Radcen

What is the definition of “patriot”? Turns out the history and actual definition is long and complicated… which I think I will address in another article soon, it’s really quite interesting… but I have observed the current popular definition is something like this: “Love of our country and willing to defend and protect it and its institutions by what ever means necessary to preserve it.”

Most people would interpret “…whatever means necessary…” to mean serve in the military and be willing to fight.  I certainly include that, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface. It also means to help and support your country and society in ways such as voting, taking issues seriously, maybe run for office and serve in an honest and respectable way, not thwarting the country by being a criminal, and so on. It does not mean being a lackey for con artists. “America: Love it or leave it!” is not a patriotic mindset, it’s a destructive authoritarian philosophy that goes against the very freedoms America stands for. I don’t need to see 18 flag waving & bald eagle memes a day on your Facebook page, or an ‘FTB’ stick on your penis-gratifying F-250 with the balls bigger than yours on the trailer hitch, to know you’re a poser.  Superficial allegiance is empty and shallow. Talk is cheap, it’s what you DO, not what you say.

Having said all that, these are my definitions what I believe is patriotism is and what patriots are, or should be, based on what I mentioned in the first paragraph. Your definition may differ, and I’d certainly be open to hearing that. In doing research for this article I learned the historical definition and use in much deeper and varied, but for good or for bad language evolves constantly, so we have that, but I digress…

The problems come in when the concept of patriots and patriotism is perverted to the point that “blind hate” is spun as “blind love”, and that’s where we come into what Mr Donald Trump… you knew this was coming, didn’t you?… believes and his gullible sycophants parrot, so let’s go ahead and note some things a true and honest patriot does NOT do…

A true patriot does NOT…

…disparage a war hero.

“Amid audience laughter, the moderator, Republican pollster Frank Luntz, then interjected, “But he’s a war hero!”

Trump responded, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”

Later that day, Trump retweeted, with seeming approval, a web post headlined “Donald Trump: John McCain Is ‘A Loser,’” that recapped his exchange at the summit.”

and

“Trump remained fixated on McCain, one of the few prominent Republicans to continue criticizing him after he won the nomination. When McCain died, in August 2018, Trump told his senior staff, according to three sources with direct knowledge of this event, ‘We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral,’ and he became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. ‘What the f— are we doing that for? Guy was a f—ing loser,’ the president told aides.”

Fact check: Donald Trump did call John McCain a loser

…disparage a “Gold Star Family” (family of a service member who dies in combat).

“Khan and his wife, Ghazala Khan, gained national attention after they spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. Khan said in his speech that Trump had “sacrificed nothing and no one,” for his country. The Khans’ son, Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq in 2004.”

Gold Star Father Khizr Khan Says Trump Has The “Soul Of A Coward”

…cancel a planned memorial ceremony for war dead or call service members who die in combat “losers” and “suckers”.

“When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.”

Emphasis in bold mine.

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers    (Warning: Paywall)

…request that disabled soldiers be excluded and removed from a military parade because they don’t want to see them.

“President Donald Trump did not want injured veterans to be present at a military parade because he believed it would make spectators uneasy, The Atlantic reported Thursday.

“Nobody wants to see that,” Trump said during a White House meeting ahead of a planned military parade in 2018…”

Trump didn’t want wounded veterans to attend a military parade because ‘nobody wants to see that,’ report says

…take credit for legislation they had nothing to do with.

“The president frequently touts his support for US veterans and their families and has falsely taken credit more than 150 times for the passage of the Veterans Choice Act of 2014. Trump was not president at the time, and his predecessor, Barack Obama, signed the bill into law.”

My comment:  The Act was sponsored by John McCain, no less.  😝    Claiming to hate a man then stealing his work.  Oh, the irony is delicious.

<same link as above> <Is this an “Ibid”>)

…dismiss trauma and wounds by soldiers injured.

“President Donald Trump said Wednesday that U.S. service members treated for concussion symptoms after Iranian airstrikes earlier this month had “headaches,” adding it was “not very serious.”

and

“The commander in chief also said traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, known as the signature wounds of post-9/11 wars, are less severe than losing a limb.

“No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen,” Trump said. “I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war.

“No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries, no,” he added.”

President Trump Downplays Severity of Troops’ Head Injuries After Iranian Attack

…divert approved money from legitimate military projects to serve military members and their families for their own pet projects.

“Most of the nearly $10 billion that the Trump administration diverted from the armed services to build barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border will never be seen again, Pentagon and congressional officials confirmed Friday.

That includes some of the money diverted from military construction funds and all the money former President Donald Trump had reprogrammed from a variety of other Pentagon initiatives, such as National Guard equipment, a new amphibious assault ship for the Navy, F-35 fighter jets for the Marine Corps, Osprey tilt-rotors for carrying forces to battle and C-130J transport planes.”

Most of Pentagon billions moved to border wall not recoverable

…avoid military service by dodging the draft with (paid for, most likely, my suspicion) specious and untrue medical exemptions.

“…the diagnosis of bone spurs came from a Queens, New York podiatrist who had a relationship with Trump’s father, Fred.

“Donald Trump’s excuse doesn’t add up, but it does explain his disrespect for our service members and veterans,” said Haley communications director Nachama Soloveichik. “A man who went to elaborate lengths to avoid the uniform at all costs can’t understand the selfless sacrifice American heroes make.”

Side note: Even Adolf Hitler served… volunteered… for the Army and fought in battle… valiantly.  And spare me the Goldwin’s Law crapola, the point is true.

Haley Campaign Press Release – Donald Trump and the Mystery of the Spontaneous Bone Spurs

…advocate for the elimination of the Constitution.

“In December 2022, Donald Trump called for the termination of the United States Constitution, citing his long-debunked Big Lie of a stolen election. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

Side note: Per this article very few elected Congresspeople have repudiated these comments. Surprisingly, both my Senators (Grassley and Ernst) have. My House Representative (Hinson) has not.

9 out of 10 Republicans silent on Trump’s calls to terminate the Constitution

…openly advocate they will be a dictator.  Twice!

“In his own words, he is promising to rule as a dictator on ‘day one,’ use the military against the American people, punish those who stand against him, condone violence done on his behalf, and put his own revenge and retribution ahead of what is best for America. Bottom line: Trump is a danger to the Constitution and a threat to our democracy,” Singer continued.”

My thoughts:  Trump says… Trump says… blah blah blah.  🙄  Trump says lots of things.

Trump says ‘a lot of people like it’ when he floats the idea of being a dictator

…and the biggie… a patriot would NEVER instigate and attempt an insurrection for the sole purpose of ending our country as we know it by spitting in the eyes of real true American Patriots.

“The witnesses — ranging from many of Trump’s closest aides to law enforcement to some of the rioters themselves — detailed Trump’s “premeditated” actions in the weeks ahead of the attack and how his wide-ranging efforts to overturn his defeat directly influenced those who brutally pushed past the police and smashed through the windows and doors of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The central cause was “one man,” the report says: Trump.”

Note #1: As of this writing Trump’s legal status regarding this event is undetermined.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-lit-that-fire-of-capitol-insurrection-jan-6-committee-report-says

Note #2: While the “United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol” labels the events of January 6, 2021, as “insurrection”, that legal label is outdated (as is “treason”) and legally vague, very difficult to prove in court. The ‘meatier’ and more enforceable crime is “sedition”, and is basically treason and insurrection combined, but easier to prove in court. At least two participants have been convicted of seditious conspiracy, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and former Proud Boys National Chairman Enrique Tarrio.

2 more Oath Keepers sentenced to prison terms for Jan. 6 Capitol riot

and

Jan. 6 prosecutions: A look at cases, charges by the numbers

Conclusion…

…Donald Trump did and/or said all these things. If nothing else the man is consistent.  Donald Trump is not a patriot. This is 11… let me say that again for those in the back… ELEVEN examples of anti-patriotic viewpoints of Mr Trump, all supported with credible and verifiable links and sources.

To make it worse are his gullible sycophant supporters who double down on this patriotic perversion. Some of them are people I know who would never have endorsed or condoned this perspective as recent as ten years ago.  How many times does a man have to look you in the face, and brazenly lie to you, for you to finally figure out he’s lying to you and is not what he says he is?  Seriously, people!  🤦‍♂️

If after reading this and considering the information provided you still take his side there’s no hope for you.  You are beyond redemption.  You are also NOT a patriot yourself.

The choice is yours.