The swiftboat thing was utterly absurd, looking on from Europe. A guy who lead men in the Vietnam War, getting three (!) Purple Hearts for it, was portrayed as a weak coward, while his draft-dodging opponent was portrayed as a hero.
And he didn't draft dodge for noble and moral reasons, like being against the war or refusing to kill.
Honestly I wouldn't have issue with Trump or any American draft dodging Vietnam if they then didn't go on to be a chicken hawk and try to build a tough guy warrior brand. If you're going to be an authoritarian who advocates for war, at least walk the walk first.
I'm a combat veteran who also fought in a stupid, pointless war (Iraq).
I'd respect the hell out of anyone who said,
"I did not want to go to Vietnam. It seemed like a pointless waste of lives and unfortunately our government had draconian laws that would screw you for life if you stood up against the war and refused to be conscripted, like what the government did to Muhammad Ali. My family pulled some strings and I did not go. It does keep me up at night sometimes knowing some poor kid from the ghetto or the barrio or the trailer park went in my place and may have died. And as your president, I will think of that Unknown Soldier every time before I commit troops to combat."
I was working HVAC that year and guy I worked for would blast Rush Limbaugh in his truck all day. Dude was also a vet and I asked him about this very point. He thought it was funny that you could be a war hero and still be called a pussy.
Sometimes even Limbaugh would go too far and he'd change the station.
Well he has three daughters now and women aren't people anymore, they're baby incubators, so I'm sure that joke was hilarious.
He wasn't the worst president in history. At least two other Republicans were worse (Reagan, Trump)
Edit: see, the fun part was I said at least two other Republicans. They have made horrible presidents so many times that of course there would be more.
I'm with you on Jackson and Johnson but can you elaborate on
Wilson: Literally every single foreign policy entanglement America presently strains under and that it had strained under over the past over a hundred years now can be traced back to how this fucklenut conducted himself about WWI
Not saying I disagree or anything--I'm not super into US history so I don't know what you're referring to and I'm interested. I can sort of see how the League of Nations could be interpreted as the beginning of a new age of Western control over the world, but maybe you're thinking more specifically?
I don't know, he actually got a shit ton of people killed and also paved the path for ISIS to be formed who killed even more people. Trump's international damage is nowhere near close.
Trump normalized white supremacy for a lot of Americans. Let go it was already widespread but now it is officially considered 'normal' among Republicans. It will take some time to undo that.
I was on active duty training up to go to Iraq when that came out. I can't believe anyone took those assholes seriously for more than ten minutes when...
Not one of them said a peep while Kerry was in Congress for decades
When Kerry was involved in Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Nixon's goons looked into his service record and couldn't find any dirt. Fucking sleazier than Nixon.
Most of them never served with Kerry. They were either in other units hundreds of miles away, or in Vietnam at a different time.
It came down to like three out of the dozen or so actually served with Kerry.
One: Basically said he had no firsthand knowledge but another Swifty (who was conveniently dead) said so. Super weird how there was no casualties or boat losses on the "disastrous mission" this guy talked about.
Two: His version of another "Lt. Kerry disaster" was contradicted by about five other people. Including the trapped Army Green Berets they were sent in to rescue. "If Kerry was incompetent and fled the battle early...how on Earth am I standing here?"
Three: Claimed Kerry's Bronze Star was horseshit because there was no hostile fire on the mission. When it was pointed out that he had ALSO received a Bronze Star for valor under fire during that same patrol, he was asked if he would forfeit his own "bullshit" Bronze Star. He refused.
Like someone else mentioned...they didn't even release a statement or give a token appearance to protest Kerry being made Obama's Sec. of State.
3.6k
u/Zealousideal_Fuel_23 May 26 '23
2004 election was held during the 4 months that the Iraq War appeared to be going well.