Underestimates their sacrifices

Trump's popularity among American soldiers is waning

Trump with National Guard soldiers in Lake Charles.

A.F.B.

Four years ago today, the then Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, led by 20 percentage points over the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, in the military electorate.

This time, as Trump struggles to keep up with his opponent, the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, a new poll by the Military Times newspaper, which deals with military affairs, revealed that Biden is ahead of Trump by about four percentage points when it comes to the votes of the military electorate. Working.

This poll came before the release of a shocking press report, published by the "Atlantic" newspaper, documenting a number of occasions in which Trump mocked US service members, where he described war dead American soldiers as "losers" and "idiots."

Later, Trump and several of his top aides denied the allegations.

Late on Thursday, Trump told reporters: "I am ready to swear that I have not said anything like that about our fallen heroes, there is no one who respects them more than me."

However, this did not dampen the backlash from military veterans on social media.

Retired Major General Paul Eaton, a regular critic of Trump, urged Twitter followers to vote against the president, and posted a widely shared video clip telling the story of his father’s killing in Vietnam.

"I would be amazed if no one in the United States military admits that you are the loser, the idiot," said Eaton.

He added, "You are not a patriot."

Other veterans published similar statements, in response to the article, which described how Trump canceled his planned visit to the Aisne Marne cemetery near Paris in 2018, which is the cemetery where American soldiers from World War I were buried, and the reason for canceling his visit was He does not believe that there is a reason why the people who killed themselves should be honored, and he does not want television cameras to shower him in the cemetery.

The report quoted him as saying: “Why do I go to that cemetery?

It is full of losers. ”

Biden, whose late son Beau Biden served in Iraq, issued a statement after "The Atlantic" published its article, and said that Trump's comments are another sign that he is unfit for the presidency, and said that the quotes, if they are correct, are "another sign of the depth of my difference." With President Trump, on the role of the President of the United States ».

The allegations made in the "Atlantic" article were not the first time that the president detracted from the achievements of the military.

He said in 2015 that he did not support the presidential candidate at the time, Senator John McCain, who had been held in Vietnam for nearly six years after his plane was shot down over Hanoi.

"He was only a war hero, because he was captured," Trump said. "I love people who were not captured."

It is worth noting that Trump was able to obtain an exemption from military service, due to a bone protruding in his heels, which kept him from participating in the Vietnam War.

People also spoke of Trump's failure to communicate with the families of soldiers, and questioned the extent of his sympathy for those who had lost loved ones while performing their duty.

Eleven families, from the category of families with a gold star, which symbolizes families whose sons were killed while serving in the military, wrote a joint letter in 2016 to the then Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, accusing him of “underestimating the sacrifice” offered by their deceased children. He reacted coolly with the parents of Captain Humayun S.M.

Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, criticized his father and mother, after they spoke out against him at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

In short, there are 1.4 million active duty military personnel, or less than half of one percent of the US population.

As an indication of his ability to recruit voters to confront Democrats rallying against him across the country, Trump's dwindling popularity among soldiers is a bad sign of his campaign.

People talk about Trump's failure to communicate with soldiers' families, and question the extent of his sympathy for those who lost loved ones in the line of duty.

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