On Thursday, Donald Trump issued a bizarre Thanksgiving video rant praising his “leadership” in the war effort against ISIS, while taking a swipe at President Barrack Obama. On Twitter, he also took credit for other things like the economy, cutting regulations, re-structuring Veterans Affairs, and he even threw in a promise to build “the wall.”
“HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well. Jobs coming back, highest Stock Market EVER, Military getting really strong, we will build the WALL, V.A. taking care of our Vets, great Supreme Court Justice, RECORD CUT IN REGS, lowest unemployment in 17 years….!” Trump tweeted early Thursday. He followed up with “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
During his eight-minute rant to U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Bahrain, and on the USS Monterey from his gaudy gold-plated residence at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump told American troops:
“You’re very, very special people. … It doesn’t get more special,” saying they are now allowed to do things that other administrations would not allow them to do, particularly in Iraq.
“We’re really winning. We know how to win,” Trump said, making a point that previous administrations “weren’t letting you win before [in Iraq.] They were letting you play even. We’re letting you win.”
Despite Trump’s strong reassurance that the U.S. was “really winning” in its efforts against ISIS, General John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan had a slightly more pragmatic assessment of the war effort.
“We are still in a stalemate,” Nicholson, a four-star Army general said in an exclusive interview.“
However, the commander did express optimism that they would ultimately be successful in their mission (perhaps realizing that he needed to save his job).
“We are only 90 days into this new policy, but with the U.S. forces that will be arriving, with the new authority that we have been given, put the pressure on external enablers, with the fact that we are condition based and not time based, we’ve set all the conditions to win.”
Despite his confidence, Nicholson’s brutal honesty about the war efforts still flew in the face of the overly rosy picture Trump painted for the Troops. And while Trump’s colorful boasts about everything from falsely taking credit for the economy to bragging how he single-handedly saved UCLA basketball players from spending “10 years” in a Chinese prison after they were caught shoplifting (which is total bullshit), might seem harmless.
However, embellishing the facts when addressing the troops can have deadly consequences: Just remember President George W. Bush’s disastrous “Mission Accomplished” photo-op and his “bring em’ on” challenge to Al Queada during the height of the Iraq war.
Following Trump’s embarrassing boastful and overtly political message, retired Lt. General Mark Hertling had some choice words to say about the current “Commander-in-Chief’s” unpresidential behavior.
“The comments about the economy and where the economy is growing, deployed soldiers don’t want to hear about that, they want to hear, hey thanks.” It is hardly the first time that Trump has been pointed out for his hollow boasting.”
Hertling continued:
“You’re talking to soldiers and military personnel around the world who have been in this fight for 17 years, and to suddenly be told they’re winning now when they weren’t winning before is somewhat insulting.”
Insulting is what Trump does best.
Featured image screengrab via NBC News.
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