Trump booed at World Series

[Dill]

(11-01-2019, 03:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: The only military people I don't respect are the ones who try to act like they speak for everyone who has ever been in the military.  This was especially galling to me during the "kneeling during the anthem" debate.  Tons of self-righteous conservative Republican vets claiming the only reason they were upset was because they were military vets or their family members were.  But the fact is that there were lots of vets who had no problem with the kneeling during the anthem.

So when I hear some person claiming that he only opposes booing Trump because he is a military vet and was taught different I see right through that BS.  There are plenty of vets who would boo Trump.

So while I respect honorable vets, I am disgusted by vets who try to claim their own personal bias should be respected just because they are vets.

If you want any respect from me stop wrapping yourself in the flag to try and justify your defense of a guy who brags about being an asshole.

Military folks tend towards the conservative side for sure, but there are also "liberals" and Democrats and the like all up and down the ranks.  Some vets say they defended the US so people have a right to salute the flag or not. Authoritarian personality can/does flourish in the military, but it's still not a monolith. Unevenly distributed among the branches too. (LOL Yeah Marines. I'm lookin' at you!)

On my observation, many loved Bush at first, but as it became clearer that the Iraq war was unnecessary there was a great deal of grumbling about that. That didn't turn anti-Obamites back to Obama, but against "politicians in general."  "Both sides" were untrustworthy.  That's the Fox advantage; even if they don't vote Repub, they don't change sides. Hillary. Benghazi. Prep for an "outsider" to run for office and do even worse.

I have known some who loved Trump and look past statements about McCain that would have gotten Obama lynched.  A lot are confused though. Whole families understand that Trump could put their loved one in harm's way on a conspiracy-inspired whim, against advice of military advisors, but he is not Hillary and "loves the military." 

You know, there is a difference between enlisted and officers, too. Officers cannot publicly criticize or contradict the president and cabinet officials at all.  I remember when Clinton was heading towards impeachment and a group of Marine officers got in trouble for publicly calling for his impeachment.   https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/10/20/commander/

You may remember that some military swallowed the birther crock so deeply they refused to deploy because Obama could not be a legitimate president. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stefan-frederick-cook-sol_n_231383  One was even an officer.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/birther-terry-lakin-dismissed-army-sentenced-months-prison/story?id=12414886

From this history, it seems "respect for the office" has a lot to do with who is in office.

It must astonish civilians that Trump has yet to inspire OBama/Clinton levels of revulsion in the military.  But I'm guessing lots of staff officers know very well the danger of a leader who knows more than the generals and is desperately looking to foreign policy for a domestic "win." Lots of inner conflict among military members these days.  And vets.