This has been a rather surprising delay … or not, depending on who you think might have the surprise. News finally came out about reactions to Hegseth and Trump’s bloviating in Virginia. It seems those in attendance did not have one good thing to say about it – unofficially, of course. They’re getting ready to whip out the lie detectors for anyone and everyone in the Pentagon, “to stop leaks”, but that’s another story. Hegseth is not well-liked. In other news… from Raw Story:
Longtime Pentagon reporter Helene Cooper said that she can’t find any military officials who attended the meeting in Virginia with President Donald Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth and liked what they heard. “I have yet to find a single military official who was in the audience today who thought that this was a good presentation,” she told MSNBC recently.
Ouch! Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Not ONE. *That* was unexpected. On the other hand, these are *real* military. Hegseth only plays at being one, and not very well. They did not achieve their ranks and positions without a lot of hard work and smarts. He went on stage and had a fit about fat. He yelled and said Yell, and strike them if it’s needed. Whaaaat? Okay, sidetracked, but too easy to do when it’s Hegseth. That’s actually not who this one is about. For once.
“All I’ve had from them so far, from the people I’ve talked to, is a combination of disbelief that some of them were made to fly from, some of them, Asia, from all over the world … all the way to Quantico to listen to the same familiar type of culture war complaints that we’ve been having since Trump was reelected,” she added, calling Trump’s remarks a “campaign-style stump speech.”
Trump begged for applause. He didn’t get any. He talked about sending the military into these “horrible” cities. And borders. And drugs. And on, and on, and on. These days, we can mostly tune out a large part of what Trump is saying on any given day, because the only different thing is that it *is* a different day. Trump forgot he was talking to the *military* and they are nothing like his adoring fans, who cheer and applaud and pump him up.
“Nothing that was said today could not have been put in an email or in a directive. So there’s that, to begin with. There’s also the fact that so much of this was partisan, and this is a military that is supposed to present itself as nonpartisan. So you didn’t hear the kind of cheering that we usually get, because President Trump is used to playing for the type of crowds that favor him,” Cooper explained. “And so he’s not very used to performing in front of an audience that’s just giving, looking back stone-faced. But that’s what you were getting from these generals.”
From the few pictures, stone face was exactly what he was getting. What did he expect? Not this. The military is apolitical. The people in his audience are apolitical. They really have to be even more so these days with these two yahoos up there spouting nonsense. We won’t even get started about women in the military because that was Hegseth, too.
Trump thought he could pump them up, bring forth their patriotism, and he forgot who he was talking to. These people *live* their patriotism. They swear an oath to the Constitution. Not to him. They know what the military is. Trump is their (addled) commander in chief. Hegseth is the Secretary. They were forced to listen. They don’t have to enjoy it, and they don’t have to like it. They had to be there. Orders.
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
Re the bit from above which states “… CAN’T FIND ANY MILITARY OFFICIALS WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING IN VIRGINIA WITH PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH AND LIKED WHAT THEY HEARD…” It’s a fair bet that said military officials are infinitely smarter than the two glitter laden turns that were sharing a petard, up in front of them. Additionally they did not want to be caught, in any way, shape or from, using good military spit to polish and buff said turds. Just imagine the malodorous fallout, if they did.
Did you mean “two glitter laden turds?” It was a show. I’m pretty sure those military folks know that the enemy within is 47.