Just when I think I can’t dislike Donald Trump more, something comes along to make me reconsider that idea. This morning, I read about Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. Some people were praising him for his “love” for veterans. I guess they forgot about Trump’s regrettable comments to the late Senator John McCain, who spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam as Trump dodged the draft, or his incredibly insensitive phone call to the wife of a fallen troop, in which he repeatedly referred to woman’s dead husband as “your guy” instead of learning the man’s name.

In any case, when one woman praised Trump and his “love” for veterans and ability to salute properly, a man shared an article from People magazine that dates from 2016. It was about some disgusting comments Donald Trump made to Howard Stern back in the 1990s. Among those comments were these:

• “It’s amazing, I can’t even believe it. I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world, it is a dangerous world out there. It’s like Vietnam, sort of. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier,” (said in reference to dating during the AIDS epidemic.)

• Trump called women’s vaginas “potential landmines” and said “there’s some real danger there.”

• In 1993, Trump boasted to Howard Stern about his promiscuous lifestyle while he was still single and said that men who didn’t go to Vietnam shouldn’t feel guilty because dating during the AIDS epidemic in the ’80s was also dangerous.

• Trump said to Stern in that 1993 interview, “You know, if you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam, we have our own Vietnam — it’s called the dating game. Dating is like being in Vietnam. You’re the equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam.” (REALLY?)

Of course, Trump later excused those comments as “just words”. He also referred to his infamous statement in 2005 about “grabbing women by the pussy” as “locker room talk”. I remember he also made comments about the late Princess Diana and how he’d always wanted to date her and would sleep with her “without hesitation”, but he’d be sure to “send her to the doctor”, first. He made those remarks in 1997, again on the Howard Stern show, just after the princess died.

Yes, I know he was on Howard Stern’s show and Howard Stern is known for being a “shock jock”. I know Trump’s disgusting rhetoric appeals to a large segment of the population, especially braindead white men who only think with their dicks. What I don’t understand is how this vile, despicable, embarrassing man is the president of the United States. How is it that God fearing, salt of the earth, hard working people with traditional values can embrace this man who would openly refer to their wives’ and daughters’ vaginas as “land mines” and brag about sexually assaulting them, while he presumes that they’ll give him a sexually transmitted disease?

Trump and his family are now in the United Kingdom, where they will meet with Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, and the rest of the family. I wonder if they’ll be able to keep a straight face as they recall the horrible comments Trump made about Duchess Kate when illicit photos of her sunbathing topless were shared in the media. Trump apparently felt it was no big deal that the press invaded Kate’s privacy and published those photos, especially since it meant they would make a lot of money… at least until they were sued and forced to pay £92,000 in damages.

I will never understand women– especially female veterans– who cheer for Donald Trump. I know some people only do it because they want a Republican in office, but it seems like Republicans would want someone decent… or at least qualified for the job. Donald Trump would never be hired for a government service position, and he couldn’t hack the military due to his “bone spurs”. And yet, he’s the president, even after he made disgusting comments that degrade all women and sexually harassed the likes of Princess Diana. I just don’t get it.

After breakfast this morning, I went back to that article that appeared in the Military Times about Trump and Melania at Arlington National Cemetery before their trip to England. I read yet another very active comment thread starting by an apparently delusional woman with total cognitive dissonance, continually expressing admiration and praise for Trump as she reported her plans to visit her father in the cemetery. She seemed to be equating Trump with her father, whom she said served 31 years, and her husband, who is a retired Navy man. People tried to point out the incongruence of comparing draft dodging Trump with guys who’d actually served in the military, but she wasn’t having it. And anyone who said anything to her was either personally insulted or asked if they’d “served” or grown up in a military family. When I couldn’t take the comments anymore, I offered one of my own… something I may regret doing. Here it is:

The amount of cognitive dissonance among Trump supporters is truly astonishing. This is a man who bragged about grabbing women by the pussy and said women’s vaginas are akin to “land mines”. He disparaged John McCain for being a POW, got out of serving in Vietnam (although considers his personal Vietnam the AIDS era, as he did his best to avoid catching STDs while screwing multiple women), and didn’t even bother to show up to the cemetery last year because of rain.  

I get wanting a Republican in office, but why in the world don’t Republicans demand a person with more strength of character, experience, and decency? Trump could never be hired for a regular government job. And I say this as the daughter, niece, cousin, and wife of many people who served in the military. I myself served in the Peace Corps, which is yet another way to “serve”. I would hope those of you crowing about how non-veterans have no right to an opinion about the military would consider the fact that many people put on a uniform every day to protect that right for ALL Americans.

Well… I will go on record as saying yes, I am married to an Army vet, the daughter of an Air Force vet, and have uncles, cousins, and even an aunt who served in all branches of the military. I, too, have even “served”, though not in the military, but as a Peace Corps Volunteer (there is more than one way to serve one’s country, although I would never refer to myself as a veteran). I feel plenty qualified and entitled to offer my opinions about 45. I think it’s a disgrace that he was even allowed to run for president, let alone elected. I have hope that people will wise up and vote differently in 2020, but when I read all of the mind numbingly stupid comments on articles by the Military Times or similar publications, it makes me realize that there’s an epidemic of people who are simply blinded to reality and care much more about “getting theirs” than people as a whole. Unless, of course, the people in question happen to be “unborn”.

Anyway… good on Trump for visiting the cemetery to honor Memorial Day, even though he will be out of the country for the actual holiday. I think I’d be a lot more impressed if he’d just simply vacate the White House and go back to being a sleazy B grade celebrity on Howard Stern’s radio show. He’s not fit to be president. And, as stupid, misguided, and tone deaf as I found the pro-Trump comments from that woman who kept bragging about her dead veteran father at Arlington, I’ll bet her late dad and her husband are much better men than Trump is on his least offensive day… which I assume would be when he’s under anesthesia, comatose, or something.