President Trump says he has yet to visit troops overseas because he is 'very busy'

[GMDino]

I left the photo so we could see the one piece of paper on his "very busy" desk.

Point 2:  As soon as he is asked about something he has NOT done he immediately turns to his only way of defense which is to use hyperbole for the things he claims to have done instead.

Does he HAVE to visit the troops?  Of course not.  But imagine if Obama had not gone for two plus years...lol...the oath takers would be calling for a coup because he doesn't "support the troops".

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-president-trump-is-very-busy-20181017-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0ibLIuEnStgj1VOPVjm6gUDNk_Iew3aZ6fYbwadjwX6VLg19eggDsIofs

Quote:

Donald Trump says visiting the troops is something he would potentially do. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)


President Trump has yet to make a trip overseas to visit the troops because he is “very busy.”

The commander-in-chief spoke to the Associated Press Tuesday, and said that while he doesn’t feel it’s “overly necessary” to pay a visit to a military base in a combat zone like Iraq or Afghanistan, he plans to at some point in the future.

“I’ve been very busy with everything that’s taking place here,” he said, before diving into a rambling boast about the state of the country’s economy and unemployment rates.

“I’m doing a lot of things. But (visiting) is something I’d do. And do gladly. Nobody has been better at the military. Hey, I just got them a pay raise. I haven’t had a pay raise in 11 years… I have done more for the military than any president in many, many years.”


All the things President Trump is ‘too busy’ to do – even though he finds time to tweet and golf »

Trump also noted that he needs to keep the troops abroad for the sake of the country’s safety.

“The main thing I have to see is, I have to see safety at home… If I think people are likely to do some very bad things in faraway places to our homeland, I’m going to have troops there for a period of time,” he said.

For some veterans, Trump’s promises to one day pay the troops a visit ring hollow.

“Veterans aren’t surprised Trump has no interest in going to war, after he used his wealth and elite connections to avoid the draft five times while working class people went in his place,” Alexander McCoy, a former USMC Sergeant and spokesperson for Common Defense, a grassroots progressive veterans organization with 150,000 members, told the Daily News.

“What makes us even more furious isn’t that he won’t visit us in combat zones now, but that he continues to recklessly escalate and extend the pointless quagmire wars he’s making us fight, while back at home he’s using us as political props for his agenda of using bigotry to divide us so he can give tax cuts to himself and his fellow billionaires.”

But for others, there was an understanding that the President has bigger fish to fry.

“We all prefer to have a president that gets things done and we really don’t care what reason he gives the press,” said Michael Kelly, a former Master sergeant and the man behind the website Vets for Trump.

“The thing Trump haters do not understand about veterans, especially those like myself that served over 20 years, is we do what we do for our country. We do not do it for visits from our President. Frankly, any President who visits the troops overseas only gets to meet a select few. It is not that big of a morale booster.”

Presidents visiting active military personnel has long been an American tradition, and President Obama headed to Iraq just four months after he entered office.

He would go on to visit military personnel five more times in Germany, Afghanistan and South Korea. George W. Bush also headed overseas multiple times to meet with troops, as did Presidents Clinton, George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, among others.

Too busy.  

Can golf almost every weekend.  Attend political rallies multiple times a week.  Can't go to visit any of the troops anywhere because he's "Too busy".

Don't worry republicans: Your daddy would have made your class's show but he works hard and just doesn't have time.  He'll bring you some candy (if he remembers on the way home from the bar...daddy needs his "relax time").  Just be quiet when he gets home.  Daddy is so busy he doesn't want bothered with things or he gets angry...and starts tweeting.

[HarleyDog]

Nothin wrong with this really. Troops prefer he stays at home anyway. Too much extra duty trying to prepare for a general, little lone a POTUS. Who the heck wants that?

[GMDino]

(10-19-2018, 07:48 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: Nothin wrong with this really. Troops prefer he stays at home anyway. Too much extra duty trying to prepare for a general, little lone a POTUS. Who the heck wants that?

I agree if that was the reason he gave...but he said HE is too busy.

He allegedly wanted this job.  Part of the job is seeing the troops.  But he's "busy".

[Yojimbo]

He's just a chicken shit coward that's afraid to visit the war zones he's currently in charge of. Way to lead from the back.

I’m surprised he didn’t use his tried and true method of avoiding war zones, bone spurs.

[Benton]

There's a mess here. I'm fine with him not being overseas... provided he's working to fix things here.

Which he could probably do more effectively if he wasn't distracted by golf, lawsuits by past dalliances, most of his friends going to jail, etc, etc.

[jj22]

Pro Vets/Military my ass... I agree, if this was Obama could you imagine the outrage?

Too busy when he has golfed 82% of his Presidency? And people are ok with this? The same people claiming if you kneel during some song from the 1800's you disrespect the troops and Military?

Then again why would a man who professes his love for Putin and Kim, both of which want our military destroyed, visit our Troops?

And why would his supporters and defenders who are fine with his love for those who want to see America blown off the map care about our Troops or if he visits them?

[Belsnickel]

(10-19-2018, 11:39 AM)Benton Wrote: There's a mess here. I'm fine with him not being overseas... provided he's working to fix things here.

Which he could probably do more effectively if he wasn't distracted by golf, lawsuits by past dalliances, most of his friends going to jail, etc, etc.

Yup. I also agree with Harley, the work that goes into a POTUS visit overseas is tremendous (and expensive), but Dino points it out well that wasn't his excuse. His excuse is that he is too busy. And were he doing his job rather than golfing, rage tweeting, and displaying his autocratic desires at rallies I would have zero problem with his answer.

[*bfine32*]

Commanders In Chief should make a concerted effort to visit their Troops in Combat Environments, but a photo op in a "Safe Zone" can give the Troops a sense of "He's with us". Now I don't expect him to join anyone in the foxhole; however, there are many safe areas where all the President's men couldn't make it any safer. so there's no need for the additional security.

[fredtoast]

As much as I trash Trump this is really a non-issue with me.

Presidents visiting troops are usually just self serving photo opportunities. Same as when they show up after natural disasters. The camera crews and security are usually just in the way of people who are really working.

[ballsofsteel]

He is much too busy holding his campaign rally's across the nation. Talk about costly.

[*michaelsean*]

(10-19-2018, 10:23 AM)Yojimbo Wrote: He's just a chicken shit coward that's afraid to visit the war zones he's currently in charge of. Way to lead from the back.

I’m surprised he didn’t use his tried and true method of avoiding war zones, bone spurs.

I don’t know if coward is a part of it whether he is one or not. I think they are in a pretty secure area. Probably safer than DC.

[Dill]

(10-19-2018, 02:34 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Commanders In Chief should make a concerted effort to visit their Troops in Combat Environments, but a photo op in a "Safe Zone" can give the Troops a sense of "He's with us". Now I don't expect him to join anyone in the foxhole; however, there are many safe areas where all the President's men couldn't make it any safer. so there's no need for the additional security.

Looks like Bfine and I are on the same page here.

I don't want to minimize the morale boost, which in my experience is very real, but I want to add there is another equally or more important reason for a Commander-in-chief to visit a war zone. It is not only to boost morale, but to gain some personal observation of ongoing operations, to personally meet people in charge of daily operations and see what, exactly, they are doing, and to meet foreign allies face to face.

I am sure Bfine will agree with me on a further point--things may look very different on the ground in Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan than they do back home or even in classified reports.  Even if a President is protected by security and steered from really hot spots, there is much he could assess about use of resources, interface with allies, actual effect on the ground, mood of troops. etc.  Provided he knows how to do that. Provided he is interested at all in foreign policy.

Bush and Obama may have stood for photo ops and pushed troops out of normal duty routines in to extra prep, but they were doing A LOT MORE THAN THAT once generals were briefing them, once they were talking to ordinary soldiers, and once they were in sit downs with local leaders and mid-level commanders.

[Dill]

(10-19-2018, 07:56 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I don’t know if coward is a part of it whether he is one or not. I think they are in a pretty secure area. Probably safer than DC.

No area in Afghanistan or Iraq is "safer than DC."  What safety there is would come primarily from the fact presidential visits to such places are unannounced and their itinerary is classified, and they are out quickly.  

Quite possible that "coward" is a part of it, and Germophobia, dislike of travel, discomfort outside fancy hotels and other plush surroundings.

[fredtoast]

(10-23-2018, 01:09 AM)Dill Wrote:  It is not only to boost morale, but to gain some personal observation of ongoing operations, to personally meet people in charge of daily operations 

Hmm, You mean meet the Generals face-to-face.  Now I think I know why Trump does not visit the military




Donald Trump in Iowa: "I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me."

"The generals have been reduced to rubble," Trump said. "They have been reduced to a point where it's embarrassing to our country. …

[*Nately120*]

The guy stands and mumble-sings the National Anthem, what else do you want him to do?