The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.

The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.

In April 2020, Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old Army private, was bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood, in Texas. The killer, aided by his girlfriend, burned Guillén’s body. Guillén’s remains were discovered two months later, buried in a riverbank near the base, after a massive search.

Guillén, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, grew up in Houston, and her murder sparked outrage across Texas and beyond. Fort Hood had become known as a particularly perilous assignment for female soldiers, and members of Congress took up the cause of reform. Shortly after her remains were discovered, President Donald Trump himself invited the Guillén family to the White House. With Guillén’s mother seated beside him, Trump spent 25 minutes with the family as television cameras recorded the scene.

In the meeting, Trump maintained a dignified posture and expressed sympathy to Guillén’s mother. “I saw what happened to your daughter Vanessa, who was a spectacular person, and respected and loved by everybody, including in the military,” Trump said. Later in the conversation, he made a promise: “If I can help you out with the funeral, I’ll help—I’ll help you with that,” he said. “I’ll help you out. Financially, I’ll help you.”

…

Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” Later that day, he was still agitated. “Can you believe it?” he said, according to a witness. “Fucking people, trying to rip me off.”

…

The personal qualities displayed by Trump in his reaction to the cost of the Guillén funeral—contempt, rage, parsimony, racism—hardly surprised his inner circle. Trump has frequently voiced his disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor, and sacrifice. Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience. As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” Trump said in a private conversation in the White House, according to two people who heard him say this. “People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.” (“This is absolutely false,” Pfeiffer wrote in an email. “President Trump never said this.”)

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
    1493·
    13 days ago

    Meanwhile … America: … mmmmm … I don’t know who to vote for … it’s so hard … I don’t know what to do … I’m so confused

      • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
        34·
        13 days ago

        Yeah, and trump lowered my taxes!

        I hear this a lot, and it’s so weird to me since he didn’t. It’s also weird because even if he did, which he didn’t, is that really all that matters? I feel like I’m in the minority here but I wouldn’t sell my soul for a small amount of extra cash every year and that’s coming from someone who could really use it as well…

        • Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world
          10·
          13 days ago

          There is a difference between realizing that the money you pay in taxes pays for stuff that benefits the citizens vs the govenrment is taking my money and using it on stupid things or wasting it.

          They also conveniently forget/ignore that because we have relatively low taxes in the US, all the benefits like state funded college, universal healthcare, paid family leave, etc are just externalized onto you in the form of private insurance, tuition, and no family leave. I would happily pay more in taxes if it meant that was nationalized. You could damn near double my witholding and I would still come out ahead when you figure in the cost of private health insurance.

          Our first kid cost $12000 out of pocket on private insuance that cost my wife and I $1400/month after my employer paid half of the monthly premium.

          I fully expect my kids tuition to be over $100k by the time they are in college unless something changes.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    13 days ago

    Didn’t Hitler’s generals constantly lie, claim the war was going better than it was, and ignored his directions because they were given under the false pretenses they gave him?

    • Rakonat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      13 days ago

      Little column a, little column b. He also routinely ignored their advice when it came to basically anything. He bought his own propaganda hard, insisting german troops go on suicide missions or follow timetables that weren’t realistic even with the entire division on meth.

  • paddirn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    13 days ago

    Didn’t Hitler not even listen to his generals? Isn’t that even a knock against the idea of going back in time to assassinate Hitler, specifically because of how bad he was mucking up the war effort? If someone were to go back and kill Hitler, that could actually change the direction of the war in that somebody more competent might’ve directed the war effort better than Hitler. So in a weird way, Hitler might be the least worst possible option.

  • 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world
    143·
    13 days ago

    Although he probably did say this out loud, this is hearsay and nothing can prove he said this.

  • Dogiedog64@lemmy.world
    9·
    13 days ago

    So he wants to be surrounded by yes-men who are better than him at everything? So he can push their ideas and steal all the credit? Just like normal? All righty then. I can only hope nobody in the military’s top brass actually wants to work for him again.

  • Kayday@lemmy.world
    6·
    13 days ago

    “This is absolutely false,” Pfeiffer wrote in an email. “President Trump never said this.”

    The only part that libertarians / conservatives will care about.

  • anonymous111@lemmy.world
    5·
    13 days ago

    Hitler’s generals we’re largely good generals. Many came from the Prussian school of war.

    The Allies didn’t try to assassinate Hitler because Hitler was causing so many military blunders by thinking he knew better than his generals and overruling them.