Falsely suggesting that you served in a war that you did not serve in is a contemptible thing to do. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut did this on at least three occasions prior to becoming a candidate for the Senate. At two political events honoring veterans, one in 2007 and the other in 2008, he referred to the bad reception Vietnam veterans had received on returning home, but he did so in a way that suggested that he was one of them. At another veterans’ event in 2008, he went further and said, “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam.” In truth, Blumenthal received five scholastic deferments from that conflict before landing a spot in the Marine reserves. He spent no time in Vietnam and he should be criticized harshly for ever suggesting otherwise.
But here’s what Sen. Blumenthal did not do. He did not say that he was a war hero or ever describe being in Vietnam in any way. He did not say he served in Da Nang, nor did he concoct any war stories. What he did, which was unforgivable, was to speak in a way that intentionally conflated his Vietnam Era reserve service with others’ combat experience so he could claim a little extra credibility while speaking at veterans’ events.
I wish we could hold him permanently accountable for his horrible decision to do this, but it’s difficult when the president of the United States consistently lies about Blumenthal’s shameful record. The latest example from the president is little different from his many prior ones, except this time he appears to told the lies directly to high officials in the Vietnamese government.
I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?). His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud – he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2019
Again, Blumenthal never said he was in Da Nang and he never told war stories of his heroism. He served in the military during the Vietnam War but on three occasions he gave the strong impression that he had actually served in Vietnam. One one of those occasions, he explicitly and falsely stated that he had served in Vietnam, which he had not.
For whatever reason, simply retelling the true story of Blumenthal’s indefensible behavior is not enough for Trump. Seemingly every time that Sen. Blumenthal opens his mouth to criticize the president, the president responds by lying about Blumenthal’s record.
Because Blumenthal deserves to get raked over the coals for his misstatements for the rest of eternity, I’ve traditionally grimaced but tolerated Trump’s exaggerations. But I think telling these lies to foreign leaders is taking things several steps too far.
Maybe I am a hardass on matters like this, but I personally would never vote for anyone who had ever falsely claimed to have served in combat. I think a lot of people feel the way I do, which is why it ought to be sufficient to just tell the truth about Blumenthal. Nonetheless, he’s a U.S. Senator and he deserves a certain basic level of respect. He appears to be doing a very adequate job of representing his constituents and I happen to agree with him on most political matters, so I don’t find his presence in the Senate all that objectionable. But, regardless of how you feel about his political service, it should be obvious that it’s wrong for the president of the United States to travel to a foreign country and repeat outright lies and fabrications about a sitting senator.
This is such an egregious act on Trump’s part, that he’s forced me to do what I never thought I would, which is to offer this limited defense of Blumenthal’s disgraceful behavior.
Well, Martin, I think you are buying into the system that glorifies veterans as heroes. None of our wars going back to Vietnam have been remotely just and the glorification of the military is part and parcel of the corrupt military industrial complex. I don’t blame the veterans for this, and Blumenthal isn’t a hero for trying to benefit politically for his deceptions.
But, on a scale of 1 to 10 this is a 1. I don’t give a rat-damn about anybody’s service. I think we can honor veterans without making “war service” some kind of passport to public office.
Quite frankly, military experience is not what we need in leadership right now.
You don’t lie about doing combat.
It’s not a special rule. It’s a basic rule.
Vets tend not to take kindly to those who lie about their service, and understandably so. Watched a potential candidate a few years ago have to withdraw his candidacy after his own lies surfaced. It was an unforced error that guaranteed that seat would stay GOP for yet another term.
Why is this “the Rule”? Because veterans insist upon it? And why are we listening so much to veterans? Because of their “service”?
OK, I guess. I can honor that people take risks with their lives, but sorry it’s pure crap that we “honor” soldiers by putting them in public office.
There is just ZERO need for us to have the worlds’ largest military industrial complex. There is zero need for us to send these soldiers out to fight all these wars, rather than keeping them at home and spending the money on things we really need – like alternative energy systems so the human race will survive.
We have a legacy of war and conflict, and within THIS generation we need to overcome that or we will not survive.
The old ways are done. OR the human race is done and your children and grandchildren will very probably die in a global warming desert. That’s reality and it’s happening a lot quicker than even the most pessimistic scientists predicted 10 years ago.
Lyndon Johnson said in 1964: “we either learn to love each other or we must die.” Well, we haven’t learned to love each other yet in the last 50 years. Maybe it’s time now.
I think there’s a little TOO much “honoring our brave soldiers.”
Maybe the larger principle is that it is contemptible to just make shit up for whatever one perceives of as personal gain or power. The “rule” as I see it boils down to this: if someone seems too good to be for real, ask lots of questions. That applies whether one is lying about military service, or pretty much any other area of life. In the case of a political candidacy, this isn’t exactly a victimless crime: people donate money and time based on whatever premise they were sold only to find out they were in some way defrauded, and in the sort of red state region I live in guarantees that someone even more contemptible will continue to get re-elected and use that seat to hurt a nation’s worth of people (and create conditions for more of those wars that you are obviously wanting to stop).
I’m with you. It’s a stupid thing to say, but no worse than saying, “When I was a teacher the inner city” to mean that summer I helped the neighbor practice piano.
I have a relative, long deceased, who was legitimately a war hero in WW2. He commanded an infantry battalion during months of combat against German troops & was wounded in action. One can read accounts on the Web of how he personally carried wounded soldiers to safety. Of how he hunted down and killed snipers in a certain German village. Just a couple of examples. Yet he was a soft-spoken man who never spoke of his wartime service. I’ve often wondered how he would feel about the cult-like way our society now venerates veterans.
Our November 11 holiday–well, it used to be November 11–is called Veterans Day. In many countries, it’s a day to mark the end of WW1 and remember those who died in that war. Here it’s another day for cultish attention to the military, for parades, with nary a mention of WW1 at all. Last year, after reading too many Veterans Day e-mail exhortations from administrators in my Federal agency about thanking veterans for their services, I replied to one such message by asking when we were going to thank teachers for their service. Or postal carriers. Or every other category of civilians who serve the public. I never got a response.
Same experience as the HRC campaign where it was necessary to counter the flood of lies by defending her when I would have rather mowed the lawn.
We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!
My guess is that Commander Bone-Spurs didn’t talk about the non-existence of any medical records regarding his alleged condition.
This is a thoroughly bad man.
The President also wrote (how is Connecticut doing?).
Connecticut is part of the United States.
What an astoundingly horrible President.
Cohen didn’t really need to tell us in his testimony, but it’s plainly obvious that Trump could give a rat’s ass about this country. Lying as he did about Blumenthal should not surprise. He similarly disrespected the nation and our allies in the Oval Office with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister, even going so far as attempting to impress them by spilling classified information. He did the same thing in Helsinki, and damn near everywhere he’s been abroad, where a feature of his message is running down the US or past presidents in some form or fashion. He revels in it, and seems to go out of his way to do it.
I have never said this about any US president, including Bush W, who at the time was considered “the worst president ever” (the GOP keeps topping themselves when it comes to bad presidents) but Trump does not deserve the respect of the presidency. He’s trashed the office and shows no inclination to learn to respect it, nor does he care. And its clear he’s only out for himself.
How members of the military or anyone who calls themselves an American can still support this president when he is clearly not for them or this country just baffles me.
Thats some cartion villain level dickery from trump there.
As far as I can tell, Blumenthal did not claim to have served in combat. He claimed to have served in Vietnam. Many REMFS in Vietnam (and every war) did not experience actual combat. I know Vietnam vets who did their tours in Saigon and other places without ever coming under fire. Hell, my grandfather was in France during WWI and was never in combat. So, I’ll argue that to have claimed to have been there is bad, but not as bad as having falsely claimed to have fought there.