see a thread here, I do.
Every Memorial day and July 4th the flag is in the window . Of course no one in the family has served in the military. But they do have a 4th of July barbecue every year. When asked some years ago about those soldiers who are being called up for multiple tours and how unfair it was. The response was “they volunteered”, my jaw dropped. Recently the response to my insistence that we bring back the draft was,” their 26 yr old son is too old”. That was followed by “they were shiftless had nothing better to do”. Seeing a thread here too.
USA,USA,USA, USA, “McCain is not a hero ” or the sacrifice of not just this wonderful Muslim family but the rest of the military who lose sons daughters ,husbands ,wives and fathers or come home scarred never touches them. As they sit like “yellow bellied armchair patriots waving the flag” This may not be all, but I assure you this is all too typical of those vocal supporters who attend his rallies. I do not expect anything that Trump has said to move this group much. Not till something kicks them in the butt personally will they show any empathy to the others in the human race. That is the reason we have an all volunteer army. Their attitude would be quite different if little Mathew and they were being asked to sacrifice.
Now I assure you that Trump has not read your colleague at N.Y.U. Stephen F Cohen nor has he read Kissinger on the Ukraine. But as Mark Weisbrot has stated even an idiot gets it right sometimes . He may not know that Russian troops out of uniform are occupying the Crimea . He may be implicitly committing treason by calling for a foreign nation to commit espionage and changing the party platform for nefarious reasons.
But all of that does not mean that we are not involved in the same neo-con group think and fear mongering ,that cost thousands of American lives in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives and set the region on fire .
This morning we had President of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass on Morning Joe state quite emphatically with outrage, “this is the first time we have Russian troupes in Syria since 1973 “. Something to the effect of that “for 25 years military intervention in the affairs of other nations has been seen as not acceptable.”
I must be living on a different planet. How many nations have we intervened in since 73, how many nations in the last 25 years . How many have we paid surrogate Armies to do our dirty work for us providing money,training and armaments. How many hard and soft coups . None or few about freedom and Democracy . Ask the people from Chile in 73 to Honduras today.
We better understand that Putin is not a two bit dictator of a pipsqueak nation. He is a man with 7300 Nuclear war heads at his disposal wrong headed group think neocon B.S. could end far worse than Iraq. He is not going to tolerate NATO in the Ukraine any more than we would tolerate Russia in Quebec . I am just so relieve that we are reinvigorating our nuclear arsenal to improve our battlefield nuclear capability.
Perhaps Finland not only provides a model for education but a model for how a former Soviet dominated state should exist . Independent and non threatening to all . Kissinger might have said that .
Joel,
How do you convince your friends that The Donald views them as suckers, like the chumps who paid thousands to Trump U to learn his secrets to get rich. The real secret is to fleece the people foolish enough to believe your sales pitch.
Diane ,
This couple will not be reached. I have tried for years . Asked her to show me her horns (she is Jewish) when discussing the children fleeing from Latin America. Showed them the PBS piece on the lynching of Italians in the 1890’s in Louisiana (he is Italian) when discussing Muslim immigrants. Hopeless to reach them on a moral basis . But believe it or not they claimed to have voted for Obama in 08. Which is when I met them. I don’t know that they were ever progressive, but they may have bought the line of” hope and change”.
They have lost that security that a Union had brought them . They actually met at work for a Tyco subsidiary. Both lost 90 % of their potential pensions when it collapsed. So would they be open to a progressive agenda possibly?? .He seemed far more acceptable to Bernie, from Healthcare, to Trade,to Wall Street reform. Sanders stood a fighting chance to get his vote ,as Trump was revealed to be a fraud. Clinton and Obama they have been there done that. A few prosecutions on Wall Street would have been helpful. They would not be able to define neo- liberal. But they know what it feels like . Nor would they know that it can be defined as what Trump will do with Ryan/Pence . Yes he is a fraud.
Like most they are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking how can I get what you have . They ask why should anybody have what they don’t. Why should we be paying for others from foreign aide to welfare.They never see that we most of our foreign aid is in military assistance with policy objectives. Or that in their old age they will probably be vociferous users of the welfare state. When they can no longer work . Trump, the whole Republican party , plays right into that world view. A perpetual race to the bottom.
We have a teacher here that “thanks god he wasn’t forced to pay dues to, nor participated in the teachers committee(union) that represented him till they were decertified”. Yet thinks “he and a group of teachers will get together and be able to (be recognized)negotiate” with the same school board, that refused to negotiate with the much larger committee (union) . Delusion is not confined to the “uneducated”
Where I hope to be more effective is with those that have a lot to lose .
Most of it is with language that I can not use here . Forget Trump U.
Trump has proven to be a vociferous Union buster who loves Right to Work and repeal of Davis Bacon ,who only built Union because he had no choice in NY and Atlantic city . That would no-longer be the case. These people would be better off jumping off of the Brooklyn Bridge. Hopefully they can be reached by grabbing their wallets and burning them in front of their faces .
Aid (I swear i deleted that e )
Who is McCain to criticize Trump? McCain selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate. She is just as clueless, vacuous, ignorant and oblivious as Trump though certainly not as vicious, racist, dangerous or belligerent. We live in a country in which Palin and Trump have credibility and many loyal supporters. Oh yeah, we are an exceptional country for sure. The only honorable thing for McCain to do is to leave the GOP and become an independent.
True enough, Joe. If I were McCain, I would reject Trump, not just disagree with him. Trump insulted him, as he insults everyone but his family.
Diane
How do you know whether he insults his family. They probably sit there and take it. waiting for him to croak .
The Crimeans, which have been historically Russian, had a referendum to leave Ukraine, according to the Russians, when the Ukrainian government was overthrown in a coup, so Trump could have a point. They do not recognize the “regime change” that took place there, or the newly installed leadership.
The rest of the campaign season will be jumping up and down about the unvarnished Trump, who has many of Bernie’s policies and will probably win, according to Michael Moore, since the idea of Hillary as president is anathema to them. In some ways there is a similarity with Teddy Roosevelt, who was reviled by the cartoonists and the media,
being a threat to the big corporations of his time.
Joseph
This 1960’s anti war protester might vote for Trump in a heartbeat. If he thought Trump would tear down the corporatocracy. Not only does his history not show that . But his positions clearly demonstrate that he is a conman.From Right to Work,to repeal of prevailing wage, to tax cuts for the wealthy, to bashing Americas schools, to a Supreme Court the likes of which the other Roosevelt threatened to flood . I know a populist when I see one . That fat orange haired Oligarch, demagogue ,married to a phony Gold-digger whose nude pictures appeared on the front page and following pages of the NY Post. Who never graduated Trump nor any other University . He ain’t no populist.
But there is some validity to questioning our policy to Russia .
It’s not just the Crimea that Russia is in. Russian troops have been in eastern Ukraine for three years now. My freshmen geography students know more about the situation in Crimea and eastern Ukraine than Trump does.
Nobody seems to want to acknowledge that when we negotiated to dissolve the Soviet Union, we promised NOT to go after former states to join NATO or place our nuclear missiles in former Soviet territory right next to and threatening Russia. I was in Russia for a month 2 years ago and my biggest surprise was that the Russian people Hate Gorbachav, whom they see as giving away much of their country for failed capitalist promises and having the resulting oligarchs steal much of their collective treasure. Also, the Russian people from young to old LOVE Putin. They have been galvanized by the bullying and sanctions of the neo-cons. They continue to enjoy universal health care, free college education up to MD and Ph.D., 3 years parental leave per child, among other benefits. They are proud of their public schools and claim that they were even better under communism. I went to Greece last month and the captain of our chipper ship and many of the crew were Ukrainians who have lost much since the Victoria Nuland and neo-con instigated coup. They stated that their relatives living in Russia enjoy 3 times the amount of money for their pensions than they will receive under the coup and even that is threatened due to austerity measures. If you are for endless war, listen to the mainstream media, owned. Y the military industrial complex who is making trillions from the death and destruction perpetrated by our weapons around the world.
Sent from my iPad
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Don’t say no one. Even an idiot accidentally gets something right on occasion .
http://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/attacking-trump-for-the-few-sensible-things-he-says-is-bad-politics-and-bad-strategy
And what if those former Soviet republics ASK to join NATO? The Baltic States are already members of NATO, and the Ukrainian portion of Ukraine (the western portion) have asked to join NATO, too.
Threatened Out West
What if Quebec ceded from Canada and asked the Russians for a mutual defense pact. No less a pact that included defensive missiles that could rapidly be turned into offensive capability. Giving a first strike advantage to M.A.D.
Now we do not have to be theoretical anymore do we . I am sure your students have studied the 13 days in October. I lived them and hiding under the desk in NYC daily was not going to cut it.
Since when has the aspirations or the desires of other peoples ever been the prime concern of foreign policy. Look no further than our neighbors to the South.
Almost every Russian leader claimed they were given assurances that NATO would not expand an inch. When the German reunification talks were held.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/bill-clintons-epic-double-cross-how-not-an-inch-brought-nato-to-russias-border/
Non of my points is an endorsement of Trump . As I have stated even an idiot can be right some of the time. I also doubt that he has read anything more serious than the National Enquirer . But as Mark Weisbrot has stated we empower Trump by criticizing him for the few things he gets right. The more we bring it up, the more chance he gets to make it sound like he actually had a thought out policy. Sound like he actually consulted foreign policy experts. Because there are many of them on the Left and Right that think we are(have) reigniting a cold war. That we have solidified Putin’s power by unifying the Russian people behind him . As a response to a perceived external threat .Much the same as Americans rally around the Flag in times of fear.
If Quebec seceded and became a sovereign state, they could absolutely set up a pact with Russia as you described. That’s the point–as sovereign states, they can make choices such as these. Some of the former Soviet states that are now sovereign are making choices that Russia doesn’t like. BUT, they absolutely have the right to do that. Russia has no business deciding for them. Like the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russia could negotiate if they wanted to in order to convince these states to not join NATO, (as the U.S. and Canada would negotiate with Quebec in your scenario) but, instead, they chose to invade a sovereign state to force what they want.
And that’s the difference.
Julian Assange had an interesting comment about Hillary and Trump, where we know how much a disaster Hillary is already, while Trump is the unknown. Many are willing to test Trump with a friendlier posture to the Russians, who are being surrounded by NATO missiles. do you remember how we felt when Russian missiles went to Cuba in the 1960s, Ukraine is right on the Russian border? No matter what the political incorrectness of Trump, he knew how to push the buttons of the country to be where he is, whether he actually feels this way is the unknown and his supporters are ready to gamble, when they see the alternative. We now have a first strike nuclear policy under GW and I don’t see Hillary rescinding it. Survival of the planet may be “trumping” political correctness, while Obama’s priority is having individualized bathrooms in the schools. NATOs mission creep into Libya discredits its function.
Joseph,
Stalin used the exact same arguments if “encirclement” to defend his military occupation of Eastern European countries like Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estinia, etc. Will we let Putin subjugate them again?
Why don’t you read some history?
Start with “The Black Book of Communism,” written by French scholars.
Joseph,
Why should Assange pick our next president?