A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Can you believe that Donald Trump said on television "I gave him (John McCain) the kind of funeral that he wanted,” but “didn’t get a thank you?” Of course, I believe it. This is, after all, Donald Trump we are talking about, is it not? The Donald is a combative, spiteful person. He has a habit of putting his sights on an individual - like the late Sen. McCain - or a group (such as the Central Park Five or immigrants from Central America) and vilifying them. In the case of Sen. McCain, the animus began when Trump declared his candidacy for President as a Republican in 2015, which McCain was opposed to. The feud, which Trump personalized as much as possible. escalated when he said he did not admire military people who “got caught,” (an allusion to McCain’s five and a half years-long stint as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War). He’s not a hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured. -  Donald Trump, July 2015. Trump, of c...

A few thoughts, if I may: American military personnel do not fight for the flag of the United States of America. They might express reverence for it as a symbol of the nation they swore an oath to protect, preserve, and defend, but they don’t consciously fight for the flag  per se.  That conservative extremists have hijacked the notion that our troops fight for the flag is undeniable. And perhaps the rawest, most naive recruits may believe that they joined the military to defend the flag, but that’s a bill of goods that they’ve been sold. If anything is true about the men and who fight and die, or suffer wounds, or are captured while serving their country, it is this: They don’t consciously fight for a flag. They don’t go to battle thinking, “This is for Mom, Dad, apple pie, or democracy.” They are too scared, too caught up in the horrors of war to be thinking  Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. John McCain suffered severe injuries during the Vietnam War, fi...