You Decide

I never talk politics when I play Pickleball, if I have opinions, I write them down and put them on my blog. First, I don’t really care that much about the day in and day out goings-on within our political system, because politicians rarely talk about important things that directly affect my life.  But more importantly, other than my vote I don’t get a direct say in the decisions the various governments do make.  Today was an exception, although I did more listening than talking.

Another retired LTCOL mentioned that President Trump had made the statement that people buried in Arlington National Cemetery were all losers for being killed in a war, and since his parents were both buried there he would never vote for Trump.  There were a couple of similar statements floating around on social media I had seen but ignored before heading off to play.  After listening to the two people sitting there talking about the President my only comment was that I never believed a rumor about what Trump had said unless I hear it myself and understand the context.  Of course, this was challenged by one of the two who noted the President says a lot of stupid stuff.  I really can’t disagree with that, for I think the same thing from time to time.

So, I came home and sat down at my computer to see if I could track down what got this Army LTCOL so riled up.

Using the Duck Duck Go search engine, I typed in “Did Trump say people buried in Arlington National Cemetery were all suckers and losers?”  Here are the top five responses to that question.  Forbes,  CBC,  The Atlantic,  IBTimes,  Slate.  Four of the articles all refer back to “The Atlantic” article published on September 3, 2020, which claims that in 2017 the President refused to visit a World War I cemetery in France and allegedly said those buried there were “losers and suckers” for fighting in France.

Of course, Jeffery Goldberg uses the most favored of supporting documents when alleging wrongdoing by the President.  He learned of these statements from “four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day.”  It is remarkable how no one with first-hand knowledge of the events is willing to go on record, and the ones who go on record to point these “facts” out as lies are discredited as Trump’s stooges.

If “The Atlantic” had a track record of unbiased reporting I could maybe give them a slide on this, but they don’t.  Over the past four years, they’ve taken every opportunity to vilify the President, usually to be proven they were liars just a few weeks after publication.

What makes this article even more suspect is the timing?  Clearly, Mr. Goldberg believes he can help the DNC cause if he can suggest the President doesn’t respect the military and persuade its members to vote for Joe Biden so what does he have to lose.  Journalist integrity went to the wayside a long time ago.