Tag Archives: suckers and losers

How does Trump keep it close?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Let’s see how this looks.

Donald Trump has been impeached by U.S. the House of Representatives; he has insulted the military high command; he lets Russian spooks get away with putting bounties on our warriors; he admits to lying to Americans about the severity of the global pandemic; he has shattered our longstanding military and diplomatic alliances; he has presided over the greatest economic collapse in our nation’s history; he called Klansmen and Nazis “very fine people”; and he has lied about damn near every issue that he has (allegedly) confronted.

And still, this individual just might — even against these horrendous odds — wiggle/slither his way back for a second term as president of the United States.

How in the world might this happen, given Trump’s astonishing record as president of the United States? I cannot put my arms around this phenomenon. I am left to speculate that just possibly Americans have been snookered by the carnival barker who promised them to deliver salvation to a nation he said in 2016 had devolved into a “total disaster.”

And so here we are, four years later. The phony business executive not only has failed to deliver us from the illness that he vowed to cure all by himself, he has worsened it.

The pandemic has killed nearly 200,000 of us … so far. Trump has defamed war heroes and prisoners of war. He scolds our international allies. He has turned us from the world’s most indispensable nation to an international laughingstock.

How does he stay within spitting distance of Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee who by most objective measures should be running far away from Trump?

It’s a head-scratcher that utterly boggles my mind.

Is anonymity worth it?

By JOHN KANELIS

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am coming down with a touch of a headache watching and following the The Atlantic Monthly magazine’s story on whether Donald Trump referred to military personnel as “suckers and losers.”

First of all, I take my hat off to editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg for some first-class reporting on statements attributed to Trump as he denigrates the service of men and women who have been injured or killed in battle.

Here’s where the head starts throbbing.

He uses four anonymous sources. Not one of them was willing to put his or her name on what he or she heard Trump say. Goldberg stands behind his decision to protect their identity. He said he knows who they are, their names and perhaps even their loved ones’ names, too.

He believes what they told him. Frankly, so do I, based on what I have read; that includes The Atlantic story, which I have read three times.

I confess to some discomfort over keeping their identities secret. I never was able to grant anonymity to news sources while I was working for daily newspapers. I always believed that if someone had something to say, they should offer their names to enable the public to judge the veracity of the story they were telling.

If I had been in charge of The Atlantic and a reporter (in this case, Goldberg is editor in chief of the magazine) came to me with anonymous sources, I likely would insist they allow their names to be published along with the tale they were telling.

Then again, you get a story — a once-a-career kind of story — that is so compelling that the only way the source will talk to you is if you offer him or her anonymity.

That might have been part of Goldberg’s calculation as he prepared the story for publication. If that’s the case, then I respect his decision to grant anonymity to his sources. Goldberg’s journalistic reputation is stellar enough for me to believe him when he endorses their credibility.

Take my word for this final point: No journalist worth a damn is going to pi** away a career for the sake of a fake story.

Is POTUS protesting a tad too much?

So, how angry is Donald J. Trump at reporting from The Atlantic that he has spoken boorishly about servicemen and women who serve, are injured or die in the line of duty?

He is so angry he is calling on his base of supporters to “bombard” the magazine with messages of protest over what he calls “fake news” and “another witch hunt.”

There you go. The president of the United States is engaging in one of the tactics for which he has become infamous. He is showing off his bullying skills.

And to think he is now launching this attack on an esteemed publication, led by an esteemed reporter and editor — Jeffrey Goldberg — who has checked, rechecked and rechecked again his sources for the explosive story.

Goldberg writes that Trump has called those who were injured or killed in battle “suckers” and “losers.” Goldberg has reported on a litany of examples of Trump denigrating the service of military men and women. Some of them are quite well known, such as, oh the late President George H.W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain.

Trump, though, is firing back.

He should save his breath as far as I am concerned. I happened to believe Goldberg’s account of what Trump said. It is consistent with what we know he has said about McCain, for example.

As for his bullying of a media organization, well, I guess the First Amendment protection against government coercion of a free press doesn’t extend to presidential petulance.

No ‘losers’ or ‘suckers’ here

(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Hey, I want to revisit the “suckers and losers” story briefly one more time. It isn’t likely the final time, but I want to make a point.

I come from an extended family of individuals whom Donald Trump reportedly has called suckers and losers because they served in the military.

Let’s see: Dad saw combat in the Navy during World War II. Both of his brothers served in the Army; one of them served in combat during the Korean War, the other served in Germany between Korea and Vietnam. Mom’s two brothers also served; one of them served in the Army Air Force in the Pacific during World War; the other one retired as an Army Reserve colonel.

Three of my brothers-in-law served in the military. Two of them served in the Air Force, the third one served in the Navy during the Vietnam War era.

Four first cousins of mine served in our armed forces. One of them was a Navy fighter pilot; two of them served in the Army, with one of them serving multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan; the fourth served in the Navy intelligence, again during the Vietnam War era.

What’s more, I have one nephew who is currently serving in the Air Force and another nephew who served two Army tours in Iraq before separating from the military.

You know already that I served in the Army in Vietnam.

Where am I going with this? Not a single one of these family members of mine are suckers or losers. They served with honor. Many of them put themselves in harm’s way. I am immensely proud to be kin to all of them.

Donald Trump has truly pissed me off.