A wingnut letter to the editor pissed me off. My answer.

[UTUSN]

********* WHAT THIS JERK SAID:

Man, I love this country! I love the U.S.A.

I went to Veterans Affairs recently and saw a lot of my military brothers and sisters, young and old. Brothers and sisters, thank you for your service.

I hate seeing what Joe Biden is doing to this country.

His reprehensible actions in Afghanistan are impeachable.

His inept, uncoordinated, stupid and reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan stranded many military and civilians behind enemy lines, literally sentencing some of them to death. Twelve Marines died as a direct consequence of Biden’s failures. ....

I love this country so much I gave up my only son to the Marine Corps. When asked if he was sure about serving his country, his response was, “Dad, somebody has to do it, why not me?”

That’s the sort of unselfish citizen we should be praising.

(A previous letter writer) criticizes the Republicans’ use of the word “freedom.” He says that before we overuse that word, we should “… first help me to get food, shelter and clothing for my family.” That’s the problem in the U.S. — too many people “taking” and not enough “giving.”

As JFK put it, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” ... ....

*************WHAT I REPLIED:

In response to (So-&-so's letter), what does loving the USA have to do with partisan, belligerent politics?

I wear my Navy/Vietnam ball cap almost everywhere, which has gotten me accosted many times with “Thank-you-for-your-service” as I go about my business. When it’s sincere I usually just say thanks and move on or sometimes say, “Thank you for YOURS.” A young, polite cashier was surprised and said, “I’m not a veteran, sir.” I said, “When you help others, are polite and responsible, you are serving.”

One time in the grocery store parking lot a fellow ran up to me and yelled it at me and stuck out his hand for shaking. He was wearing the red Trump cap. I said, “No Trump for me.” He stopped dead in his tracks, took his hand back, and when he collected himself yelled, “No AMERICA for you!”

Yes, this fellow actually believed that America meant the same thing as following one man.

Questions: What made him think that my service meant I was supposed to belong to his party? Or that being one man’s follower was higher than democracy?

Good for Mr (So & so’s) son for being one more of the millions of other unselfish members in the USA.

[Catherine Vincent]

1. And what the heck is Biden doing to this country?

The same would have happened if Trump had the balls to withdraw from Afghanistan...or maybe worse. Trumpers and their bs makes me sick.

Jerk indeed.

[UTUSN]

2. They didn't publish my previous letter. They used to, all my other ones over the years.

Yet there two wingnuts who churn out at least one letter each per week, chock full of Faux Propaganda Network parrot points. ------I object!1

[barbtries]

12. definitely worse!

you know they hate immigrants unless they're white Europeans with advanced degrees or somesuch.

[toughtony]

4. Another Whack Job Trump Supporter

Biden has only been president for 9 months and this dude acts like it's been 4 years. YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL PSYCO TRUMP SUPPORTERS THEY ALWAYS SAY WHAT THEY THINK WILL IMPRESS RIGHT WING RADIO AND FOXNEWS. Soldiers have died under all presidents. What was his reaction to the soldiers who died under both bushes, trump, reagan, nixon, etc. I'll be willing to bet he has some rational nutjob excuse that will enable him to continue to beat up on biden and other democrats.

Look these guys are in a group all to themselves. They walk and talk politics and hatred all day, everywhere they go. They're not patriots and they don't love their country (because if they did there would be no need to make long drawn out statements about it). They served in the military because they had to for one reason or another that had nothing whatsoever to do with patriotism. Gen Milley stated that you don't fight for a politician, you fight to defend and uphold the constitution of the united states!

I'LL BET DOLLARS TO DONUTS HE WAS IN WASHINGTON D.C AT THE CAPTITOL ON JAN 6. There was nothing patriotic about that.

[IronLionZion]

5. A lot of deplorables MAGAts believe they can deport Americans who disagree with them

I hear it all the time before and after Trump's presidency. If you don't like Trump, just leave this country. Or they'll just yell "Trump!" smugly as if that means anything.

[Aussie105]

6. A lot of people don't like Biden.

Joe is rational, intelligent, and wants the best for the country and it's citizens.

That's threatening to some.

They prefer the former guy's bluff and bluster and multi-layered incompetence, it fits in better with their own personalities and ways of looking at the world.

It's that simple.

People who feel and think like Biden can now relax with TFG out of the White House.

The Deplorables will rant and rave their irrational logic, write letters to the editor and wear their MAGA hats.

Ignore them as best as you can, and hopefully they will be restricted in their future ability to harm the country by those who now know how insane and dangerous they can be.

[UTUSN]

9. Beyond BIDEN or Afghanistan, it's deplorable the level of ignorance about country/patriotism

How they don't know the military belongs to the country, not to one person or party.

[RVN VET71]

11. I mis-read "incompetence" for "incontinence"!

Gotta say, it works either way.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. UTUSN you probably can't change the mind of that writer but what you are doing is.....

keeping an opposing and truthful view in front of your paper's readers and that's very important.

Presenting them with irrefutable facts helps to, such as "what the President did in Afghanistan is what the majority of Americans wanted. That is, out of that seemingly endless war, and there was no pretty way to do it".

Keep up the good work!........

[UTUSN]

8. Yea, & they can't change *my* mind either. But I'm used to DU back-and-forth,

get frustrated with the Pony Express news"paper"!

Thanks for YOUR many years of constructive DU life!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

14. The Biden bashers are focused on the 13 U.S. soldiers who died during the evacuation.

They seem to have forgotten (or conveniently ignored ) the following statistics:

THE LONGEST WAR:

Percentage of U.S. population born since the 2001 attacks plotted by al-Qaida leaders who were sheltering in Afghanistan: Roughly one out of every four.

THE HUMAN COST:

American service members killed in Afghanistan through April: 2,448.

U.S. contractors: 3,846.

Afghan national military and police: 66,000.

Other allied service members, including from other NATO member states: 1,144.

Afghan civilians: 47,245.

Taliban and other opposition fighters: 51,191.

Aid workers: 444.

Journalists: 72.

And this doesn't include the military personnel who came home physically or mentally disabled -- or both. Nor does it count the effect upon a generation of Afghan children who were born in the middle of a war they did not cause.

How many Americans died in Afghanistan during the reign of TFG? 63 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan under the Trump administration. Where is the Republican and RW outrage over this fact?

[halfulglas]

10. I get my print newspaper 4 times a week. I'm surprised the number of letters published

that sound like they belong on the internet instead. I sometimes wonder who choses them and what the criteria are for the ones they choose.

[mopinko]

19. it could be- we got a dozen of these letters, let's print the ones w no obvious errors.

[demigoddess]

13. I agree with you. Trump's followers are not fond of democracy, they like dictatorship.

[The Jungle 1]

15. In 11 days the afghan army stood down.

No one predicted that big of a cowardly response. Joe clearly did the right thing. If they won't fight F um times infinity.
THIS IS NOT JOE"S FAULT. This effort was fubar start to finish.

[Permanut]

16. Thanks for posting this. UTUSN..

and thanks for your response to the Mango Mussolini cult screed, and thanks for your service.

This Navy veteran still is waiting to hear why even ONE military or veteran would ever have supported TFG, after the Kahn family treatment and other disrespect to the military.

[calimary]

17. Excellent point, Permanut.

[UTUSN]

18. I also thanked Permanut, but in a private message to avoid kicking the thread from the nether pages.

Now that it's up, I'll say it for the record!

[lambchopp59]

20. Thank you for your military service, and thank you again for getting vaccinated

From one mostly recovered from long-run COVID ancillary medical worker who will soon again be doing tests from inside a hot space suit.
How much it irks me to be servicing the ilk who likely wouldn't be in the hospital if it weren't for the idiotic Fox Noise they're watching from their hospital beds.
How much restraint I hold my breath to not comment on their choice of "entertainment". Or the red MAGA cap. Or the visible screwy face they make when I ask them to mask up while I do their test.
It so often makes my job largely a "wordless workshop".
How little relief it represents to finally shut their propaganda off when the doctor says "time of death was..."
Prime examples of providing care to patients who have done as little as possible to care for themselves.