On Monday, October 3rd, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told a room full of veterans that people like me, combat veterans with PTSD aren’t able to handle the things we saw in combat. He said this like maybe I was viewing war through some television monitor and simply had to turn it off because I was too weak to witness wild dogs eating the dead, people trying to kill me with small arms or mortars, or maybe the people burning alive in cars or drowning in the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. After all, if he can sit through American Sniper and think it’s the best thing Clint Eastwood’s done since talking to an empty chair on the GOP stage, than I can quit my whining about all my PTSD, right?
Trump is a fungus. He’s a village idiot actively drowning himself by yelling at the clouds for raining. I don’t care about these remarks. He so obviously has no clue what he’s talking about that it really doesn’t affect me, but if he becomes president, how he’ll try to dismantle the VA will very much affect me. How he’ll destroy our environment will affect me. The sideshow clowns he appoints to the Supreme Court will very much affect me. So in a way these last remarks have helped me come to a very difficult realization. We’ve all been shocked and appalled by something that leaked out of his spray-tanned gourd, but the truth is, we need to start looking past the freakshow to the future. I never thought I’d say this, but I am voting for Hillary Clinton.
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We cannot allow any chance of Trump getting elected and then imploding under the weight of his own hubris as the leader of the Free World. This is why we can’t vote for a Third Party. This is hard to say because I know the two-party system is broken. I know all about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and I believe she rigged the election against Bernie Sanders. I know how she stepped down from her position as DNC chair after being caught, and then worked for Hillary the next day. The fact that Tim Kaine being tapped for VP looks like Hillary paying him back for stepping down as the DNC chair to allow Wasserman-Schultz to rig this election pisses me off. All of it does, but too much is at stake here.
I get that people don’t trust Hillary or Bill Clinton. I don’t either. Even if I dismiss Whitewater, the death of Vince Foster, and Troopergate, even if I could ignore the sex scandal her husband caused as the sitting president, in the Oval Office, with an intern, even if I could accept the Benghazi investigation’s findings, even if I could chalk up her grossly negligent handling of top secret emails as being ignorant of new technologies and military etiquette, I still don’t want to vote for her. I say this as a man with two daughters who would love a woman president, a combat veteran who wants the best for his country, and a teacher who really cares for his students’ future.
I don’t trust Hillary Clinton, and she doesn’t get a free pass just because I can’t stomach Trump. I hate that I’m being pressured into voting for her. I hate that once she’s elected there is virtually nothing I can do if she changes her mind about TPP again, if she lets Wall Street money write policy, or if she is brought down by another scandal. What are we going to tell our daughters if the first woman ever elected president is impeached for being corrupt or incompetent? I don’t want it to happen, but I feel it’s a possibility.
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All this said, a Trump president means a racist, misogynistic, incompetent, selfish buffoon who places money over all else in the White House. Who we elect as president is supposed to be the exact opposite of Trump. Our president should be the best of us, not the living embodiment of the worst parts of humanity. Here’s a list of just a few facts that show Trump’s character:
- He hired actors to cheer for him at his campaign launch during which he said Mexico is sending their rapists over our border.
- He said John McCain isn’t a war hero because he was captured and became a prisoner of war in a Vietnam torture camp.
- Megyn Kelly is a horrible reporter and unfair to him because she was menstruating.
- He gets his foreign policy from the Sunday news shows.
- He asks the country how stupid they are because some voted for another candidate.
- He tells the world he watched thousands of Muslims cheer with his own eyes as the Twin Towers fell.
- Trump mocks a disabled reporter for writing an unflattering article.
- He says he wants to ban an entire religion from immigrating into our country, known around the world as the Melting Pot.
- He not only incites violence against opposing voices at his rallies but then promises to pay the legal fees for people beat the them. And then doesn’t pay the legal fees when someone gets into legal trouble for doing what he asked.
- He questions the Pope’s faith and then declares that the Pope is disgraceful for questioning his faith.
I can keep going… for a very long time. In fact I will. Here are just a few more:
He doesn’t mind that David Duke is endorsing him. He tells a global audience there’s nothing wrong with his penis size at a debate. He says he knows about cyber attacks because his ten-year old son is great on computers. Don’t forget he’s being sued for fraud because of Trump University, hired the illegal immigrants his “wall” would keep out, refused to pay contractors, has gone bankrupt a number of times, says his daughter is sexy and he would date her, body shamed a former Miss Universe, has a shady relationship with Cuba and Russia, hasn’t paid a dime in taxes in almost twenty years, insulted Purple Heart recipients, and is under investigation for raping a thirteen year-old girl.
I’m not defending Hillary. I’m stating the facts about a psychotic megalomaniac who has the audacity to run for the highest office when he should be in jail. No one who truly believes in American values should even entertain the notion of voting for Donald Trump. No one who has the capacity for patriotism, empathy, decency, or any condition that makes us human should even think about voting for such a vile piece of human waste.
Does this make Hillary Clinton my favorite choice? Of course not, but it does make her my candidate. No one wants to live through at least four more years of corrupt politics, but he alternative would be disastrous for our communities, our country, and the world.
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Photo courtesy of author.
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For a first hand account of Sean’s experience in the Iraq war, please read The Breech.
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Join our #StopTrump task force today.
(Weekly conference calls with like-minded people who want to stop a candidate who is racist, sexist, bigoted, incites violence and is demonstrating no competence for the job at hand.)
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Hillary also said Mexico is sending criminals to the USA
And now we have gun running through a Libyan arms dealerwho, hired by the Clinton state dept, that when it went bad was made the scapegoat and investigated for three years. When he threatened to blow the lid off, the prosecution suddenly just dropped the case. This is fricking unbelievable. You can’t make this stuff up. And yet you still think this is about the best candidate and notwrapping up power. They’re so blatant about it now. That tells me they’re close to complete control over us.
You get Donald Trump in office, corporations and wealthy people will have complete control over us.
Lol. We already do. That and the political elite have formed an unholy alliance. You do know Hillary’s love affair with wall st. Why do you think Obama bailed them out?? C’mon gg, get real here.
OL, No you don’t. You need to get real that conservative people like Reagan, and Bush, Jr., John Boehner, Newt Gringrich, etc., have and always will have a love affair with Wall Street and why do you think they bailed out Wall Street plus giving them a free pass and not sending the CEOs to heavy prison time?
Obama did not prosecute ONE person for the financial crisis. Bush did prosecute Enron
George Bush did not prosecute the bankers either and not have bail them out. So what about Enron? Kenneth Lay died before he got send to prison and Jeffery Skilling is scheduled to be released in 2019.
Regan’s dead, G. It’s okay, he can’t hurt you anymore.
Yeah and FDR is dead; however, it hasn’t stopped the wealthy conservative people from hating him and his policies have hurted this country for the last 46 years.
Meant to say that Reagan’s policies have hurted this country for the last 46 years not FDR.
Hart-Celler Act did far more damage then either President yet people seldom mention this for fear being called racist…
I agreed especially when the corporate leaders using the act along with the H1B Vista so they would not have to hire American workers plus the Taft–Hartley Act passed being 1947, Deregulation of the economy and sending jobs overseas starting under Reagan hurt the country as well; yet, many conservatives don’t want to admit they were wrong because then they would be accused of being anti-American by other Americans and being accused and ostracized by American business people for being anti-business and pro-government.
How exactly could Reagans policies have “hurtled” this country for 46 years when he was elected in the eighties?
So this Libayan Arms dealer learned what we ( most of us) already knew: Never trust the government.
Yeah and Oliver North did arms dealing with Iran in order to supply the Contra fighters and yet, the Reagan Administration was still given a free pass by a lot of conservatives and protected by the Republican Party and the mainstream media.
I’m tired of the whining, “she’s so flawed but she’s the lesser of two evils.” Everyone is flawed including Obama and Sanders. Every day Hillary Clinton wears a bullet proof vest on her flawed and aging body. She stands in front of people who have been incited by Trump to shoot her and says calm, rational, intelligent things in the hope of saving our country and the world from a psychotic narcissist, a pathological liar. She is flawed but there is a flaw in everything. It is through those flaws that light gets in. The exaggeration and distortion of HRC’s… Read more »
Actually, voting for the most qualified human being in history for the office should be a good thing, not an ‘oh well, I guess I’ll have to considering the alternative’ choice regardless if you are a military veteran or whatever. I’ve had enough of these arguments. Vote for non-fascism or get just what you deserve afterwards!
who is the fascist? everybody is a nazi too, or war criminals. Bush, Obama, Nixon, Clinton, Trump are all fascists right? maybe you need to study what fascism is.
ps. the 60s are over
what do we deserve… as baby killers?
I love the GMP and the articles here are always a good read but wow your comments section is overrun by frothing MRAs and fascists. I guess having ‘Men’ in the title made them assume the content would be the usual hate and bigotry – glad you disappoint them. As for this election… I don’t think Americans know (or particularly care tbh) how many people outside the US are watching with horrified disbelief as someone as unstable and sociopathic as Trump edges closer to the White House. It’s frightening to see how easily people are swayed by fear and hatred… Read more »
Cuck a doodle doo.
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I don’t even like trump but all this is taking what he was saying completely out of context. I have a mental disorder myself. The very definition of PTSD is that they saw something they weren’t able to handle. There is of course no shame in this and he made no indication that should see any shame in this. He made no negative connotations for not being able to handle it. Just a bunch of SJW stuff taking one little phrase that they didn’t like making it to mean something it was never meant to me.
You are so wrong. And you’re very ignorant about PTSD. Actually anyone who defends trump is always wrong. But let’s just start with the harm Trump causes… The mental health community strives to eradicate the (false) stigma that needing help in any way equates to weakness. Because it does not. What Trump said..implying that PTSD is a sign of weakness and not being able to “handle it” is counterproductive to those needing help, and their willingness to seek it. PTSD is a stress reaction to a traumatic event or experience, especially an experience that one has no control over. For… Read more »
Holy shit you’re ignorant. Look, I don’t like Trump but if you’re going to QUOTE THE GUY maybe quote the entire statement not the one little sound byte the media felt neccessary to spoon feed you. Here: I’ll do the legwork for you, since apparently you can’t be bothered. First, here’s the question he was asked: “Good morning Mr. Trump. As you mentioned there is a tragic suicide epidemic among our veterans, among our military and their families. While the military and the V.A. are working on the problem, their efforts continue to fall short. There are a number of… Read more »
Have solid evidence that number of faith-based programs stops suicides by veterans than other programs? If faith in God helps veterans, then soldiers would not be suffering from PTSD in the first place.
The hell are you even TALKING about??
Asking the question if there is solid evidence about whether faith base programs are more effective at stopping suicides. Also mocking religion because from what I have seen, religion hasn’t done a thing to stop wars, even poverty, bring love and peace to the work, etc, etc, etc, even though they have been around for 2,000 years or more.
There was this Afro-American Army general who put his comments on Facebooks saying that he wish the soldiers who suffer from PTSD would shut up and suck it up. Shows you how well he care about the troops.
Rich there is a reason some people return without a problem while others do not after having experienced the same things. Some are stronger emotionally than others.
You are completely ignorant if you believe what you wrote. I don’t know how in good conscience you can endorse Hilary. She’s already been in the White House – she has a track record (train wreck) we can look at. It is a complete nightmare! Hillary is the one thing this country cannot afford.
What makes you think that the track records (train wrecks) of Reagan and Bush, Jr., were any better before they became president and after they became president?
If you’re under 50 you really need to read this. If you’re over 50, you lived through it, so share it with those under 50. Amazing to me how much I had forgotten!When Bill Clinton was president, he allowed Hillary to assume authority over a health care reform. Even after threats and intimidation, she couldn’t even get a vote in a democratic controlled congress. This fiasco cost the American taxpayers about $13 million in cost for studies, promotion, and other efforts.Then President Clinton gave Hillary authority over selecting a female attorney general. Her first two selections were Zoe Baird and… Read more »
And Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Caspar Weinberger serve in government a number of times and we saw how their records did not help America and they should have been serving in prison. Cap the Knife Weinberger’s blade was certainly dull when it came to cracking down on waste and fraud in the Pentagon when he was Secretary of Defense. Dick Cheney after Watergate made it his personal mission that the president’s authority and power would not be subject to the US Constitution. “Hillary avoided indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice during the Starr investigation by repeating, “I do… Read more »
Because they aren’t running for president right now. You might as well be asking what Washington’s record on the matter was like.
Yeah, and Republicans still praise Reagan even though the evidence is out that his policies were a failure.
Nice of you to look back and armchair quarterback, gg. Look. It’s not even the policies, you have and they have no idea if they’ll work. But what Reagan DIDdo was be a leader that convinced us well be fine. That’s the president’s job. They have no real influence on anything, although in recent years Congress has abdicated it’s job to the President. That makes no sense to me. But the President is all about foreign policy, Congress has domestic policy. This is why Obama is such a failure. No leadership. None. Clinton is the same cut. It’s not refund… Read more »
The Republicans and hard core conservatives keep applying the Laissez-faire res time and time again under Reagan and Bush, Jr., even though there was plenty of historical evidence that they did not work in the first place; yet, they keep doing it and expect different results. That is something you don’t understand. “But what Reagan DIDdo was be a leader that convinced us well be fine. That’s the president’s job.” Well Hoover, Bush, Sr., and Bush, jr. tried to convince the country that everything was fine and Hoover and Bush, Sr., lost in their second bid to become president of… Read more »
Besides. This is ALL about big government. That’s it. Nothing else. due to democratic plays over he past, we’re already probably too deep in big government to ever get out. But apparently many want even more. Trump at least purports to want to change all that, and THAT’S why the opposition from inside that rat’s nest is so huge. Sure he crass. But at least he’s a clear crass rather than the weasels in the dark there. Public education. Now dictates what you eat, what to wear, specifically culling Christianity out. all in the name of government. We’ll see what… Read more »
Whatever, Gee, a shocker. Another article on THE GMP that hates Trump. You tell me that you’d go into battle again under this other president candidate, because I wouldn’t. This is an absolute farce that she’s even there. the FBI, the DoJ will now we’ve found stoop to the lowest levels of American justice. This country is being run by a Mafia, in fact I’d trust the true Mafia long before this government. Thank a democrat for that bucko. The republicans are no prize either. Actually I want them all out. Because not one of 535 member’s EVER spoke up… Read more »
Don’t trust the Mafia with your own life, Mark.