The U.S. military community is sorting chaff from truth when deciding whether to reelect Donald Trump as commander in chief, veterans and active duty service members told Just the News — with presidential action, not alleged words, swaying their votes.
“For those who haven’t heard the term, chaff is a countermeasure meant to distract you,” one Air Force enlisted woman said. “What we’ve seen with negative reports about Trump’s so-called problems with the military is a whole lot of worthless, distracting chaff.” Like other active duty service members, the airman withheld her name from publication because she is not allowed to speak privately to the media.
The negative reports include claims from anonymous sources, published in the Atlantic, that Trump disparaged the military, and said that Americans who died in war are “losers” and “suckers.”
Trump, backed by numerous witnesses, vehemently denied the claims, but they were taken as truth by detractors, including high-profile former flag officers who lobbed verbal shots at the president.
“Trump. Ignorance. Cruelty,” tweeted retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey, who ran Bill Clinton’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. “These are our soldiers. They stepped forward to defend us. He is a terrible President to call our Armed Forces ‘losers and suckers.’ “
Combat veterans, however, told Just the News that they are unmoved by the alleged comments from Trump.
“I don’t think hardly any veteran believes it,” said Jim Lechner, who served multiple tours in the Army, and is a decorated and wounded combat veteran. “It’s debunked propaganda.”
