Thread by @TypingLiterally

Trump's record on the Military and Veterans — let'a give it a go ...

No Trump, in America, has ever served in the Military. This spans 5 generations, and every branch of the family tree.

In fact, the reason his grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid Military service.

Trump dodged the draft 5 times by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs.

For a decade, Trump sought to kick veterans off of Fifth Avenue stating,

“While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?” — 1991

Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam (1998)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Trump said he doesn't consider POWs heroes because they were caught. He said he prefers people who were not caught (July 18, 2015)

Trump said "I felt that I was in the military in the true sense because I dealt with those people

"because he went to a military-style academy and that he has "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military". (2015 biography)

Trump sent funds raised from a January 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)

Trump attacks Gold Star families, Myeshia Johnson, Khan family — gold star parents, etc. (2016-present)

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)

Trump said vets get PTSD because they aren't strong (Oct 3, 2016)

Trump said he knows more about ISIS than American generals (Oct 2016)

Trump deported Veterans (2017-present)

Trump ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records (2017-present)

Trump blocked a Veteran group on Twitter (June 2017)

*narrator: No really, the current sitting "president" did this.*

Trump 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)

Trump forgot a fallen soldier's name during a call to his pregnant widow, then attacks her the next day (Oct 23-24, 2017)

Trump deported active-duty spouses (11,800 military families face this problem as of April 2018)

Trump, through his Forever GI Act, caused the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many Veterans to run out of food and rent. “You can count on us to serve, but we can’t count on the VA to make a deadline,” one veteran said. (October 7, 2018)

Trump used troops as a political prop by sending them on a phantom mission to the border and maked them miss Thanksgiving with their families (Oct-Dec, 2018)

While in Europe commemorating the end of WWI, he didn't attend the ceremony at a US cemetery due to the rain - but other world leaders went anyway (Nov 10, 2018)

Trump canceled an Arlington Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain (Nov 12, 2018)

*narrator: There are too many, time to double up where I can ... *

Trump urged Florida to not count deployed military votes (Nov 12, 2018)

Trump fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays (Dec 19, 2018-present)

Trump lied to troops that he gave them a 10% raise (Dec 26, 2018). He initially tried to give the military a raise that was lower than the standard living before 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.

Trump revealed a covert Seal Team 5 deployment, including names and faces, on Twitter during his visit to Iraq (Dec 26, 2018)

Trump finally visited troops 2 years after taking office, but only after 154 vacation days at his properties (Dec 26, 2018)

Trump increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost (2018)

Trump called a retired general a 'dog' with a 'big, dumb mouth' (Jan 1, 2019)

When a man was caught swindling Veterans pensions for high-interest “cash advances," Trump's CFPB fined him $1.

The Trump admin goal was to dismantle the CFPB, installing Mick Mulvaney as the director, who publicly stated the bureau should be disbanded. (Jan 26, 2019)

Trump tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen (Jan 16, 2019)

Trump banned service members from serving based on gender identity (Jan 22, 2019)

Trump denied female troops access to birth control to limit sexual activity (on-going. Published Jan 18, 2019)

Trump didn't pay the Coast Guard, forcing service members to rely on food pantries (Jan 23, 2019)

Trump refused to sign his party's funding bill, which shut down the gov, and forced a branch of the military to go w/o pay. This branch of military was forced to work w/o pay, otherwise they would be AWOL. However, his appointees got a $10K pay raise (Dec 22, 2018 – Jan 25, 2019)

Trump diverted military housing funds to pay for border wall (Feb 15, 2019). A judge subsequently denied this. In July 2019, SCOTUS ruled that Trump could in fact divert military housing funds to pay for his wall.

Trump complained that a deceased war hero didn't thank him for his funeral (March 20, 2019)

Trump deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parent less (April 16, 2019)

Trump purged 200,000 veterans healthcare applications (due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment process and enrollment system) (reported on May 13, 2019)

Trump pardoned war criminals (May, 2019)

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 turned away US military from his Memorial Day speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain (May 27, 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 on June 4th, 2019)

newsweek.com/tiffany-trump-…

Trump started his D-Day commemoration speech by attacking a private citizen (Bette Midler) (reported on June 4th, 2019)

rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (June 6, 2019)

qz.com/1637160/trump-…

Trump sent troops to the border to paint the fence for a better "aesthetic appearance" (June 7, 2019)

militarytimes.com/news/your-mili…

Trump demanded US Military Chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade (reported July 2, 2019)

yahoo.com/news/trump-dem…

Trump made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them fly at his July 4th political campaign (July 4, 2019)

slate.com/news-and-polit…

Trump denied a United States Marine of 6 years entry into the United States for his scheduled citizenship interview (July 17, 2019)

fox5sandiego.com/2019/07/17/mar…

(!)

Trump ordered the Navy rescind medals to prosecutors who were prosecuting war criminals (July 31, 2019)

washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense…

Requisitioned military retirement funds towards border wall (August 2, 2019)

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

And finally ...

Children of deployed US troops will no longer get automatic American citizenship if born overseas during deployment (August 28, 2019)

military.com/daily-news/201…