I have to disagree with Mr. Jonathan Panton’s letter titled, “America needs a new leader” [Viewpoints, July 3] in which he states, “America deserves a President who will honor our fallen and keep our homeland safe.” He calls for the election of Donald Trump.
Let’s look at Mr. Trump and a brief glimpse of his record with the military. In an Oct. 15, 2016 article in People magazine, Mr. Trump is quoted from a 1993 interview on the Howard Stern show: “Trump bragged about his promiscuous lifestyle while single and stated that men who didn’t go to Vietnam didn’t need to feel guilty because dating during the AIDS epidemic in the ’80s was also dangerous. You know, if you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam, we have our own Vietnam — it’s called the dating game. Dating is like being in Vietnam. You’re the equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam.”
Does Mr. Panton think the 2.7 million men who served in Vietnam, and the over 58,000 who were killed there, agree with Mr. Trump’s idea of the dangers of dating vs. fighting in Vietnam?
In an August 31, 2020 issue of Military Times, after four years of President Trump acting as commander-in-chief, “a survey of active duty troops found 49.9% of them had an unfavorable view of him. More than 59 percent of officers said they have a poor view of the president, with more than half saying they strongly disapprove. Among enlisted respondents, 47 percent said they have an unfavorable view.” Those are the views of the actual men and women who have volunteered to risk their lives to defend our nation and keep our homeland safe. They personally experienced the failed leadership of Donald Trump.
The total failure of Donald Trump as a commander-in-chief was set forth in a Sept. 3, 2020 issue of The Atlantic. The article reported that “President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, in 2018 … 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.
“On Memorial Day 2017, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery, a short drive from the White House. He was accompanied on this visit by John Kelly, who was then the secretary of homeland security, and who would, a short time later, be named the White House chief of staff. The two men were set to visit Section 60. Kelly’s son, Robert, is buried in Section 60. A first lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Robert Kelly was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan. He was 29. Trump was meant, on this visit, to join John Kelly in paying respects at his son’s grave, and to comfort the families of other fallen service members. But according to sources with knowledge of this visit, Trump, while standing by Robert Kelly’s grave, turned directly to his father and said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
“Trump’s understanding of concepts such as patriotism, service, and sacrifice has interested me,” wrote Atlantic author Jeffery Goldberg, “since he expressed contempt for the war record of the late Senator John McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. ‘He’s not a war hero,’ Trump said in 2015 while running for the Republican nomination for president. ‘I like people who weren’t captured.’”
George Galloway a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who has served as Member of Parliament, once said, “There are those who wrap themselves in flags and blow the tinny trumpet of patriotism as a means of fooling the people.”
Since I am writing this on the 4th of July, we can always declare our Independence from the Brits and look to author Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 comment: “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
If Mr. Panton is looking for a new leader who will honor our fallen and keep our homeland safe, I suggest he is looking at the wrong man.
Alan E. Krause is a Vietnam veteran and a 70+ year resident of Oak Park.