I joined the United States Marine Corps when I was 19 years old. Truth is, it was the best “mistake” I ever made. During boot camp I met and bonded with my brothers who to this day are still my family. We spent over 37 years as a team and went from Vietnam to Afghanistan and all over the world in between. During this time I served under nine presidents. Some of them I liked, some of them I didn’t. I didn’t always agree with their policies, however it never crossed my mind to disrespect one of them. We took an oath to obey the orders of the President of the United States. We respected the office of the Commander in Chief regardless of our personal feelings. That oath means something.
I would have never believed that the day would come in America that we would have a president who was convicted of 39 felonies. This dude would not even be capable of getting a job at Taco Bell! Here it is, a convicted felon is the Commander in Chief of the strongest military in the world. No experience in statesmanship or knowledge of how our military works. No knowledge of the Constitution that he took the oath to protect. This guy is playing GI Joe with our military. I refuse to call him “President” so I will refer to him as simply Trump.
Set aside all of the insults, lies and other insane things that we have seen and heard and let’s look at this. The abuse of power is outright shocking. The man who has applied for the job of our Commander In Chief has called us, the military, the powerhouse of the world, “suckers and losers.” He insulted John McCain and said he wasn’t a hero because he was captured. This insulted every POW who was ever taken prisoner of war. He insulted a Gold Star Family who lost their only son in combat. This was a huge disrespect to every family who has lost a loved one fighting for our country. Arlington is full of them and he pissed on every grave there.
He refused to take no for an answer when the American people spoke and he lost the election. We saw him incite a violent riot against our Congress and attack our Capital. As if this isn’t enough, he called in every General and Admiral in our Armed Forces to bow to him at Quantico. He dared them to leave their seats or they would lose their retirement. He bullied every 4 Star in that room and that is the ultimate disregard of respect.
Now we watch from the sidelines as he is deploying our National Guard into American cities of his choosing who didn’t support his radical bullshit in the election. There is no tangible reason for our military to arm themselves with assault weapons and turn them on the American people. There are no riots. There are no threats. There is no intimate danger. It’s a sociopathic act of a madman. Where were the National Guard on January 6?
There are not enough words for me to use to express my fear that the democracy that I fought for is on the line. Our freedoms that are our rights in the Constitution is at the biggest risk it has ever been. When a president acts beyond the scope of his Constitutional powers, members of his administration and the other branches of government must step in to stop him. If not, our nation faces not just a Constitutional crisis but also the dismantling of American democracy. Congress has thus far failed to serve as a check on executive overreach, perhaps out of fear of political retribution. It is falling to the courts to fulfill their Constitutional role in policing the executive branch. So what does this narcissistic nutjob do….he starts arresting the judges and members of our government who have called him out on his crimes. So far, the Supreme Court has made it difficult for the lower courts to enforce their orders against President Trump’s apparent overreach. Five justices have largely permitted the administration to move forward with seemingly illegal or unconstitutional actions by overturning temporary restraining orders on technical or procedural bases but have not spoken on the merits of any of the appealed cases.
What is this guy’s double standard on immigrants? His own mother was a German immigrant who came to this country plus he has married TWO immigrants who have had his children.
Punishing political enemies, including law firms and universities by restricting their rights to practice in front of the government and threatening to cut off their clients. Now he has gone after Harvard. It almost makes you want to laugh but this is serious. No one or nothing is immune to his abusive overreach.
Today when I walk out of my front door and look up in the sky at the American flag blowing in the wind I still feel that pride it represents. When I hear the National Anthem, I still get tears in my eyes and those familiar chills down my back. We are coming upon Veterans Day and a lot of you will enjoy a day off of work to grill out or do what you like to do. How many of you will stop to think about us? How many of you ever allow it to cross your minds that this jerk is costing us benefits that we can’t afford to lose? Did you know that one of the first things that Trump did was sign an executive order that took away our benefits on the Affordable Care Act that paid for us to get help for PTSD? Now here he comes for the rest of it.
I have to ask, where is the common sense of the American people to allow this reality show host to take our Constitution hostage? Where is the Congress who took an oath just like we did to protect our Constitution? I ask myself today, what is going to happen to my grandbabies if we continue down the rabbit hole we are in right now? What is wrong with the American people who are tolerating this? You cannot say that you care anything about me, a Veteran and vote for him or anyone who is enabling him to break the law. You do not love this country and vote to put her in the hands of an aggressive maga half witted fool who has stacked our courts against us and put people in power who are loyal to only him. This is not democracy. It’s a dictator-wanna-be who is leading the gullible cult he commands right into the fire. This is not what I risked my life for. This is not what I took an oath to protect. This is not what I spent my life devoted to. This is not the America that it was before Trump came along. He must be stopped or everything that I fought for is gone. Do not celebrate Veterans Day and then bow to the treason that Trump is pushing. Instead, take a good long look at what you are doing to this country by enabling and supporting this deranged madman. Do not tell me how much you love your Veterans and then piss down our throats by voting to take our benefits.
An American Combat Veteran
United States Marine Corps