Trump touts 'militaristic' policies, gets panned by general

[willyumiii]

Excuse me!

Trump's only "military experience", was when he was sent to school at a military academy for being a difficult 13 year old brat.

The only thing that has changed is his age.

[Usernames]

And so, today, the talking point memo said: "begin all comments about Trump with: 'I used to be mildly amused by him, but now . . . (fill in the outlandish prediction).'"

[Neurath]

- but he is not a politico and used a word he thought would say the same thing.

Yeah, like "Missile launch" and "Mussel lunch". Oups.

Tell you who Trump really admires and in his dark secret places really wants to be like: Vladimir Putin. The, swagger, the manishness, the shooting of wild beasts, the no-nonsense machismo of a Man Doing His Thing. Only thing he doesn't want is Putin's hair.

[Boon Mee]

How much Military experience did FDR have, eh?

Or, for that matter, Abe Lincoln.

Get real, dudes...

[willyumiii]

He is amusing in his ass clown persona. But if he were president, he'd start a nuclear war within 30 days.

If he did he would win .

Nobody wins a nuclear war.

There is very little if any cooperate profit to be made in a short term nuclear war, so the republicans will not start one.

It is all about corporations and money for the GOP.

But I will give him credit.

Unlike GW Bush..Donald can pronounce the word "nuclear"!

The GOP is improving!

Edited August 13, 2015 by willyumiii

[Neurath]

How much Military experience did FDR have, eh?

Or, for that matter, Abe Lincoln.

Get real, dudes...

He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913-1920. Not that we had much of one. During his 4 bankruptcies, Trump was Captain of a sinking ship.

[willyumiii]

It seems strange for a country of 320M + population the best it can produce for the country's top leadership position, on one side, is a brash,'shoot from the hip', self centred billionaire & on the other, an ineffective fmr Sec of State, whose husband as a fmr President left office under a cloud...... but as the saying goes," You get the best money can buy!!!"

The Sec of State will not be invited to the party.

No one can buy Bernie Sanders.

You will feel the Bern in 2016.

[Rancid]

Claiming he was against bombing Iraq into the stone for no good reason sounds pretty heretical to me. And unpatriotic and undemocratic. He's probably a commie.

[copa8]

Trump, what a beauty.

Ivanka? I agree...she ain't bad.

[thaibeachlovers]

Excuse me!

Trump's only "military experience", was when he was sent to school at a military academy for being a difficult 13 year old brat.

The only thing that has changed is his age.

At last. My cynicism has not been in vain!

In post # 26 I said

I keep waiting for someone to accuse Trump of being unsuitable for President as he has never served in the military, but they'd be on a hiding to nothing if they did so.

Obama, no

Bush, not really ( he joined the national guard air corps to avoid Vietnam )

Clinton, no. HRC no. The best she can do is to lie about being under fire. ( I know she hasn't been president yet ).

I think Bush senior was the last president to serve.

Do you really want to go down that road?

[FritsSikkink]

Bill Clinton didn't leave the presidency under a cloud.

But I am starting to take Hillary's potential legal issues more seriously and wish there was a strong replacement ready ... one who can actually win. (NOT Bernie Sanders.)

As far as Trump, well he is ridiculous and even more ridiculously there is some chance he can be nominated by the republicans and even win the presidency. But the republicans do have some credible well qualified people running, particularly KASICH.

Bernie Sanders is the best for the common man in the US

[empireboy]

I hardly think anything Trump said means he is ready to start a nuclear war... This is the tactic of the left -- immediately throw in outrageous hyperbole - exaggerate - embellish and fabricate. Trump should have used the word Hawkish - but he is not a politico and used a word he thought would say the same thing. In fact he is saying the opposite of what the lefties are saying here on TVF. Trump is saying he is hawkish in some circumstances but is strongly implying that jumping into the Iraq war was at the wrong time - wrong place.

Also while saying said in the interview that he would take steps to take the oil fields away from ISIS control and remove their funding... Trump is saying this with the best information he has available as a civilian done without an military intelligence briefing. The good General differs with Trump - but the General is operating with full intelligence briefings.

When Trump wins the Republican Primary he will be provided with intelligence briefings on nearly every critical situation around the world.

Keep things in context and on topic. Not one word in the article was about nuclear war...

Well said!

[Boon Mee]

Steady on, boys. They're hauling Al Gore from the Bullpen as we speak!

[thaibeachlovers]

Steady on, boys. They're hauling Al Gore from the Bullpen as we speak!

Yes. They must know that HRC is for the big boot or they wouldn't be THAT desperate. Al against the Donald- sounds entertaining.

They aren't still panning Trump on the military front so guess it wasn't that big a deal.

[Scott]

Off-topic, inflammatory posts and replies removed. Please stay on topic.

[arjunadawn]

"I am the most militaristic person you will ever meet."

OK, a draft dodger claiming to be "militaristic"......

For a while I found him amusing (like your simpleton nephew that says whatever is on his mind at a prissy family reunion) but now he's just annoying. But I knew this was coming as he is now increasingly having to answer questions about his policy on different matters.

I do not know what to make of this man. I found this statement to be alarming, at best. It is not so much that he would actually be a military aggressor it was that the choice of words reflected a cavalier use of very charged language- the language of war. Being supportive of the military and keenly aware of their use in extending diplomacy is not summed up by being militaristic. Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Khan, Alexander, etc, ad infinitum were militaristic. Who wants to hear such language in the current age? Not me. Yet I do believe the US is at war whether wanted or not and I do believe our enemies must not ever accept we have removed the military as an extension of diplomacy, as Obama has done. If this was roughly the approach Trump was going for he did not remotely achieve this.

[NickJ]

If it came down to Trump or Hillary.......Trump in a second.

[thaibeachlovers]

"I am the most militaristic person you will ever meet."

OK, a draft dodger claiming to be "militaristic"......

For a while I found him amusing (like your simpleton nephew that says whatever is on his mind at a prissy family reunion) but now he's just annoying. But I knew this was coming as he is now increasingly having to answer questions about his policy on different matters.

I do not know what to make of this man. I found this statement to be alarming, at best. It is not so much that he would actually be a military aggressor it was that the choice of words reflected a cavalier use of very charged language- the language of war. Being supportive of the military and keenly aware of their use in extending diplomacy is not summed up by being militaristic. Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Khan, Alexander, etc, ad infinitum were militaristic. Who wants to hear such language in the current age? Not me. Yet I do believe the US is at war whether wanted or not and I do believe our enemies must not ever accept we have removed the military as an extension of diplomacy, as Obama has done. If this was roughly the approach Trump was going for he did not remotely achieve this.

I believe that he supports the military as his statements on the vets prove. I don't think he wants to invade the world.

Your examples of Mao, Pol Pot are IMO wrong. They were simply genocidal and not militaristic. To my knowledge Mao only fought the Japanese in defence of China, and the Americans in defence of Korea, and Pol Pot killed his own people. Far as I know they didn't try to conquer other countries to create an empire.

I could be wrong, of course.

[arjunadawn]

You make a fair point, other than Mao killed far more of his own people- toward these actions I said militaristic. But its fair to say my examples maybe suck. I remain convinced the US, as current policy, does not seek to win a darn thing in the IS morass. I am uncertain what [his] statements on the vets prove. I think what annoyed me most was his giving ammunition to his opponents. Yea, that's it. Because I basically like Trump and remain convinced he would be a better president than any other running, and certainly any other in this half of my lifetime. I would rather he choose a better wording. He had me in his corner when he pounded McCain.

[thaibeachlovers]

You make a fair point, other than Mao killed far more of his own people- toward these actions I said militaristic. But its fair to say my examples maybe suck. I remain convinced the US, as current policy, does not seek to win a darn thing in the IS morass. I am uncertain what [his] statements on the vets prove. I think what annoyed me most was his giving ammunition to his opponents. Yea, that's it. Because I basically like Trump and remain convinced he would be a better president than any other running, and certainly any other in this half of my lifetime. I would rather he choose a better wording. He had me in his corner when he pounded McCain.

I thought he only attacked McCain because McCain attacked him first, and I'm sure he regretted going too far. He did take it back, somewhat, on O'Reilly.The Donald always attacks those that attack him, as Kelly can attest.

His statements on the vets are pretty clear. They have not been looked after by the VA ( just what have all those GOP politicians been doing to fix the VA? Nothing by the look of it ), and he will fix it if he gets elected.

I don't know how he would do if elected. No doubt Congress would use any opportunity to take revenge on him, rather than get on with the job. Which illustrates how little I think of them. I'm sure the bureaucratic system is almost impossible to reform, and it stops any progress.

[thaibeachlovers]

How much Military experience did FDR have, eh?

Or, for that matter, Abe Lincoln.

Get real, dudes...

He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913-1920. Not that we had much of one. During his 4 bankruptcies, Trump was Captain of a sinking ship.

Ah, so he was a bureaucrat, LOL.

[Thakkar]

"I am the most militaristic person you will ever meet."

OK, a draft dodger claiming to be "militaristic"......

For a while I found him amusing (like your simpleton nephew that says whatever is on his mind at a prissy family reunion) but now he's just annoying. But I knew this was coming as he is now increasingly having to answer questions about his policy on different matters.

I get your point. He got five deferments. He can't back up his bombastic "make America great" hubris with realistic policy pronouncements. But I wouldn't be as dismissive of him.

Trump may be an a-hole, but, it turns out, a lot of Americans WANT an a-hole president. Trump has quite a strategy (for the Republican primaries anyway): go after the a-hole vote. In an unlikely coalition, he's got BOTH the "let's use our cellphones in the cinema" and "let's shoot the guy using the cellphone in the cinema" votes sewn up.

T

Edited August 16, 2015 by Thakkar

[thaibeachlovers]

"I am the most militaristic person you will ever meet."

OK, a draft dodger claiming to be "militaristic"......

For a while I found him amusing (like your simpleton nephew that says whatever is on his mind at a prissy family reunion) but now he's just annoying. But I knew this was coming as he is now increasingly having to answer questions about his policy on different matters.

Hmmmm. The only draft dodger president was GW and he actually started a war.

[arjunadawn]

I thought he only attacked McCain because McCain attacked him first, and I'm sure he regretted going too far. He did take it back, somewhat, on O'Reilly.The Donald always attacks those that attack him, as Kelly can attest.

His statements on the vets are pretty clear. They have not been looked after by the VA ( just what have all those GOP politicians been doing to fix the VA? Nothing by the look of it ), and he will fix it if he gets elected.

I don't know how he would do if elected. No doubt Congress would use any opportunity to take revenge on him, rather than get on with the job. Which illustrates how little I think of them. I'm sure the bureaucratic system is almost impossible to reform, and it stops any progress.

For me? I care less why he attacked McCain. McCain, always erroneously assigned the spokesmen for vets, has been a great problem for veterans. McCain is a neoconservative marionette. When Trump addressed the McCain and Graham comedy duo I took extra notice. Under the banner of what really could be called "Militaristic," these two senators have been neck deep in all manner of covert and overt military intrigue. Few can claim to having their picture taken with a known terrorist. McCain can. Besides sending men and women off to die for gambles and foreign imperialism McCain has a less than stellar relationship with veterans. I asked previously does a hero always retain that revered status amongst his people or is it fair game to measure the hero by the totality of his subsequent actions? In this event, McCain is a stain to the uniform. Militaristic applied more accurately to those mentioned above.

The concept of State Leviathan applies to the current US system of government, where it has so outgrown its mandates that it serves only itself, and consumes to justify its existence and expansion. Look at the regulatory world of executive agencies, from EPA to IRS, ad nauseum. They have long ago left the world of enacting legislation based on congressional intent and daily invent novel regulations that have the binding quality of law, cannot be debated, and cannot be appealed. This is the Kraken that Trump would have to address before he could make headway. Militaristic? If McCain, Graham and the neocons are the standard anything is an improvement.