Trump earns endorsement of 88 retired generals, admirals

[KewlKat]

Source: Politico

Donald Trump earned the endorsement of 88 retired generals and admirals in an open letter released Tuesday, as the Republican nominee looks to solidify support in the military community against Hillary Clinton in November.

The Republican nominee's campaign unveiled the letter, organized by Major Gen. Sidney Shachnow, a 40-year Army veteran and Holocaust survivor, and Rear Admiral Charles Williams, ahead of a speech on veterans affairs in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Shachnow declared that Trump "has the temperament to commander-in-chief," while Williams called the Republican nominee "more trusted" than Clinton.

In the letter, the retired military leaders warned of the "potentially extremely perilous" combination of budget cuts and policy choices will "emboldened" enemies of the country as a result of those actions.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/retired-generals-admirals-endorse-trump-227755

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THE LETTER

[DonCoquixote]

1. 88 people who do not need a job

Trump attracts assholes

[ck4829]

8. I wonder if the alt-right knows that a Holocaust survivor is making his opinion known

That's got to tick them off to no end, right?

[atreides1]

9. Just because they served

Doesn't mean they aren't assholes...and personally I'm getting a little tired of using the Holocaust, especially if it's to elect a man who might very well do it again!!!

What about those survivors of the Holocaust who see in Trump, the same thing they saw in Hitler and Mussolini?

[Ellipsis]

16. Welcome to DU HeavenSage.

[tenderfoot]

17. You probably won't be too happy with these generals then... because they're supporting Hillary. LOL

Major General John Allen: http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/election/2016/07/28/democratic-convention-john-allen-speech/87685526/

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/07/25/entering-politics-retired-four-star-marine-general-backs-clinton.html

Gens. Bob Sennewald and David Maddox
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/294068-clinton-wins-endorsement-of-two-retired-four-star

[blm]

24. Or…reality…that they are duped and manipulated elderly men ala Swiftliars.

Remember how many feeble-minded men were manipulated by political opportunists on that load of BS crafted by GOP propagandists?

[displacedtexan]

27. They support a man who would displace 11million people and take their possessions?

Hmmmmm. Where have we seen this before?

[JustAnotherGen]

29. n/s

[William Seger]

34. You are right, but not "because fuck drumpf"

Trump supporters are assholes because Trump supporters are bigots, xenophobes, and misogynists (or in this case, likely all three) who are foolish enough to think that this Narcissistic demagogue has any desire -- much less a clue how -- to Make America Great Again. The Donald is only interested in making The Donald Great Again, and he's counting on people who are ignorant and stupid enough to think that building a wall at the Mexican border, deporting 11 million people, and banning Muslims, while we give Reaganomics yet one more try to trickle down, will Make America Great Again. Yep, they're assholes.

[gollygee]

42. They know how to translate "Make America Great Again"

It's code language for "Make American Greater for White People and Worse for People of Color."

[Ellipsis]

49. Nicely played. n/t

[cheapdate]

35. Yes, every last one of them, assholes to a man,

or at best, mentally defective / intellectually impaired.

The special plea that because they "served their country" -- more so than a school teacher, social worker, or mail carrier -- they are somehow gifted with special wisdom and their political opinions are somehow worthy of special consideration has no truck with me.

Headline : 88 old, retired, white, men sign letter supporting Donald Trump.

[lapfog_1]

2. so these dimwits only look at military budgets

of our own armed forces...

Because with a Trump basically withdrawing us from NATO, we will be on our own.

[Dustlawyer]

10. Most probably work for Defense contractors and stand to benefit (they think) from a

Trump presidency.

[HereSince1628]

3. Went in to check to see if they were retired from US military...

it's actually not clear, although their spokesman refers to US voters as 'fellow' Americans

[TipTok]

33. They would be fools to endorse if still active...

[HereSince1628]

38. Actually, I wondered if they had been US officers

I think Trump could get lots of Russian military endorsements for the asking.

[PersonNumber503602]

46. I don't think even Trump is stupid enough to do that...

but then again...

[gollygee]

5. Because they like to go to war?

A Trump presidency would mean constant war. Maybe that's a good thing to them? Job security?

[Aristus]

23. Job security, promotion, a chest full of fruit salad, recruitment offers from

defense contractors, you name it.

They don't care how many brave Americans die under their command as long as they get a lucrative consulting job out of it...

[ck4829]

6. What do they know?

“I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,’’
- Donald Trump

If Donald Trump is indeed the right man for this job by looking at his positions and statements according to them, then their opinion is moot.

[GeorgeGist]

7. Pretty scary that 88 people with such poor judgment ...

made it so far in the military.

[bagelsforbreakfast]

11. Trump may be right...

“I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,’’

With this many idiots - maybe Trump is right after all?!

Also, I didn't know there were that many Russian agents in the military!

[Mc Mike]

12. Psst, generals.

"The U.S. outpaces all other nations in military expenditures. World military spending totaled more than $1.6 trillion in 2015. The U.S. accounted for 37 percent of the total.

U.S. military expenditures are roughly the size of the next seven largest military budgets around the world, combined.



U.S. military spending dwarfs the budget of the #2 country – China. For every dollar China spends on its military, the U.S. spends $2.77."

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/us-military-spending-vs-world/

Backing the guy who plays footsie with Putin and wants to dismantle NATO (and the VA) probably isn't the best move, in terms of strategic military thought.

I wonder if General Schachnow has met Drump's Holocaust-denying foreign policy advisor Joe Schmitz:
http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/348059/trump-adviser-denies-firing-jews-from-top-jobs-and-denying-holocaust/

The general either doesn't know what he's talking about, at all, or he knows and is a bad person. He deserves respect and consideration for his decades long service to the US in the military, and for being someone who lived through Hitler's genocide. But he deserves zero respect for backing someone who has a ton of nazi ties, and who wants to destroy the US's alliances and rattle the saber against our southern neighbor.

[freebrew]

19. As for those costs...

don't forget why we spend so much.
Profits for the MIC.
I'm pretty sure the other countries are getting much more for their ruble.
What other country spends $500 for a hammer, or $1000 for a toilet?
Or $35Billion for a fighter that doesn't work yet?

We are getting ripped off big time by the MIC and their corporate(gov't) cronies because we've 'privatized' everything.

[Mc Mike]

20. I agree about the rip offs, and they don't spend the money on the troops, either.

Last edited Mon Oct 17, 2016, 11:36 AM - Edit history (2)

But we have the most powerful, best funded, best equipped military in the world, anyway, an order of magnitude greater than every other one of the closest competitively ranked nations' armed forces. And it has the greatest arm reach in the world.

We're just playing the trump backing generals' game, when having a discussion about the "relative fitness" of our military. If our military was pulled back to just defend our country, nobody could hope to defeat us. But our huge military supremacy is unable to successfully project its power to eliminate resistance from 3rd world people who live in their own country and don't want us there, and it can't eliminate small cell terrorists by using brute force battlefield techniques.

That is the type of military supremacy drump backing generals want. A fabled one that can and will never exist. So they pretend that somehow the Dems broke the military, while the Dems in fact repaired the huge amount of damage the repubs' last junta did to our military.

[freebrew]

45. Agreed..

the troops are just expendable pawns and are treated as such
when they are no longer useful.

The amount of $$$ the US military has access to is unmaginable
to most of us thounsandaires.

[Mc Mike]

52. They're missing trillions in audits.

But it is the most beefed up military force in the world. And it has been recovering under Obama, from the racking it took under li'l bush and dick cheney.

[liberal N proud]

13. Retired, they won't need to fight Trump's wars

[Ellipsis]

14. Archived images of generals at work

[blm]

15. Same guys who watch Oliver North's show conditioned to believe he's a hero.

I doubt the majority of them have their wits intact. GOP operatives preyed on old and ill veterans to pad their list of Swiftliars. GOP's voting base relies on large number of propagandized Moonie News repeaters. Which explains why Trump is now so aptly representative of the GOP.

[Chakaconcarne]

18. Are they still alive?

[olddad56]

43. probably a few, but they are in a veterans home somewhere.

[MFM008]

21. They should be ashamed

No wonder the brass was hated by regular guys like my dad.
He was USAF for 23 years.

They are a disgrace, anyone that supports the maggot
Deserves the full force of karma rebound.
Fuck all of them.

[George II]

22. Two points about that "Letter":

1. Once again it looks like a "letter" that was written by Trump himself or perhaps John Miller.

2. I'm glad all those generals and admirals are retired, since they show little knowledge of how the process works.

Do they not know that the military budget has been controlled by Congress, not the President? And do they not realize that both houses of Congress are controlled by republicans?

[bigbrother05]

25. See it around me everyday with people that are otherwise thoughtful and intelligent

When it comes to their military, anyone that waves a flag and promises to strengthen the country gets a pass if they are in the GOP. Critical thinking takes a back seat to saluting the flag.

Hope that this letter will prompt more to come out on the other side, particularly ones with some name recognition in the public.

[Runningdawg]

26. The War Pigs have spoken

[snort]

28. Fuck the Military

The Warpigs are the last I'd be turning to for Political recommendations.

[TipTok]

32. We love you too...

[smirkymonkey]

30. WTF! A holocaust survivor for Trump?!

I have seen it all - unbelievable!

[Maeve]

36. Poultry for Colonel Sanders

You can fool some of the people all of the time...

[TipTok]

31. Meh... my military circle seems to lean heavily towards Johnson

A few rabid Trump fans.

No Hillary fans have presented themselves yet.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

39. And you......?

[geek tragedy]

40. yes, authoritarian miltarists tend to be rightwing nt

[CapnSteve]

37. 88 - Really? 88 is White Supremist code for Heil Hitler, y'all.

Jeez!

[Mc Mike]

44. Well, I was a big fan of the way the campaign asked Sheldon Adelson for 6 million,

to make up for the RNC Convention funding shortage. t rump did it right after (or during) the fallout from the retweeted nazi meem featuring Hillary, the money piles, and the red 6 pointed star.

Anyhow, they asked him by announcing he was giving them '6 million', then there was a kerfluffle in the press about whether Adelson was asked for the money and whether he said he was giving it. I never saw the donation records, afterwards.

I do know that Cruz ran for his life, after his convention non-endorsement of il Douche A, to Adelson's convention hotel suite, and was turned away at the door. So that's fun.

[Hugin]

47. I'm glad someone other than the SPLC and I noticed the '88'.

I call 'dog whistle'.

[Judi Lynn]

41. Is he blackmailing them? n/t

[moondust]

48. And the very next day...

Trump pledges big US military expansion

[milestogo]

50. Misogynists.

[TexasBushwhacker]

51. Per The Atlantic over 500 endorsed Romney

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/why-trumps-support-from-military-leaders-isnt-that-impressive/498806/