Okay, hear me out here because this is important.
Over here on the left, messages about military conduct have only so much weight.
We aren’t spoon-fed an endless daily diet of jingoistic faux-patriotic pap that conflates war and strength.
That’s a main course on the right.
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Over here on the left, messages about military conduct have only so much weight.
We aren’t spoon-fed an endless daily diet of jingoistic faux-patriotic pap that conflates war and strength.
That’s a main course on the right.
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We on the left don’t lean heavily on the Commander in Chief portion of a president’s role.
We aren’t attracted to the Mad Dog Mattis’ of the world. We don’t mythologize and glamorize the Pat Tillman’s of the world as if dying in a misguided foreign intervention is glorious.
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We aren’t attracted to the Mad Dog Mattis’ of the world. We don’t mythologize and glamorize the Pat Tillman’s of the world as if dying in a misguided foreign intervention is glorious.
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In a million VFW halls across the country though, particularly in red states, a president is only as strong as his perceived leadership of our military might.
Presidents are generals to that audience.
That has worked in Trump’s favor - until now.
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Presidents are generals to that audience.
That has worked in Trump’s favor - until now.
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His hyperbolic saber-rattling and ultra-nationalist rhetoric read as the words of someone flexing a national might they were unafraid to use.
It telegraphed strength to an audience too incurious to think beyond the empty words.
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It telegraphed strength to an audience too incurious to think beyond the empty words.
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Trump’s recent choices though, if laid bare and messaged simply, unravel all of that.
They’re cowardly. They show weakness in place of strength. They’re strategically disastrous in the way that gets soldiers killed.
Most of all, they’re dishonorable.
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They’re cowardly. They show weakness in place of strength. They’re strategically disastrous in the way that gets soldiers killed.
Most of all, they’re dishonorable.
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Threatening our allies in Ukraine is dishonorable.
Leaving an ally in a perilous position defenseless against an enemy is downright traitorous.
No military leader could both stab allies in the back and keep the complete faith of their own troops.
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Leaving an ally in a perilous position defenseless against an enemy is downright traitorous.
No military leader could both stab allies in the back and keep the complete faith of their own troops.
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Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds is even worse.
The Kurds are immeasurably brave. They fought with us and for us. They faced down the brutality of ISIS, lost thousands of their own, and fought on.
Then Trump sold them out against all military wisdom.
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The Kurds are immeasurably brave. They fought with us and for us. They faced down the brutality of ISIS, lost thousands of their own, and fought on.
Then Trump sold them out against all military wisdom.
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If you have friends and family who are still pro-Trump, these are messages to amplify.
These are themes to repeat in mixed forums like your Facebook page.
While they may not sound like compelling arguments to you, they are very effective on the right.
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These are themes to repeat in mixed forums like your Facebook page.
While they may not sound like compelling arguments to you, they are very effective on the right.
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The Trump-supporting public coming to see him as what he is - a traitorous coward disloyal to allies and untrustworthy among friends - matters a great deal.
This is where we get to leverage the construct the Fox News’ of the world have relied on for years.
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This is where we get to leverage the construct the Fox News’ of the world have relied on for years.
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“Imagine if FDR had abandoned our European allies during World War II the way Trump abandoned our friends in Syria.”
The moral weakness of a dishonorable Commander in Chief is the *one* area where the right will hold Trump’s immortality against him.
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The moral weakness of a dishonorable Commander in Chief is the *one* area where the right will hold Trump’s immortality against him.
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Use that. Amplify those messages. Even among your remaining Trump-supporting friends and family, ask and ask again:
What kind of Commander in Chief leaves allies to die?
What kind of military leader runs off the battlefield so many fought to take from ISIS?
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What kind of Commander in Chief leaves allies to die?
What kind of military leader runs off the battlefield so many fought to take from ISIS?
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Hammer this theme. Hammer it.
Nothing will undermine Trump among the predominantly older portions of his base like an endless repetition of the fact that he is fundamentally a coward disloyal to the brave.
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Nothing will undermine Trump among the predominantly older portions of his base like an endless repetition of the fact that he is fundamentally a coward disloyal to the brave.
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