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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAfghanistan Veteran: Trump Used Us
Faced with media attention lost by sacrificing his place in the debate, Mr. Trump concocted an event to draw attention to his own campaign. He boasted at that event that he'd raised $6 million for the noble cause of helping veterans. Credit was precisely the point, and if that amount of funds were actually raised, and given timely distribution, credit is precisely what he would have deserved and received. But though he promptly celebrated the fundraising achievement, he showed no similar urgency in distributing the money.
In fact, many checks to veterans' groups reportedly were dated the exact same day that a story in The Washington Post questioned whether they'd been distributed. This includes Mr. Trump's own $1 million check.
I am grateful for the good that will be done for my fellow veterans with the funds Mr. Trump and his allies have raised. For that contribution, Mr. Trump has my thanks.
But the effect of the gesture differs from its intent. The Donald was so transparent in his cynicism, so plainly mercenary in his political leverage of our identities, that we're spared the time and angst wasted in trying to sort out his intentions. His decision-making in this scandal has demonstrated clearly that he is not interested in being an ally to veterans. He is only interested in being seen as one.
MORE!:http://www.courant.com/opinion/insight/hc-op-insight-easter-trump-used-veterans-0605-20160603-story.html
Ilsa
(61,694 posts)I'm surprised he would bother advocating for vets' medical treatments, especially for PTSD. Trump seems more like the kind of person who'd tell a vet, "Just get over it," and "We're not paying for any more artificial limbs." If he was a soldier, I'd be worried that he'd kill the wounded so he didn't have to hear their cries of anguish.
Wounded Bear
(58,647 posts)He's all image, no substance. Always been that way, always will be.
malthaussen
(17,187 posts)One of the least-practiced texts in the NT.
-- Mal