Donald Trump is incredibly fond of saying how much he loves American veterans. He talks a good game, but as the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and here, thanks to the good folks at Right Wing Watch, we have five instances when the Orange Menace actually smeared, cheated, or mocked veterans:
Fake Veterans’ Hotline
A month after Trump announced he would run for President, he also said that his campaign had just “established a hotline (855-VETS-352)” for veterans “to share their stories about the need to reform our Veterans Administration.”
If you call that number, it goes to voicemail and tells you to send an email to the campaign.
Fake Veterans’ Group Fundraiser
In September of 2015, Trump organized a fundraiser in San Diego for a group called Veterans for a Strong America, which then turned around and endorsed Trump.
Veterans for a Strong America, it was later revealed, is simply a one-man group and nothing but a scam.
Rick Cohen of Non-Profit Quarterly writes,
“Veterans for a Strong America was and is clearly yet another fake organization willing to use and abuse veterans for the personal or political ends of the man who created it.”
Second Fake Veterans’ Fundraiser
You may recall that Trump got his feelings hurt when he found out that Fox News host Megyn Kelly would be one of the moderators for a GOP debate, so he skipped the debate and held a fundraiser for veterans. After this overhyped event took place, Trump boasted that he had raised $6 million for veterans’ causes.
But months passed and none of the money had been disbursed. The campaign later admitted that the event brought in well short of the $6 million figure that Trump had boasted about on the campaign trail, and reporters discovered that Trump himself never made the $1 million contribution that he had personally pledged.
Smearing American Soldiers
There are two instances when this took place:
- First, Trump declared Senator John McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured and served years in a POW camp.
- He suggested that American troops in Iraq had stolen money meant for reconstruction projects. He denied having said this even though a recording of him saying it has been widely circulated.
Attacks On Disabled Veterans
Beginning in the 1990s, Trump began urging government officials to crack down on disabled veteran vendors on Fifth Avenue, home of the Trump Tower. In 2004, Trump called such vending “deplorable.”
One of the veterans affected said of Trump:
“He’s done more damage to the disabled veterans in this city than any other man.”
h/t Right Wing Watch
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org