Trump is wrong about Veterans Day.
Completely, offensively, disappointingly wrong.
In the dark of the night, governing via social media, he decided to do away with the day Congress and the American people have set aside to honor and thank those who have honorably worn the uniform of the United States.
No more Veterans Day.
This from a guy who holds power because veterans came out in droves for him on Election Day. Veterans, who comprise 6% of the population, were more than 12% of the voters last November, and they cast their ballots for Trump 2-to-1 over Kamala Harris.
And he just erased Veterans Day.
What a great way to say, “Thank you.”
This from a guy who, while the Vietnam generation was being drafted into the service, came up with four education deferments and a timely case of heel spurs, which apparently went away when he got interested in golf. He, like Biden and Clinton before him, is a draft dodger.
And he wants to get rid of Veterans Day.
Instead, to celebrate “American victory,” he wants November 11 to become American Victory in World War I Day. Further, he wants a new holiday, May 8, to be American Victory in World War II Day.
That means that a day which honors almost 18 million living veterans will be replaced by a day which honors no living survivors of World War I, and adds a day which will honor the less than 1% of World War II veterans who are still alive.
To honor the wars of the last century, he will turn the nation’s back on the living veterans of this century. He will leave the veterans of the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Global War on Terror in an unrecognized limbo. The men and women who raised their arm to the square and pledged their lives to the defense of the Constitution and nation – in war or peace – will fade into unthanked obscurity.
We will have a national holiday for people who served in labor unions, but not for people who served in the Armed Forces.
And that’s bullcrap.
It’s also bad history.
Technically, nobody won the First World War. It ended in an armistice – a ceasefire – not a surrender. The United States provided tremendous service at the tail end of that war, with incredible acts of battlefield capability, but what pushed the Germans to quit the fight was our numbers, not our warfighting ability. When America got into the war with our millions of Doughboys, the Central Powers knew the math doomed their effort, and they sued for peace.
Further, claiming that American victory ended the Second World War is also a stretch. Certainly, we – with the particular help of Australia – beat the Japanese in the Pacific. And, certainly, American munitions and leadership were pivotal in the defeat of Germany, but the Third Reich would not have fallen had it not been for the willingness of the Russians and the Britons to fight and die for their countries.
In both wars, we tipped the balance toward victory, but in both wars we were part of alliances that shared the fight and share the glory. To say “we won” is only truly accurate if the “we” includes the noble nations which fought by our side to make the world safe for democracy.
On D-Day, for example, three-quarters of the Allied men who died weren’t Americans.
But this isn’t about those wars, it is about Veterans Day.
Veterans Day is sacred, and it must not be changed. Further, it is inconceivable that an American president would want to eliminate it. It is inconceivable that an American president would disrespect the men and women who have served in our nation’s uniform. It is inconceivable that he would take this day away from the legion of patriots who’ve been there and done that, particularly those who have recently defended the nation in the Global War on Terror.
Perhaps he is resentful of those who did what he didn’t dare do. Perhaps he is wary of those whose oath to “bear true faith and allegiance to” the Constitution might lead them to question his own fidelity to that same oath.
Either way, he’s wrong.
And long after Trump is gone, this nation will still honor its best sons and daughters each year on November 11.