“In the nuclear age, the revised maxim might well be amplified — but not, as might be expected, by inserting the word ‘nuclear’. For if the nuclear power now available were unleashed and not merely maintained as a deterrent, its use would mean ‘chaos’ not ‘war’, since war is organised action, which could not be continued in a state of chaos. The nuclear deterrent, however, does not apply and cannot be applied to the deterrence of subtler forms of aggression. Through its unsuitability for the purpose it tends to stimulate and encourage them. The necessary maxim is now ‘If you wish for peace, understand war — particularly the guerrilla and subversive forms of war.”
page 361, Chapter on Guerrilla Warfare of Strategy, written by B.H. Liddell Hart, Copyright Faber & Faber, Ltd. London, England 1954, 1967
President Trump loves the military…
He wants his followers to know he is a fighter.
His political operatives touted him as the GOP Insurgent.
He won the 2016 scorched earth information war and defeated not only Hillary Clinton, but many in the mainstream media, who were colluding with her to try to destroy Trump with damaging stories. The Russians actively participated in America’s 2016 information war too.
This week is a typical “squirmish” in America’s endless scorched earth information war. These skirmishes consist of the media and Trump engaged in short-lived, emotionally intense battles for control of the 24/7 news cycle. Both sides go “nuclear”, without any concerns about collateral damage or fallout, because after all, this is a war of words and no one is literally dying, right?
This week’s Trump sideshow is a typical Trump diversion. He wasn’t man enough to just admit he hadn’t called the families of these recently fallen soldiers, so he turned the question into an attack on President Obama and other recent presidents. He is the ultimate Mr. Whataboutism. He will never admit to any weakness or mistake.
President Trump lies, as often and as outrageously as necessary, until he provokes his opponents to overreact. His lies are “attacks” – they are his weapons and he uses them ruthlessly. Once his opponents overreact, he will pick apart their statements looking for untruths or bits and pieces he can manipulate to discredit them. He will lob his “alternative facts”, wrap himself in the American flag and borrow the honor of “the generals” to sway his followers to remain loyal.
This week’s “squirmish” is just a slight plot change from Trump’s 2016 vet fundraiser.
Trump’s vet fundraiser, January 28. 2016 was a Trumper tantrum retaliation against FOX News and Megyn Kelly. Trump claimed his fundraiser raised over 6 million dollars and he personally pledged a million dollar donation.
In February 2016, a Weekly Standard reporter contacted the Trump Foundation for information on the fundraiser:
“On Thursday, I contacted the Donald J. Trump Foundation by email with a few questions about how the $6 million had been or was being disbursed. Five minutes later, I received a phone call from Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s presidential campaign manager. Lewandowski said a list of the recipients had been made public and that more recipients were being added all the time. How much had those recipients received? Lewandowski couldn’t, or wouldn’t, say. As a non-profit organization, he said, the Trump Foundation would release all the required details of its disbursements at the end of the fiscal year. To find out before then, he said, I’d have to contact the recipients themselves.
“The list is publicly available,” he said. “You can do your homework and ask the veterans’ organizations.”
Why wouldn’t the Trump Foundation want to publicize how much it had donated? (Especially given the fact that in recent years, Trump’s charity organization had given more money to the Clinton Foundation than to veterans.) And why, when asking about the Foundation’s disbursements, had a representative of the campaign called? With no other options, however, I took Lewandowki’s advice.”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/some-vet-groups-still-waiting-for-trump-foundation-checks/article/2001154
Months later reporters began asking more questions about which vet charities received that money and if Trump had made good on his million dollar pledge. On May 28, 2016,Trump staged a big show where he attacked the media and had his million dollar check for a vet charity:
“As recently as last week, Trump’s campaign manager had insisted that the mogul had already given that money away. But that was false: Trump had not.
In recent days, The Washington Post and other media outlets had pressed Trump and his campaign for details about how much the fundraiser had actually raised and whether Trump had given his portion.
The candidate refused to provide details. On Monday, a Post reporter used Twitter — Trump’s preferred social-media platform — to search publicly for any veterans groups that had received Trump’s money.”
Later Monday evening, Trump called the home of James K. Kallstrom, a former FBI official who is chairman of the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. The charity aids families of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/24/four-months-later-donald-trump-says-he-gave-1-million-to-veterans-group/?utm_term=.471cc9ad77be
Trump was the one who politicized his vet fundraiser, in fact, the entire fundraiser was a political stunt. Just like in previous “skirmishes” Trump goes nuclear with his war of words, but the media and Left go nuclear too.
On Monday, a reporter asked President Trump why he hadn’t commented on the recent deaths of American soldiers in Niger.
President Trump hadn’t called the families of those fallen soldiers, but instead of saying that, he attacked President Obama and other presidents:
“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls — a lot of them didn’t make calls — I like to make calls when it’s appropriate,” Trump said at a news conference in the Rose Garden when asked about why he had not addressed the recent deaths of American troops in Niger.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-false-claim-about-obama-fallen-soldiers-n811206
The media and former Obama officials immediately countered Trump’s assertion and General Dempsey, who has tried to remain apolitical, also countered Trump’s assertion.
President Trump then inserted General Kelly and “generals” into the controversy, telling reporters to ask them if President Obama had called the families of fallen soldiers. General Kelly’s son was killed in action.
At this point, the “facts” seem to indicate that President Obama did not call General Kelly when his son was killed in action. However, at an event honoring Gold Star families, the Kellys sat at the table with First Lady, Michelle Obama, six months after the death of Kelly’s son.
President Trump then called the families of the recently fallen soldiers. A Democratic congresswoman, who is a Trump hater heard the call. She claims President Trump disrespected the grieving family. There are also reports of a previous Gold Star family, whom Trump had called in June and promised them that he would personally send a check of $25,000 to them. He never sent the check, until yesterday, after the media started asking about it.
This week’s squirmish follows the same script as his million dollar vet fundraiser boast.
The battle lines are now drawn and it is President Trump who politicized the deaths of fallen soldiers. He is the one who refused to answer a simple question honestly on Monday. He had not called the families of those 4 fallen soldiers, who died on October 4th, but rather than admit that, he lashed out about President Obama and other presidents not calling grieving Gold Star families. He is also the one who interjected General Kelly into this issue and now he and the White House are borrowing on General Kelly’s honor to try and do damage control.
That is the truth.
The media and Left, smelling blood, went nuclear, digging up “facts” to not only counter Trump, but to try and turn this issue into an “impeachable offense” and destroy him.
The truth is President Trump uses the military as stage props, beginning with his “squirmish” with FOX News over Megyn Kelly’s “unfair” debate question in August of 2015, which he whined about for 8 long months. That question was not “unfair”. It was a question about how Trump treats women. Trump and his media friends waged an all out attack on Megyn Kelly and Trump called Roger Ailes, trying to get Kelly removed as debate moderator.
He was trying to use his influence to damage the career of a news analyst.
Ailes refused to remove Megyn Kelly, so Trump boycotted that debate and orchestrated a “vet fundraiser” to try and draw viewers away from watching that GOP primary debate. He was USING the U.S. military as stage props to make himself look patriotic.
It looks like President Trump used information, that General Kelly confided in him, as a nuclear blast against President Obama, to score some cheap points in this latest squirmish. He betrayed the trust of one of his generals. It appears that President Obama had not called General Kelly when Kelly’s son died and I hope that President Obama can be a bigger man than President Trump and call General Kelly . Apologize for the oversight, because it does appear that General Kelly was hurt by not receiving a call from his commander-in-chief.
In a few days this latest controversy will be eclipsed by another info war “skirmish”. In fact, the Trump operatives are already launching another nuclear info war attack to discredit Robert Mueller. President Trump was tweeting this morning, lashing out at the FBI, accusing them of colluding with the Russians. Another diversionary tactic, but he is always “winning” the 24/7 news cycle with these nuclear blasts. He totally eclipses everything, even the sun…
The collateral damage from scorched earth information warfare isn’t dead bodies, it’s America’s heart and soul. The very fibers of our national character get stretched and torn a little more with each, almost daily, “squirmish” and the indiscriminate flame-throwing leaves America a toxic nuclear wasteland of angry, seething people, who hate and distrust each other.
President Trump possesses a unique gift for dividing people and playing people against each other. He is now using “the generals” in his vicious scorched earth information war.
Scorched earth information warfare’s only outcome can be the destruction of America’s national character.
And Chaos.
There are no winners.
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