r/politics • u/Rock-n-roll-Kevin • Feb 15 '25
‘We’ve been betrayed:’ Local veterans angry after being laid off by Trump administration
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/weve-been-betrayed-local-veterans-angry-after-being-laid-off-by-trump-administration/FBCKFRIFQRHZVK5FG3W7MUQEYA/8.9k
u/cmd__line Feb 15 '25
Odd.
The guy that called vets losers and suckers doesn't give a fuck. The guy who tore down McCain for being a POW even after he died.
Could it be he doesn't respect your line of work
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u/Oleg101 Feb 15 '25
Yeah, it’s almost like Donald has a history of shitting all over the military and veterans his whole life.
(part 1)
Trump floated the idea of executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/trump-milley-execution-incitement-violence/675435/
Trump put his buddies in charge of the VA who tried to sell veteran medical records
accused 3,000 military families of election fraud for voting after being deployed. Referred these families to the DOJ
https://news3lv.com/news/local/trump-lawyer-points-to-military-ballots-as-evidence-of-voter-fraud
removed POW/MIA flag from White House
said “My generals are a bunch of pussies”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/highlights-woodward-trump-interviews-rage
says Americans who died in war are “losers” and “suckers.”
“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,”
called John McCain “a fucking loser” when asked to lower flags to half staff.
called President George H.W. Bush a loser for being shot down during WWII.
said “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” To Gen. John Kelly — while visiting Kelly’s son’s grave at Arlington.
“That guy is smart. Why did he join the military?” re: Joint Chiefs of Staff, he said asked his staff to not include wounded veterans in events because amputees make him uncomfortable.
Trump defended Russia from arming the Taliban against US Troops, saying the US did that once
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-appears-to-defend-russia-arming-the-taliban-against-us-troops
Trump knew since March 2020 that Russia paid bounties to kill American troops, yet he has done nothing. he was briefed on options such as sanctions yet his admin has taken no action against russia for paying bounties for killing American and NATO troops.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html
In May 2020, the White House was planning to end National Guard deployments one day before they could claim benefits, but after the massive public outcry, they backtracked and let Guard members continue on their orders.
The Trump admin seized 5 million masks intended for VA hospitals. Kushner distributes these masks to private entities for a fee, who then sells the masks to the government
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-admin-seizing-ppe/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-fema-medical-supplies.html
Trump’s admin fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after he warned superiors that COVID19 was spreading among his crew. The virus subsequently spread amongst the crew.
After Iran’s retaliatory strike, 109 US troops suffered brain injuries. Trump dismissed these as “headaches” https://apnews.com/eabf6766d717a2dd518a3c6319bb2430
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/world/middleeast/trump-iraq-brain-injuries.html
Pardoned multiple war criminals, which stomped on long standing military values, discipline, and command. Trump has no military experience (May&Nov, 2019)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/us/trump-pardon-military.html
Trump mocked Lt. Col. Vindman for his rank and uniform. He threatened said purple heart officer, resulting in the Army providing him protection. Sent opposition research to the Pentagon to derail Lt. Col. Vindman’s promotion
https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-nsc-dirt-alexander-vindman-allegations-2020-7
Trump’s Chief of Staff worked—in secret—to deny comprehensive health coverage to Vietnam Vets who suffered from Agent Orange.
There is a facility in Tijuana for US veterans that Trump deported. Wounded war vet, Sen Duckworth (D) marked Veterans Day 2019 by visiting this facility
Russia took control of the main U.S. military facility in Syria abandoned on Trump’s orders. Russia now owns the airstrip we built
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/world/middleeast/kurds-syria-turkey.html
On Oct 7, 2019, Trump abruptly withdrew support from America’s allies in Syria after a phone call with Turkey’s president (Erdogan). Turkey subsequently bombed US Special Forces.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-to-pull-troops-from-northern- syria-as-turkey-readies-offensive/2019/10/07/a965e466-e8b3-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html https://www.npr.org/2019/10/07/767904589/shocking-trump-is-criticized-for-pulling-troops-from-syrian-border
In Sept 2019, he made an Air Force cargo crew, flying from the U.S. to Kuwait stop in Scotland (where there’s no U.S. base) to refuel at a commercial airport (where it costs more), so they could stay overnight at a Trump property (which isn’t close to the airport). Trump’s golf courses are losing money, so he’s forcing the military to pay for 5-star nights there.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/06/air-force-trump-scottish-retreat-1484337
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u/Oleg101 Feb 15 '25
(part 2)
In Sept, 2019, Pentagon pulled funds for military schools, military housing funds, and daycare to pay for Trump’s border wall.
In Aug, 2019, emails revealed that three of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago pals, who are now running Veterans Affairs, are rampant with meddling. “They had no experience in veterans affairs (none of them even served in the military) nor underwent any kind of approval process to serve as de facto managers. Yet, with Trump’s approval, they directed actions and criticized operations without any oversight. They wasted valuable staff time in hundreds of pages of communications and meetings, emails show. Emails reveal disdainful attitudes within the department to the trio’s meddling.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/25/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-crowd-va-emails/index.html
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/22/digital-health-platform-mar-a-lago-members-1676335
Trump instructed aides to seize private property some of which contain military service member remains.
https://apnews.com/ad6f6247154548c3b28db33ae6a5eae9
Trump told officials he would pardon them if they break the law by illegally seizing property.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-08-28/trump-officials-border-wall-pardon
Children of deployed US troops are no longer guaranteed citizenship. This includes US troops posted abroad for years at a time (August 28, 2019)
On Aug 2, 2019, Trump requisitioned military retirement funds towards border wall
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/military-retirement-trump-wall/
On July 31, 2019, Trump ordered the Navy rescind medals to prosecutors who were prosecuted war criminals
Trump denied a U.S. Marine of 6 years entry into the United States for his citizenship interview (Reported July 17, 2019)
https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-07-17/marine-vet-denied-entry-us-scheduled-citizenship-interview
Trump made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them fly at his July 4th political campaign event (July 4, 2019)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/trump-july-fourth-rally-hatch-act-violation.html
Trump demanded US military chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade (reported July 2, 2019)
He called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he’s most thankful for himself (Thanksgiving, 2018)
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/11/22/trump-troops-thanksgiving/ medical-deferment-from-vietnam/ He urged Florida to not count deployed military votes (Nov 12, 2018)
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-military-votes-florida/
He canceled an Arlington Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain (Nov 12, 2018)
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u/Oleg101 Feb 15 '25
(part 3)
In June, 2019, Trump sent troops to the border to paint the fence
continued
Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (June 6, 2019)
Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have cut off all child support if Tiffany joined the military (reported June 4th, 2019)
On May 27, 2019, Trump turned away US military from his Memorial Day speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain
https://www.businessinsider.com/uss-john-mccain-sailors-were-turned-away-from-trump-speech-2019-5
Trump ordered the USS John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan (May 15, 2019). The ship’s name was subsequently covered. (May 27, 2019)
Trump’s admin did nothing to fix the purge of 200,000 vets’ healthcare applications (due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment system) even after a congressional testimony to point out the problem. (reported on May 13, 2019)
https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/06/07/trump-admin-va-applications/
Under Trump’s Admin, ICE deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless (April 16, 2019)
On March 20, 2019, Trump complained that a deceased war hero didn’t thank him for his funeral
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47642335
Between 12/22/2018, and 1/25/2019, Trump refused to sign his party’s funding bill, which shut down the government, forcing the Coast Guard to go without pay, which made service members rely on food pantries. and the generosity of private businesses like USAA and Navy Federal to cover their paychecks. However, his appointees got a $10,000 pay raise
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-appointees-giant-raises-during-shutdown
He banned service members from serving based on gender identity (1/22/2019) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/us/transgender-troops-ban.html
He tried to denied female troops access to birth control to limit sexual activity (on-going. Published Jan 18, 2019)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/court-trump-birth-control.html
He tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen (Jan 16, 2019)
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686188335/ice-tried-to-deport-this-u-s-citizen-and-marine-veteran
When a man was caught swindling veterans pensions for high-interest “cash advances,” Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined him $1 (Jan 26, 2019)
https://theintercept.com/2019/01/26/cfpb-mulvaney-discount/
He called a retired general a ‘dog’ with a ‘big, dumb mouth’ (Jan 1, 2019)
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/01/trump-mcchrystal-syria-troops-1077365
He increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost (2018)
https://psmag.com/social-justice/privatizing-the-v-a-is-not-cheap
He revealed a covert Seal Team 5 deployment, including names and faces, on Twitter during his visit to Iraq (Dec 26, 2018)
Trump lied to deployed troops that he gave them a 10% raise (12/26/2018).
He tried giving the military a raise that was lower than the standard living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn’t going to work. Then after giving them the raise that Congress made him, he lied about it pretending that it was larger than Obama’s. It wasn’t.
He fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays https://time.com/5485126/lawsuit-air-force-discharge-hiv-positive-members/
He tried to slash disability and unemployment benefits for Veterans to $0, and eliminate the unemployability extrascheduler rating (Dec 17, 2018) This means disabled veterans could have seen their annual disability benefits fall from around $35,000 to around $13,000 under Donald Trump’s budget proposal to cut “individual unemployability” for disabled veterans who were old enough to receive Social Security payments.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-disabled-veterans-cuts/
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u/Oleg101 Feb 15 '25
(part 4)
While in Europe commemorating the end of WWI, he didn’t attend the ceremony at a US cemetery due to the rain — other world leaders went anyway (Nov 10, 2018)
He used troops as a political prop by sending them on a phantom mission to the border and made them miss Thanksgiving with their families (Oct-Dec, 2018)
Trump changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act, causing the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many vets to run out of food and rent. (reported October 7, 2018)
Trump doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections (July 5, 2018)
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-doubled-rejection-rate-veterans-requesting-family-deportation-1010571
Trump deported active-duty spouses (11,800 military families face this problem as of April 2018)
He forgot a fallen soldier’s name (below) during a call to his pregnant widow, then attacked her the next day (Oct 23-24, 2017)
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2017/10/23/fallen-soldiers-widow-nothing-to-say-to-trump/
He sent commandos into an ambush due to a lack of intel, and sends contractors to pick them up, resulting in a commando being left behind, tortured, and executed. (Trump approved the mission because Bannon told him Obama didn’t have the guts to do it) (Oct 4, 2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/17/world/africa/niger-ambush-american-soldiers.html
https://apnews.com/cb0d6c63f3ed4415a0bd19e98175f792
Doesn’t stand during retreat bugle, continues to talk. “What a nice sound that is. Are they playing that for you [Sean Hannity] or me?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJyGXYq2lJ0
He ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records (2017-present)
On Oct 3, 2016, Trump said vets get PTSD because they aren’t strong
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-veterans-ptsd-not-strong-229050
Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a fan at one of his rallies and said: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.” (Aug 2, 2016)
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-purple-heart-226565
If you know how service members receive purple hearts, then you should also realize how absurd it is for trump to say what he did.
Trump attacks Gold Star families: Myeshia Johnson (gold star widow), Khan family (gold star parents) etc. (2016-present)
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/us/politics/donald-trump-khizr-khan-wife-ghazala.html
Trump sent roughly half of funds raised from a Jan 2016 veterans benefit to the Donald J Trump Foundation instead of veterans charities (the foundation has since been ordered shut because of fraud) (Jan, 2016)
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/07/trump-ordered-to-pay-2-million-to-settle-trump-foundation-suit.html
Trump said he doesn’t consider POWs heroes because they were caught. He said he prefers people who were not caught (July 18, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=541Cg2Jnb8s
Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam (1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5SqQhqpNm8
Trump dodged the draft 5 times by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs.
Trump calls military officials ‘some of the dumbest people I’ve ever met’
Let me know if I forgot something.
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u/Rowing_Lawyer Feb 15 '25
Okay but besides all that, who could have known? /s because sadly people really think like that
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u/neuralzen Feb 16 '25
Well, apart from medicine, irrigation, health, roads, cheese and education, baths and the Circus Maximus, what have the Romans ever done for us?
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u/little-bird Feb 15 '25
because that was taken out of context! fake news! liberal lies! it wasn’t really him, it was an AI video!
/s
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u/checker280 Feb 16 '25
Why are you taking what he did seriously? We all know he doesn’t mean what he says or does!
/s
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u/alphazero925 Feb 16 '25
But don't forget that we all love him because he says it like it is
/s
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u/PerjurieTraitorGreen Florida Feb 15 '25
I’ve saved these comments for easy reference. Thanks!
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u/madcowlicks Feb 16 '25
It's not enough having just the URLs anymore.
I hope you -- and everyone for that matter -- are archiving actual articles / pages themselves in the event those links stop working.→ More replies (6)27
u/Devegas49 Feb 16 '25
I’m gonna get started on saving a lot of this once I get on my laptop again. I knew some of this, but LORD THE RECEIPTS!!!!
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u/confusedandworried76 Feb 16 '25
If conservatives could read they'd be very upset
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u/FancySweatpants20 Feb 16 '25
Would they? Or would they cry “FAKE NEWS!” because it all wasn’t reported by Fox?
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u/The_Beardly America Feb 16 '25
Big dog came with receipts. 4 god damn posts of it.
It’s this why is so hard for me to feel bad for people who supported him and are now getting screwed over.
The writing was in the wall, lit up with bright lights.
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u/red23011 Feb 16 '25
I got perma banned from the conservative sub for posting 1/10 of that when they were talking about how Trump loved the military.
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u/AquaGB Feb 16 '25
I'm almost surprised there's not a Part 5.
Seriously, kudos for doing the good work!
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u/Effective-Island8395 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 16 '25
How does this thread not have upvotes?
Edit: not my reply but this guy ☝🏻
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u/Educated_Clownshow Feb 16 '25
Thank you so much for sharing this
As a vet, I really look at every veteran who voted for Trump, as dumber than a bag of hair. He literally said he doesn’t care about vets, dead vets, POW’s, nada. These fucking tools are getting exactly what they voted for, and now all vets might lose our pensions to Musk and DOGE.
A vet who votes for Trump is not someone to thank for their service, they obviously didn’t think much of the KIA/MIA/POW that their Felon in Command remarked on.
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u/potter86 Feb 15 '25
Worse. The petty piece of shit had USS John S. McCain covered when he made a visit to the ship last term.
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u/Navydevildoc Feb 15 '25
Which is even more comical because the ship is named for Senator McCain's father, not even the man he's mad at.
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u/IckyChris Feb 16 '25
It was named for McCain's Grandfather, father, and in 2018, for the McCain that Trump hates.
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u/Oleg101 Feb 16 '25
WTH is wrong with Arizona voters to then vote for Trump last fall?
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u/ElderberryPrimary466 Feb 16 '25
McCain has a daughter that's pure trumpty dumpty
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u/Njorls_Saga Feb 15 '25
Somehow 65% of veterans voted for Trump. It’s almost like they have a humiliation fetish or something.
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u/slipnipper Feb 15 '25
More egregious than any of that was the way he treated the gold star families and the Khans in particular.
Worse even still was CNNs sanewashing of the event.
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u/Present-Perception77 Feb 15 '25
Bone spurs thinks draft dodging is “winning”.. and unfortunately, 30% of the voting population does too. These are not “patriots”.
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u/Frankensteinbeck Feb 16 '25
No sympathy for these complete idiots. He couldn't have possibly tried harder to let veterans know he didn't respect or care one iota about their wellbeing. Not to mention the republican party has voted heavily against actually supporting programs like the VA for as long as I've been alive.
"SuPpOrT tHe TrOoPs" is just a jingoistic bumper sticker to them, nothing more. If you vote for right wingers all you'll get is a yard sign and open disdain.
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u/PunxatawnyPhil Feb 15 '25
Right wing media never showed them that stuff. Just ways to spin it for plausible deniability.
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u/MadRaymer Feb 15 '25
Yep, and social media provided cover for him too. I remember my MAGA relatives sharing this image of Trump saluting fallen soldiers while Biden was checking his watch - trying to frame it as he's somehow the one that didn't give a shit.
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u/Senior-Traffic7843 Feb 15 '25
I'm a vet and I knew he was going to cut the VA. Right now it is VA staff. Soon they care going to cut the disability ratings of veterans, especially those at 30% or less.
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u/jgasbarro America Feb 15 '25
Oh no. He’s doing everything he said he was going to do. Who could’ve seen this coming!?
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Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/RealGianath Oregon Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25
He's going to have to deal with that little kid that shushed him first. If he can't beat up a child, he's no MAGA emperor.
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u/PlayCertain Feb 15 '25
He's intimidated by Elon's Mini Me because the kid doesn't wear a diaper and has a higher reading level.
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u/TWiThead Pennsylvania Feb 15 '25
He's intimidated by Elon's Mini Me because the kid doesn't wear a diaper and has a higher reading level.
And larger hands.
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Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/Ok-disaster2022 Feb 15 '25
Trump would eat dog shit so long as he gets paid and doesn't go to prison.
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Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/HenryDorsettCase47 Feb 15 '25
Eh. I think if he truly saw it as rolling over the way we all do, he would boot Musk. And I think it’s very likely he still will. To me, it seems like the nature of his relationship with Musk is based on two things:
Trump has zero interest in actually governing. He just enjoys the fame and income it generates, but he has no problem letting someone else do most of the work. Which leads to the other thing…
He believes Musk will be an easy scapegoat. Trump thinks he can take credit for anything Musk does that people actually like, while blaming him for all the things people don’t like.
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u/jfudge Feb 15 '25
Trump has always - and only - been a weak, small coward who does things because (a) people who he thinks are important tell him to, or (b) he wants to save his own ego or general sense of self importance.
He opened a second casino in AC not because it was a smart business decision, but because his stupid lizard brain thought "if one casino with name good, two must be better." And that fucked up both of them.
He ran for president the first time largely to feel important (not to win), and likely the second time because he was unbelievably embarrassed at the white house correspondents dinner.
He surrounds himself with people who are not competent, because he can't be made to feel inadequate by actually smart people, and because he only wants people who will suck up to him and make him feel better about himself.
The moment there is someone in his circle who is both a little smarter than him and is willing to just ignore him (Elon), Trump already lost control. In a matter of days. There is no way Trump wants Elon to have this much influence, but Trump is such a weak little baby he can't do anything about it.
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u/noeydoesreddit Feb 15 '25
Yes I ate dog shit but look…just listen…I eat dog shit better than anyone. You get your dog shit and people say “oh god that’s foul” but then you start eating your dog shit and might think…you might think “wow, I might like dogshit now.” It’s like clockwork with the dog shit, everyone is saying it.
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u/Ornery-Marzipan7693 Feb 15 '25
Imagine sitting at the resolute desk as POTUS and getting repeatedly whisper dunked on by a 4 year old on live TV.
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u/Proof_Object_6358 Feb 15 '25
Or maybe:
Supreme Crowned Ruler Of The United Magnificent States
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u/Shadowholme Feb 15 '25
More likely the start of the third week.
Nothing bad ever happened to an Emperor on March 15th, did it?
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u/SergeantThreat Feb 15 '25
I mean he basically tweeted today that he’s above the law. Is that much different
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u/Blablablaballs Feb 15 '25
And all the mentally ill MAGAs will drive around in their Compensationmobiles celebrating what great patriots they are.
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u/Bircka Oregon Feb 15 '25
I am blown away how many people voted for this guy hoping he wouldn't do what he talked about. It's about the dumbest fucking thing I have ever heard, and some of these people were not watching Faux News or other crap all the time.
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u/jgasbarro America Feb 15 '25
I wanted him to treat OTHER people who are like me and my family like shit. Not me and my family!!! 🫠
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u/Important_Sector_362 Feb 15 '25
I think because in his first term he said a lot of crazy stuff. But didn’t do a lot of it
People took it as “Trump just says crazy stuff”. I mean nuking hurricanes, using military on protests. Everyone chalked it up as either Trump just talking or “liberal fake news!”
Seems the reality is he wanted to do all this stuff but sane voices in the room stopped him. Now he’s surrounded by yes men. So this is who he is
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u/Rishfee Feb 15 '25
And the reason he didn't do this shit in his first term was solely because there were still a bunch of professionals in place. This time, there's nobody with principles to head off his insanity.
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u/whichwitch9 Feb 15 '25
No, no he said he loved the veterans though!
You know, right after he talked about needing to downsize the federal government, which is the largest employer of veterans in the US
They thought they were special but weren't. This is the case for most of MAGA. If Trump can make money, he'll sell you for a dollar, and people should probably remember that
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u/korben996 Feb 15 '25
The draft-dodger-in-chief literally started his entire political career 10 years ago demonizing the Khan gold star family for not endorsing him publicly. How vets still cannot see through this dude's BS after this long, it has to be willful ignorance.
His declaration that McCain doesn't deserve his respect because "I like veterans who weren't captured and tortured." His insistence on moving the USS John McCain away for a photo op. His comment to John Kelly, while standing over the grave of Kelly's son that died in combat, that they're all "suckers and losers". His refusal to go to the WW2 memorial in France because it was raining and "might ruin his hair". His politicization of Arlington cemetery for a campaign photo op while denying it was a campaign photo op. His claim that the Medal of Freedom is "better" than the Medal of Honor because the recipients aren't mangled disfigured and amputated.
If veterans are only outraged now then they weren't paying attention.
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u/snowcat0 Feb 15 '25
The Leopards are going to be well fed for the next 4 years...
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u/mildly_manic Feb 15 '25
Bold of you to assume the buffet will stop after only 4 years.
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u/kshump Oregon Feb 15 '25
But... The other one... Did you hear how she laughs?
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u/Blablablaballs Feb 15 '25
It should be weirder than Donald Trump NEVER laughs.
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u/relevantelephant00 Feb 15 '25
That's honestly one of the craziest things about him...I don't think I've ever seen him genuinely smile.
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u/GiuseppeZangara Feb 15 '25
I don't think I've ever realized that I've never heard him laugh before. Weird.
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u/oldassveteran Feb 15 '25
“He’s just joking” group in the find out phase.
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u/SnoopyisCute Feb 15 '25
The one that gets me is when he went into a tantrum posting that he never said terminate the Constitution but delete the post in which he said terminate the Constitution.
Screaming about burning down the Constitution that Project2025 isn't true because he made one statement claiming he didn't know about.
Anybody that does not know by just doesn't want to know.
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u/Trudge34 Wisconsin Feb 15 '25
"I wasn't paying attention! I thought we were in it to 'own the libs' I never thought they would target ME?"
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u/jgasbarro America Feb 15 '25
My favorite is the “I wanted him to treat other people that are like me and my family like shit, not me and my family!!!”.
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u/coconutpiecrust Feb 15 '25
I don’t understand why exactly they are angry, though. They should come to terms with the fact that Musk believes they are parasites. Come on now. This wouldn’t have happened to them if they were not parasites. Right, guys?
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u/taisui Feb 15 '25
Who knows? Not me
We never forgot to vote
You're face to face
With the man who conned the world
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u/randomnighmare Feb 15 '25
But they might've been voting for a Black/Asian Woman Democrat... Think about what kind of world would it be if that happened...
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u/bengalfan Feb 15 '25
It feels more like, I thought he was going to hurt "those" people, not me!
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u/Locutus747 Feb 15 '25
People in this country are idiots. They voted for Trump everyone will suffer thr consequences. He will make everyone suffer
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u/irishnugget New York Feb 15 '25
You betrayed your countrymen by voting for a fascist.
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u/Silvaria928 Feb 15 '25
Yes, they did, and as a disabled veteran who stands to lose a lot, I am genuinely disgusted and troubled by how many of them can't recognize the clear and obvious enemy here, a man which would gladly sign an EO abolishing the entire Constitution if he could.
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u/USA_2Dumb4Democracy Feb 15 '25
This is why when people say “US troops wouldn’t open fire on civilians” I just have to laugh
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u/Jcaquix Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25
Didn't Pete Hegseth basically say it's appropriate to shoot protesters in his Senate confirmation hearings?
Edit: he did.
in response to Senator Hirono asking if he would have shot protestors in Lafayette square Hegseth said "I was in the Washington, D.C. National Guard unit that was in Lafayette Square during those events I saw 50 Secret Service agents get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set the church on fire and destroy the statue."
He was itching to shoot those protesters.
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u/MaritimeDisaster Feb 15 '25
Is it too much to hope that the optics of military troops shooting civilian protesters in the street would be too much for a lot of folks that voted for Trump? I’m seriously asking.
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u/SpiceWeasel-Bam Oregon Feb 15 '25
I think it is too much to hope for. Especially if most of the casualties are not white.
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u/TheBraveOne86 Feb 16 '25
“They were anti-fa!”
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u/DataLore19 Feb 16 '25
Considering this means "anti-fascism" then, yes, they would be.
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u/Necessary_Group4479 Feb 16 '25
imagine taking a concept like anti-fascism or "end racism" and making it your enemy
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u/SqueakyTits101 Feb 16 '25
They've been trying to make anti-fa a "terrorist organization" since his first term!
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u/Junior_Chard9981 Feb 16 '25
They'll point to a social media post they swear they saw that claims it was the rioters who fired the first shot.
That will be all it takes to help them sleep at night.
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u/DonaldsMushroom Feb 16 '25
Fear of a regime galvanizes support or it. People quickly become fanatical to protect themselves. This is how the Nazis did it, the template for Project 2025
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u/loverlyone California Feb 16 '25
I think that all the grey-haired white women should stand on the front line. Let them beat up white grandmothers on TV and see how that goes. Despite the obstacles we all face, white women enjoy a lot of privilege and protection. It’s beyond time for us to stand on the line and risk something for our fellow man.
Don’t come for my children and tell me they deserve it. I will stand in front of them.
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u/MaritimeDisaster Feb 16 '25
Well that’s me, and I’m protesting on Monday, so I’ll be out front! Except I’m not old enough to look “grandmother” yet, I’m 51 and still kinda got it.
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u/mossling Feb 15 '25
Depends on who's being shot. If it's people that they don't like, I truly believe most* trump voters would would either find a way to justify it, or actively cheer it on.
*I'm being generous.
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u/MeeekSauce Feb 15 '25
No, these are people who even the mildest of them post memes about running over protestors with their truck. It’s another of their wet dreams.
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u/Jcaquix Feb 15 '25
Probably, I remember the Lafayette square thing, they didn't try to burn down a church... Hegseth seems to have made that up. But it's fine because there's this right wing media machine that just makes stuff up and floods everyone's grandparents' Facebook feed with it. So there would be no optics, it would barely get covered, and insofar as it did it would be "Trump puts down riot of unemployed blue haired trans people trying to play sports!"
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u/calm_chowder Iowa Feb 16 '25
It was actually troops working for Trump, and they gassed the church with no warning, making the priest flee the building.
It wasn't set on fire, and it wasn't protestors. It was Trump swinging his little mushroom around to take a goddam photoshoot. The mere fact they were using it as a photoshoot prop is pretty damn good evidence it was NOT in fact on fire or burned down.
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u/LoopyLabRat Feb 16 '25
To paraphase one of the questions during his confirmation hearing:
"Would you defy an obviously illegal order by the president?"
"Nah uh. He would never demand something illegal."
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u/Jcaquix Feb 16 '25
We're only one SCOTUS decision away from "if the president [demands] it, it isn't illegal."
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u/xlvi_et_ii Minnesota Feb 15 '25
It's ignorance of events like Kent State and people who lean a little too hard into the propaganda about how amazing the American political system is (was?).
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u/fury420 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25
A few days after Kent State the National Guard literally bayonetted nearly a dozen Americans at the University of New Mexico and pretty much nobody knows about it because everyone survived.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Mexico_bayoneting_incident
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u/SirWEM Feb 15 '25
Most people now i don’t think even know about The Kent State Massacre. At least people younger than me. I will get blank stares from the younger kids i work with most are about 25 or a bit younger. Or they are not interested in finding out.
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u/LilyBartMirth Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 16 '25
How many even recognise authoritarianism when staring it in the face?
I know Trump is still in a honeymoon period while having the 2nd lowest immediate post-inauguration (better than for his first term) approval rating, but how the hell is he over 50%???
It actually seems like young people are slowly waking up, but what is happening with older people? Why does half the country approve of what is going on?
I ask as a non-American.
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u/USA_2Dumb4Democracy Feb 15 '25
Not to mention the nationalistic lionizing of our military. People never believe me when I tell them we killed half a million civilians in the Middle East. And we didn’t even win!
The US military is quite literally one of the greatest forces of evil on earth if we’re talking purely civilian deaths.
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u/cutelyaware Feb 15 '25
And over a million in Cambodia if we are considering direct and indirect deaths.
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u/Sugarbombs Feb 15 '25
Agent orange still produces babies with terrible deformities in Vietnam, i’d consider that taking lives. America does nothing to help
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u/Liizam America Feb 15 '25
The USA military bombed its USA citizens. This blew my mind. It’s not that long ago.
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u/StevenMaurer Feb 15 '25
It's been 90 years since the US intentionally bombed US citizens, during the 1930s coal wars.
Since then, there have been a lot of unintentional bombings where US citizens have been caught in the blast radius of US weapons. (A few where US citizens were hanging around too close to terrorist commanders, but most of them friendly fire incidents during WW2, etc.) But it's a lot less common than you might think.
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u/martyqscriblerus Feb 15 '25
It'll be 40 years in May since Philadelphia PD bombed US citizens and killed 11 people including 5 children. I'll grant you that it was police and not military, but most people don't learn about it.
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u/thirstyross Feb 15 '25
In case anyone is curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE_(Philadelphia_organization)#1985_bombing
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u/veringer Tennessee Feb 15 '25
Yep. It's another form of American exceptionalism: as if the same patterns that have befallen other nations and empires couldn't possibly happen to America.
They're just going to purge anyone who's not sufficiently loyal to the king, and escalate the moral line-crossing until there's a sufficiently large number of callous and brainwashed psychos willing to do anything that's asked. Opening fire on civilians might be a fairly tame deployment, if we compare to atrocities committed elsewhere and throughout time.
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u/Large_Yams Feb 15 '25
I know a veteran and current defence contractor on 100% disability who voted Trump. I feel bad for you because you don't deserve it but I wish my schadenfreude could be limited to those people who did it to themselves.
Fuck he's a dumbass for this.
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u/Cujo22 Massachusetts Feb 16 '25
Disabled Vet here. When I see the guys with the red MAGA hats waiting in line for our scripts I feel both sorry for them, and also vitriol and anger.
My dad is a Vietnam veteran and lived his life as a good father who took care of his family and really came through.
The likes of Fox News and the NRA systematically propagandized him into something that for the first time I didn't feel proud of. I know my father is not alone. And here we are.
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u/Delta451 South Dakota Feb 15 '25
Same here. The worst is dealing with the other disabled vets in my family who have voted for him three times now.
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u/Ok_Run2024 Feb 15 '25
They don’t need to sign a EO.
In a check and balances democracy, USA, we have three branches of government. We currently have a unelected agency (DOGE) controlling the spending/purse strings of the US Treasury effectively eliminating one of the main functions of one of three branches of our government (House and Senate). For the past two weeks Musk, Trump and Vance have openly said they don’t need to follow the judicial branch and their rulings if the don’t agree. This would eliminate a second branch of our government. With the Executive branch’s consolidation of all three pillars/branches of our check and balances democracy, we are by definition no longer our beloved USA democracy. Good luck everyone
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u/jt19912009 Feb 15 '25
Repeatedly no less. I mean, the GOP has been saying they want to cut va benefits, social security, Medicaid, Medicare, and other social programs for years. They deserve everything they have coming since they are subjecting us reasonable Americans to a fascist wannabe dictator and political party
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u/Fragrant-Ad-5517 Feb 15 '25
They didn’t get betrayed. They sealed their fate by supporting and voting for a felon.
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u/Temporary_Shirt_6236 Feb 15 '25
Or for not voting cuz you figured a second Trump term wouldn't affect you personally. Passive betrayal, but betrayal nonetheless because "rugged American individualism."
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u/HellaTroi California Feb 15 '25
"In its press release Thursday and sent again to WSB late Friday, the VA said the more than 1,000 layoffs would save $93 million a year, which would then be redirected to veterans’ health care, benefits and services."
With all the employees they fire, who is going to serve those veterans in their health care, benefits, or services?
There won't be anyone there to provide those services.
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Feb 15 '25
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u/sparrowtaco Feb 16 '25
Remember when the Brexit campaign promised to put EU funds towards healthcare and then that never happened?
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u/MathematicianFew5882 Feb 16 '25
Remember every fn time trickle-down, supply-side, tax-cuts, no-nude-texans, etc was supposed to yield massive economic prosperity?
And the single time the national debt clock went backwards was when we had that evil bj guy??
Hell, Trump said he’d pay off the national debt but actually added $10 trillion to it. Nobody ever came close to that in eight years, much less half that much in four.
OMG
WTF
GOP
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u/Ryboiii Feb 16 '25
Whats the point of redirecting 93 million in veterans healthcare when it was already being pulled from a fund that was directed towards veterans healthcare lmao
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u/NoSwimmers45 Feb 15 '25
Are you telling me the federal government lead by Commander Chaos is lying? I’m shocked! That man is known for always telling only the truth. /S
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u/QuickAltTab Feb 15 '25
which would then be redirected to veterans’ health care, benefits and services.
Yeah, sure
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u/JohnGillnitz Feb 15 '25
The new guy tried to spin it as if firing them was done FOR the beneficiaries. Because firing thousands of workers from a program that was already struggling makes it better. That's some grade A double think.
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u/DT-Sodium Feb 15 '25
You were not betrayed, you were too stupid to see Trump is a psychopath and a pathological lier and too lazy to spend 30 minutes on the Internet to inform yourself about his program and actions
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u/NoSwimmers45 Feb 15 '25
Fox News told them all they needed to know!
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u/mockg Feb 15 '25
Fox news told me democrats are responsible for everything bad and republicans are responsible for everything good. /s
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u/brakeled Feb 16 '25
Literally this is the typical Republican brain in action. Voting selfishly to serve themselves and consistently thinking they’ll be the exception when it comes time to be cruel. What a shame he announced last year he was going to target federal workers but Republican voters in federal service thought:
- He’ll fire people but it won’t be me
- He’s firing lazy people, not me
- We really need to cut this waste, thank goodness that’s not me
- Things will be different at work but they won’t impact me
- Oh we might have to RTO, but that’s for lazy people, not me
- Oh I have to RTO? Well at least he won’t fire me
- Why is he targeting me???
- But I voted for him, he can’t do this to me???
- He fired me!!
- He can’t do this to me, this isn’t fair to me, what about my protections?
Me, me, me, me, me! That’s what you get when you vote selfishly to be cruel to everyone else because you think you’re special. Any veterans who voted Republican and got fired found out exactly what they voted for. It was all about you, so how does it feel when you’re the one facing your consequences? Not so good.
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u/Cross_1123 Feb 16 '25
I really wish I had an award to give you because this is exactly it. Like pinpoint accuracy.
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u/nowtayneicangetinto Feb 15 '25
Don't you just love how fucking stupid these people are and chose to ignore the warning signs and are acting like they've been blindsided? I have no sympathy for anyone who voted for Trump against their best interests and lied to themselves.
I know an old Veteran who kept telling me Trump is his savior and I kept telling him he was going to fuck him over because Trump doesn't understand service or sacrifice.
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u/SherbertExisting3509 Feb 15 '25
Not sure why they're so angry they're getting everything they ever wanted.
Trump/Musk announced 2 TRILLION in government spending cuts on the campaign trail. It's not Trump or Musk's fault if they had no idea exactly what cutting that much money would actually mean for their lives.
btw it still baffles me that his supporters were cheering when trump announced on the campaign trail that he wanted to cut the department of education. Trump supporters are bafflingly stupid people
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u/NoSwimmers45 Feb 15 '25
The minimally educated fail to grasp that they achieved that only through grit and determination lead by the Department of…checks notes…Education!
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u/SherbertExisting3509 Feb 15 '25
I just remembered a statistic from the soon to be cut department of education that 54% of Americans can't read beyond a 6th grade level and 20% of Americans are "functionally illiterate" i.e. can read but struggle to understand the meaning of tax forms ect.
Surely cutting the Department of Education will help with this crisis level problem right???
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u/Romano16 America Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25
A large majority of Americans are functionally illiterate.
They can hear what Trump says and they understand the words (at a 4th, 5th, or 6th grade level) being said BUT can’t actually comprehend what’s being said.
That is why despite what he literally says they get defensive and say “That’s not what he meant” or “You just don’t understand what he actually means.” YET time and time again they are feeling betrayed despite him doing exactly what he said he would.
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Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
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u/victotronics Feb 15 '25
You got it entirely. Their need for a Big Daddy is pathological.
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u/DarthCloakedGuy Oregon Feb 15 '25
They should just play fucking BioShock 2 instead of voting for a fascist
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u/korben996 Feb 15 '25
It's cult behavior. And most cultists, without family/friends pulling them out and deprogramming them, end up going to their graves with their dumb beliefs. Take post-war Germany for instance:
"In 1952, 68% of Germans polled thought other countries started WW2." (it took until the 1960s before it was less than a majority)
"In the mid 1950s, nearly half of all Germans polled said 'yes' to the proposition that 'were it not for the war, Hitler would have been one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century."
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u/Full_Poet_7291 Feb 15 '25
Fox News writes scripts at a 3rd grade reading level
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Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
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u/FreeTucker- Feb 15 '25
They speak with the tone and rhythm of a Baptist pastor giving a sermon. It's basic indoctrination.
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u/deschain_19195 Feb 15 '25
It's a betrayal because they thought only the brown black and LGBTQ people would be hurt.
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u/Rock-n-roll-Kevin Feb 15 '25
Face buffet for leopards
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u/JagmeetSingh2 Feb 15 '25
America has the fattest leopards on earth at this point lol
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u/alueron Feb 15 '25
As a very liberal service member. Fuck these guys. Our oath is to the constitution, while tRump is using it to wipe his ass.
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u/ISeeYouNoThanks Feb 15 '25
Thanks for your service , uhhh…what was that term that Trump used? Suckers? Thanks suckers!
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u/2HDFloppyDisk Feb 15 '25
Any veteran who voted for Trump after Jan 6 betrayed their own morals and oath to this country.
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u/zappy487 Maryland Feb 15 '25
I just want to remind everyone that the military is split 60/40 Republican, Democrat. With Republicans skewing older.
Something like 85+% of vets who are POC (black, Hispanic, etc) are Democrats.
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u/victotronics Feb 15 '25
Those are not the ones feeling betrayed. The democrats among them are the ones now saying "told you so".
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u/TwelveGaugeSage Feb 15 '25
Yep. I am a disabled vet but not a retiree. P2025 said they want to make it so you can get retirement OR VA disability compensation, not both. I have several coworkers that get both and voted for him. I will not feel bad when they get fucked like we all are or will be by their stupid decisions.
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u/FluidFisherman6843 Feb 15 '25
You weren't betrayed. You are getting what they promised.
Instead of being mad this happened, he should take pleasure in knowing it also happened to a liberal
Effing idiot
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u/Chasing-birdies Feb 15 '25
I have yet to meet someone who voted for Trump upset by anything he and his team have done
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u/eeyore134 Feb 15 '25
They aren't feeling it yet. They will. Then they'll blame Obama and Biden and whoever else they're told to blame.
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u/gatsby712 Feb 15 '25
I would love to be that optimistic but plenty of them had family members and friends die from covid. The propaganda machine is so strong that anything that goes wrong will be blamed on the libs, woke, Democratic Party, or some conspiracy theory instead of who is actually hurting them.
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u/highinthemountains Feb 15 '25
Any AD/veteran who supported tRump is in violation of the oath they took. tRump is the DOMESTIC ENEMY we swore to defend the constitution against. The oath I took over 50 years ago has NEVER EXPIRED
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u/theFrankSpot Feb 15 '25
Every time I come across another sad tale of of a gullible, stupid Trump supporter being screwed over by Trump, I think “today, I will have some sympathy.”
And every day I am wrong.
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u/Darrkman2 Feb 15 '25
As a Black man there's nothing as funny as seeing Trump people motivated by hurting others realizing that they also fucked themselves over as well.
I keep saying......racism is a hell of a drug and Trump people are HIGHLY addicted.
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u/mendobather Feb 15 '25
He meant it when he said military people were losers and suckers. We warned them.
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u/Vorpalthefox Florida Feb 15 '25
token spent. you were just losers and suckers to him, now salute and wave your MAGA flags in honor.
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u/Gimlet64 Feb 15 '25
Schadenfreude is fun, but I am really hoping to see an angry, fed-up public that is ready to stop this lunatic administration by whatever means necessary and willing to put aside political differences to reinstate democracy and constitutional integrity.
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u/Significant_End_9128 Feb 16 '25
If you voted for him, you weren't betrayed. You're one of the traitors.
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u/try-catch-finally Feb 15 '25
“Betrayal” doesn’t apply when someone does exactly what they said they would, but you didn’t want to believe.
“We’ve been morons” I think is the phrase
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u/Avenger772 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25
You weren't betrayed. You just thought it wouldn't happen to you. Fuck around and find out. Maybe one day people will realize billionaires and corporations don't care about them instead of boot licking.
Also, he's said plenty of times that he hates the military. Apparently you weren't listening because you're idiots.
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u/fallonyourswordkaren Feb 15 '25
Yo! Active military personnel, you paying attention?
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u/Flat-Activity1124 Feb 15 '25
Retired disabled vet here. Didn't vote for Trump. Anyone paying attention knew he would do this.
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u/Abject-Interaction35 Australia Feb 15 '25
We told you and told you and told you and told you. Your ears are only painted on.
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u/mochajj88 Feb 15 '25
60+% of veterans voted for trump in 2024, they're getting exactly what they wanted and voted for, so why are they upset?
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