[Well, this is novel] Trump's Defenders:He Doesn't Hate the Troops, He Just 'Sounds Like an Asshole'

[catbyte]

Yes, his allies admit, Trump routinely makes callous comments about U.S. military personnel. But it’s because he hates the wars they’re forced to fight, not the troops themselves.

Asawin Suebsaeng, White House Reporter

Updated Sep. 04, 2020 7:58PM ET

After The Atlantic reported on Thursday that Donald Trump had privately trashed American war dead as “suckers” and “losers,” the White House, the president’s 2020 campaign, and a broad array of Trump loyalists activated to aggressively denounce the report as fictitious and absurd.

In The Daily Beast’s interviews with eleven senior administration officials, Trump aides, Republican operatives, and former and current friends of the president, several of them mounted a curious defense of Trump. Yes, they admitted, the commander in chief at times makes callous, tone-deaf comments about American military personnel behind closed doors. But it’s because he hates the wars they’re forced to fight, not the service members themselves.

“The president means no disrespect to our troops; it’s just that the way he speaks, he can sound like an asshole sometimes,” one of these sources, a current senior administration official, told The Daily Beast. “That’s how he is [when the cameras are off]…It’s his style.”

Some of these sources defending President Trump and pushing back on The Atlantic’s story agreed to go on the record. Others would only speak on-background and in an anonymous capacity—even after the White House trashed the magazine for relying on such nameless sources. (The president on Friday afternoon called the story a “hoax,” even though the Associated Press and Fox News had confirmed key details of the original piece.)

snip

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-defenders-he-doesnt-hate-the-troops-he-just-sounds-like-an-asshole

[Laelth]

1. Lame. Nobody's buying that. n/t

-Laelth

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Seriously? And since when is it even OK for the president to sound like an asshole?

He loves the troops; he just sounds like an asshole so it's all just fine? Could it be that sounding like an asshole means he is an asshole?

[alwaysinasnit]

5. Lol. It's just that this is the best they've got since they are trying to defend the indefensible.

[paleotn]

3. So they're admitting it's true now.

That's got to be the worst defense I've ever heard. "It's not that he's a hopeless dick. It's just that he's a hopeless dick."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Yes, it's the second stage of the defense.

1. It didn't happen.
2. It happened but it wasn't what it seemed.
3. It happened but it's perfectly OK.
4. Who cares?

[paleotn]

7. Exactly. Stage 3 will leave marks....

Ouch! How the hell do you spin that it's OK?

[MerryBlooms]

11. Crap, if what I really want to say it would get alerted on... I would alert on myself,

but the compound word, 'dick' and 'less' come to mind. And, if Kelly and his handlers don't get their shit together by tomorrow, he also will be labeled with the same compound word.

[Demsrule86]

18. I would never give you a hide anyway...but certainly not for that.

[MerryBlooms]

23. !

Man, what a Friday news dump, eh? It's not even 6 o'clock for me, and I know there are more shoes to drop when I scroll down the news pages and read some fine print... Meaning small, not excellent.

[uponit7771]

21. +1

[jcgoldie]

4. Aha! The old "no big deal he's just an asshole" defense...

Brilliant!

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. "Sounds like", or "Is"?

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. There is no way to spin his shit anymore

They can try, but it is useless.

[MerryBlooms]

15. Yeah, it's done. trumpanic room is scrambling and sending out

shitloads of emails to hannity and other propagandists. This topic, along with his McCain slanders needs to be run for the next two months. I wasn't a huge McCain fan, but I respected the man for his service and sacrifice. I also respected him for when he stood up for President Obama to a radical nutjob. He could have just gone with it and garnered votes, but he didn't. I believe to this day, he was forced into picking that airhead palin.

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. +1

[Johnny2X2X]

10. There must be tape!

They wouldn’t be saying anything like this unless there is tape they are trying to get out in front of.

[sprinkleeninow]

12. zat the best they got?

* didnt mean it

being sarcastic

simply joking

[sounds like a *hole* & so IS one]

[Blecht]

13. It isn't "novel"

It's the same thing over and over.

"Lookie! The libs are pissed! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"What? I should be pissed, too? BUT THE LIBS ARE TRIGGERED! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

[still_one]

14. They are f**ked. Two months before the election they have very little options

[Walleye]

17. These were casualties from Worldwide War I! Was he against that too

[Efilroft Sul]

19. "It's just locker room talk. Republicans call the troops losers all the time. Geez!"

"You fuckin' libs can't take a joke."

That's what they sound like defending him.

[LakeArenal]

20. Malarkey.

[highplainsdem]

22. Yeah, that's why he doesn't think soldiers MIA should be located and rescued, since he hates

the wars they're forced to fight.

Jeez, what a terrible attempt at an excuse for the unforgivable.

[Demonaut]

24. "hate" is not the word, "disgust" "disdain" are more fitting

[Blue Owl]

25. Fuck these apologists

n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. If he sounds like an asshole, and acts like an asshole, and looks like an asshole ... (nt)

[Withywindle]

27. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and swims like a duck

It's almost certainly a fucking duck.