(This caricature of "patriot" Donald Trump is by DonkeyHotey.)Donald Trump has made a joke of demonstrating for equality recently, posing as a great patriot by denigrating those who kneel during the anthem. It has nothing to do with patriotism though -- just an effort to change the subject and make himself look good. He doesn't realize that standing for the anthem doesn't show patriotism -- supporting and defending the Constitution does.
But Trump doesn't really care about supporting our troops or their families. He demonstrated that when he attacked the Khans (a Gold Star family) during the 2016 campaign.
And like a leopard, he doesn't seem to be able to change his "spots". Four American soldiers were ambushed and killed in Niger. Two weeks later, Trump had not tweeted a word about that, and even worse, had not contacted the families of those soldiers.
When asked about that by the press, Trump immediately tried to pass the blame for his inaction by saying that previous presidents had not called the families of fallen soldiers. That was exposed as an outrageous lie by members of both the Bush II and Obama administrations. Both of those presidents contacted the Gold Star families and showed respect and caring for the soldiers and their families.
Trump also said he had contacted all of the families of fallen soldiers. That was also exposed as a lie, as members of several families said Trump had not contacted them in any form.
It turns out that actually may have been for the best. When Trump contacted the wife of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, he commented that the soldier "knew what he signed up for". He was supposed to be consoling the family on behalf of the nation -- not chiding them. His unfeeling comment was reported by Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida), who was with the widow when Trump called.
Trump could have apologized for his uncaring behavior, but his rampant narcissism won't let him do that (or ever admit he's made a mistake). Instead, he resorted to his favorite tactic -- LYING. he claimed he never said that. But the mother of Sgt. Johnson backed up Rep. Wilson, and said, Trump "did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband".
Trump's behavior shames himself and our nation -- and certainly is not proper behavior for a president. Phil Mudd, former director of the CIA's CounterTerrorist Center, puts it best when he said:
This guy has the empathy of a cockroach. From the day after his inauguration when he showed up at my former agency, the CIA, in front of the wall of fallen heroes, and spoke about the size of his inauguration. Fast-forwarding now nine months, and he can’t figure out his responsibility not only as the Commander-in-Chief, but as the consoler-in-chief.
