Trump denies 'insensitive' remarks to soldier's widow

[Lorgar Aurelian]

(1) Your nihilism is boring.

(2) Everybody can make a difference in small and big ways is a fact, not a cliche.

(3) Given that so much of what enabled Trump to be President occurred on the internet (namely Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and 4chan), and Edward Snowden got radicalized in Ars Technica's forums... you'd think in 2017 we'd have long moved past "it's just a gaming forum". And you know, World of Warcraft... small indie game by a small indie company.

- - - Updated - - -



The exact quote wasn't a consoling "he knew what he was getting into" in the sense of him being brave. It was a callous "he knew what he was getting into"... like a "why are you crying over it?" way of saying it.

Specifically he said:

"he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt."


Donald Trump never gives second thoughts to the wellfare of his props though. Which is all the armed forces are to him. Its why he wants a ridiculous 3rd world military parade with tanks and jets. It's why he wants a 30,000 weapon nuclear arsenal. It's why he decorated every 4 feet his oval office with military flags with their ribbons.

I mean seriously, what the hell is this?

I don’t agree that every one can make a difference a lot of people don’t have the time or money to put every thing on hold to be upset about what the president says when they have real personal problems to deal with. Unless the president does something to get impeached there’s not much you can do about him being s poorly spoken jerk.

[Toogoodman]

What does that have to do with anything.

Was it an appropriate comment to make to a widow?

I feel saying it like this is a way to make him sound very honorable, but if he came off as a dick (which he probably did), it could come off very crass.

[Vankrys]

meanwhile laura ingraham defend trump by attacking the congresswoman on the topic of a hat she wear.

Ingraham: "How many of you give much credibility to the woman who walks around with a rhinestone cowboy hat? ... This woman's a nutbag"

https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2...her-hat/218248

[Flutterguy]

That Congresswoman is a cunt. Now she's saying he only did this "to save his job." Lost one son in Afghanistan. Has another serving his 5th tour. Yeah, he's totally just doing this to save his job. Poverty Pimps are the worst.

[Lenonis]

I've made the argument before that one of the traits of conservatives is low or nonexistent empathy. It's almost a requirement for some of the fundamental policy positions they hold.

So it's not surprising at all that there are a bunch of non-empathetic conservatives in this thread who simply cannot understand why Trump's complete lack of empathy is a problem or would be a bad thing.

And nothing you can post here will convince them of anything awry.

[Grapemask]

That Congresswoman is a cunt. Now she's saying he only did this "to save his job." Lost one son in Afghanistan. Has another serving his 5th tour. Yeah, he's totally just doing this to save his job. Poverty Pimps are the worst.

My thoughts on all of this aside, something subtle here is that multiple Trump threads were hit with this same link to this same version of this video, which is currently the main link circulating in the crazier wings of Trump's support bases. Which isn't to remark on the video in any way, but that there are no surprises about many of our forum posters' origins.

[Warning]

That Congresswoman is a cunt. Now she's saying he only did this "to save his job." Lost one son in Afghanistan. Has another serving his 5th tour. Yeah, he's totally just doing this to save his job. Poverty Pimps are the worst.

John tells a fine story, but it in no way answers the criticism expressed. The honor of the fallen was never under siege, gold star families are as respected as ever by most people that aren't the president. The problem is that Donald Trump, in trying to repeat the words he apparently was fed by John Kelly, screwed up again. Instead of telling them in the way John just demonstrated, one that is acceptable, he did it in a dickish way that hurt the grieving relatives. And btw John just confirmed that the way Trump said it was dickish, notice how he says "Trump tried to express, in his own way" at 7:27. If anything this makes it worse, he basically was told exactly what to say and still botched it.

.

[BrerBear]

John tells a fine story, but it in no way answers the criticism expressed. The honor of the fallen was never under siege, gold star families are as respected as ever by most people that aren't the president. The problem is that Donald Trump, in trying to repeat the words he apparently was fed by John Kelly, screwed up again. Instead of telling them in the way John just demonstrated, one that is acceptable, he did it in a dickish way that hurt the grieving relatives. And btw John just confirmed that the way Trump said it was dickish, notice how he says "Trump tried to express, in his own way" at 7:27. If anything this makes it worse, he basically was told exactly what to say and still botched it.

Yep.

Kelly confirms that Trump said it, in spite of Trump's earlier denial of the same.

Kelly tries to attack the Congresswoman for listening in, when Kelly himself was listening in.

For those who forget Kelly's tenure at DHS before this, he's no saint. And Kelly "knew what he was signing up for" when he willingly joined up with Trump.

[BuckSparkles]

I mean seriously, what the hell is this?

Respect for the military? I thought you were conservative? Shouldn't be a foreign concept to you.

And a military parade would be bad ass. Who wouldn't want to see a cool airshow or armored vehicles?

[Edge-]

Who wouldn't want to see a cool airshow or armored vehicles?

I'd rather not pay for it with my tax dollars, actually. I can think of a million far better things that would actually do some good that they could be spent on instead.

[BuckSparkles]

I'd rather not pay for it with my tax dollars, actually. I can think of a million far better things that would actually do some good that they could be spent on instead.

Sucks having to pay taxes for things you don't like huh?

[Halicia]

Sounds like Kelly did whatever he could to ensure Trump didn't make that phonecall in the first place, and instead sent a condolence letter that could have been reviewed beforehand.

What gets me here though is.... this is Trump's first condolence call ? Did he completely ignore the Seal Team 6 member he ordered to his death on insufficient intel ?

It makes me shudder to think that if I were a grieving parent, there's a large part of me that would refuse to take the President's phonecall. Any of the previous half dozen presidents I could expect some form of sympathy and gratitude for service... but when you're talking to Trump, you get Trump.

[Edge-]

Sucks having to pay taxes for things you don't like huh?

I'm fine with paying taxes for a lot of things I don't personally like, actually. I'm not fine with folks wanting to blow money on military parades so that they can stroke their war-boners and promote militarism.

I mean, unless you think it accomplishes anything remotely beneficial. I'd rather that money go towards something like paying down our national debt or something. You know fiscal conservatism.

[LaserSharkDFB]

They were in a car, not a room. You should try knowing the facts about something before you post your "opinion - but when has that ever mattered before? And who are "all these people"? The Congresswoman and the mother? Haven;t heard a word form the wife, which is the ONLY person that matters. I couldn't give a flying FUCK if it "offended" some whack job Maxine Waters-type retard.

BTW - even the whack job Congresswoman said she didn't hear the entire conversation. You have NO IDEA what she actually heard - or didn' t hear. Any PROOF from them they DID hear it? She has provided NO fucking proof either.

Holy fuck, you're so goddamn dishonest. Car, room, what fucking difference does it make? You decided to attack a strawman instead of actually addressing my points, probably because you knew you couldn't. At the time of that post, it was two against one, and the one is a known habitual liar. Now Kelly has corroborated their account and admitted that Trump did in fact say that - which makes Trump a liar - even if he didn't mean it in quite that way.

But let's go over that here. Trump asks Kelly what to say, and Kelly gives him some good material - that the soldiers who die are doing what they love, protecting their country, and so on. In Trump's cheese-like brain this gets jumbled up to 'he knew what he signed up for' and was delivered, no doubt, with his normal complete disregard for other human beings. He says it poorly, those hearing it take it in a completely reasonable way, and here we are. I fully accept that it wasn't what he meant to say, and I wouldn't really hold it against him...

...EXCEPT.

Except that, like the time he insulted the disabled reporter by acting like a disabled guy, he is failing to do the one thing any other rational, normal adult human being would do: APOLOGIZE. He fucked up, and when you fuck up you apologize. Until he admits that he made a mistake and apologizes directly to the widow, he gets no benefit of the doubt. And we all know he's never going to do that, so fuck 'im. In fact, he'll probably be attacking her or her family one of these days. That's how he works.

[BuckSparkles]

I'm fine with paying taxes for a lot of things I don't personally like, actually. I'm not fine with folks wanting to blow money on military parades so that they can stroke their war-boners and promote militarism.

I mean, part of wanting one would be because as somebody who enjoys history and military history, I would find it cool.

The other part is making anti-american folks like you angry. Pay dem taxes baby.

[Grapemask]

Sucks having to pay taxes for things you don't like huh?

This is a terrible logical fallacy when you're comparing budgeted items that serve no economic or societal good, versus budgeted items that serve those purposes but you may disagree with. It's comparing apples to rocks.

[DarkTZeratul]

This is a terrible logical fallacy when you're comparing budgeted items that serve no economic or societal good, versus budgeted items that serve those purposes but you may disagree with. It's comparing apples to rocks.

Your problem is assuming that he understands the concept of economic or societal good as being separate from the concept of direct personal benefits.

[Edge-]

I mean, part of wanting one would be because as somebody who enjoys history and military history, I would find it cool.

We are multiple military history museums that provide far better experiences for someone who is interested in history/military history, no?

The other part is making anti-american folks like you angry. Pay dem taxes baby.

Not anti-America, but thanks for you concern.

[BuckSparkles]

We are multiple military history museums that provide far better experiences for someone who is interested in history/military history, no?



Not anti-America, but thanks for you concern.

Museums are cool and such, and I greatly enjoy them, but have you ever seen something like an airshow? They are awesome.

Also won't drag this argument, because we won't agree, but there is no way anybody could convince me that liberals don't hold a deep hatred and contempt for America.

[cubby]

Also won't drag this argument, because we won't agree, but there is no way anybody could convince me that liberals don't hold a deep hatred and contempt for America.

No one could ever agree with such a ridiculous statement - so how could you ever be convinced. The insane always think they are right.