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1. All eyes this morning and this afternoon were on Michael Cohen’s testimony before the US Congress, but I wanted to dial into something that does not get enough attention.
2. The reason it doesn’t get enough attention is because it comes off as a mere spat between the president and Richard Blumenthal. Even when reporters do pay attention to it, the reporting is often about Trump’s beef with Blumenthal’s wife, whose family is in NYC real estate.
3. The argument, however, speaks to larger themes: moral authority, patriotism and honor. More deeply, it speaks to the nature of our national identity. Are we a nation of ideals or blood?
4. The only way to understand coherently the president’s position in his fight with Blumenthal is to see that he holds himself above the obligations of duty.
5. In being born very rich, Donald Trump can’t be held responsible for things other Americans are held responsible for, because if he were, he’d be just like everyone else, and that’s obviously not the case, because Donald Trump was born very rich.
6. Before he went to the Senate, Dick Blumenthal was the Connecticut attorney general. He built a reputation for serving veterans. During his 2010 Senate run, he appealed to those he served during his long career, and
in doing so, Dick Blumenthal misstated a few times his record, which remains a source of anger among veterans who have seen combat.
8. Here’s what happened. Blumenthal used the wrong preposition on (literally) a handful of occasions. Blumenthal said “in Vietnam” when he should have said “during Vietnam.”
9. Here’s what I mean: Blumenthal, after six rounds of draft deferment, served for six years in the Marine Corps Reserve. This was stateside. He did not experience combat. It’s true that he served “during Vietnam.” It’s false that he was “in Vietnam.”
10. Now, as I said, this is a legitimate sore spot for combat veterans. Saying you were in Vietnam suggests you are entitled to the honors and privileges that go with having experienced the trauma of combat.
11. “Stolen valor,” as it’s called, is something of a plague in our society, and those with moral authority have the right to forever condemn Blumenthal. Blumenthal, for his part, apologized, & CT voters largely accepted it. (That voters “rewarded” him is also a legit complaint.)
12. Blumenthal has never brought this up again, because reminding veterans why they were mad at you is not smart. Yet Blumenthal has continued to be a sharp thorn in Trump’s side, mostly as the lead name in a lawsuit against the president alleging that he’s violating the
13. Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution, which bars presidents from taking bribes. (The allegation is that in being the president as well as the head of the Trump Organization, Trump is the direct beneficiary of his elected office.)
14. For whatever reason, perhaps rivalry with Blumenthal’s wife’s family’s real estate business, or fear of Blumenthal’s lawsuit, the president continues to bring up on Twitter the senator’s half-truth about Vietnam, as he did this morning:
15. Now, the effect of Trump continuing to bring up Blumenthal’s half-truth is kneecapping Blumenthal’s moral authority, as in, perhaps: Dick has no right to complain about me and Emoluments because, look, he lied about Vietnam!
16. And to many of the president’s supporters, this is a good enough.
It’s not good enough.
It’s not good enough.
17. First, because the president has zero moral authority on anything related to Vietnam. While Blumenthal served, Trump did not. Period. He lied about having “heel spurs” to shirk the duty of citizenship.
18. Yes, it was stateside. Yes, he never saw combat. But Blumenthal served honorably. His critics portray that as meaningless. It’s not.
19. Second, Trump’s supporters hold the president to a lower moral standard than they do Blumenthal.
20. While critics allege that Blumenthal stole veterans’ valor, supporters overlook that Trump equated *his sex life* to being in combat, equated *his military school education* to being in combat, or, most recently, equated being in Vietnam *as a civilian* w/ being in combat.
21. Worse, while Blumenthal is accused of being close to treasonous, the president’s supporters celebrate the fetid hypocrisy that goes with wrapping himself in the American flag, accusing dissenters of betrayal, and exploiting his privilege to dodge the obligations of duty.
22. Isn’t that a kind of stolen valor? Yet Trump’s supporters seem fine with it.
23. Why would that be? It’s probably not about valor. It’s probably about something else, something stemming from the great debate over the real identity of this country.
Are we a nation of ideals or blood?
Are we a nation of ideals or blood?
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