Donald Trump is fond of extolling his love and admiration for the troops who serve in harm’s way.
However, the president who’s been in office for nearly two years has yet to venture into a war zone to tell them so to their face.
He needs to go. Trump needs to fly to Iraq or to Afghanistan, shake the hands of the men and women who serve there and tell them in no uncertain terms that he supports them fully.
Trump critics point that he has spent a lot of time on the golf course while serving as president. I don’t begrudge him fully for that; he is always “on the clock.” What is maddening is how he criticized former President Obama for playing golf, although Trump’s immediate predecessor did so far less frequently than Trump has done. Hypocrisy? Oh, just a bit … yes?
I spent a bit of time in Vietnam. I remember when President Nixon went there in 1969, shortly after taking office that same year — and the year I began my service in Da Nang. The president didn’t come to Marble Mountain, but he did mingle with the troops south of us and, I presume, told them to their faces how much he appreciates the sacrifice they were making in defense of our nation — and in defense of South Vietnam, which needed our help against the communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army.
Donald Trump has boasted about all he has done for the military. He brags about how strong we are — and about how “busy” he is building the strongest economy in our nation’s history.
OK, but he’s not too busy to spend a few hours on an airplane and then express his admiration for the work these men and women are doing.