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#Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, #MarkMeadows, & 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.”
#racism #WhiteSupremacy #MaleSupremacy #misogyny #UnitedStates #military #ServiceMember #Unfit #disrespect #disgrace
#Vote #HarrisWalz2024
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxeXgG6TzRGw9UxuZ0SJ0TQw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
In april 2020, #VanessaGuillén, a 20-year-old #Army private, was bludgeoned to death by a fellow #soldier at #FortHood, in #Texas. The killer, aided by his girlfriend, burned Guillén’s body. Guillén’s remains were discovered 2 months later, buried in a riverbank near the base, after a massive search.
Guillén, the daughter of #Mexican #immigrants, grew up in #Houston, & her murder sparked outrage across TX & beyond.
#FortHood had become known as a particularly perilous assignment for #FemaleSoldiers, & members of #Congress took up the cause of reform. Shortly after her remains were discovered, then-President #Trump himself invited #VanessaGuillén’s family to the WH. With Guillén’s mother seated beside him, Trump spent 25 mins w/the family as TV cameras recorded the scene. [note this was prior to the 2020 #election]
#WhiteSupremacy #MaleSupremacy #military #disrespect #disgrace
In the meeting, #Trump maintained a *dignified* posture & expressed sympathy to Guillén’s mother. “I saw what happened to your daughter Vanessa, who was a spectacular person, & respected & loved by everybody, including in the #military,” Trump said. Later in the conversation, he made a promise: “If I can help you out w/the funeral, I’ll help—I’ll help you w/that,” he said. “I’ll help you out. Financially, I’ll help you.”
Natalie Khawam, the family’s attorney, responded, “I think the #military will be paying—taking care of it.” #Trump replied, “Good. They’ll do a military. That’s good. If you need help, I’ll help you out.” Later, a reporter covering the meeting asked Trump, “Have you offered to do that for other families before?” Trump responded, “I have. I have. Personally. I have to do it personally. I can’t do it through government.”
The reporter then asked: “So you’ve written checks to help for other families before this?” #Trump turned to the family, still present, & said, “I have, I have, because some families need help … Maybe you don’t need help, from a financial standpoint. I have no idea what—I just think it’s a horrific thing that happened. And if you did need help, I’m going to—I’ll be there to help you.”
#racism #misogyny #UnitedStates #military #ServiceMember #Unfit #disrespect #disgrace
…5 months later, the secretary of the #Army, Ryan McCarthy, announced the results of an investigation. McCarthy cited numerous “leadership failures” at #FortHood & relieved or suspended several officers, including the base’s commanding general. In a press conference, McCarthy said that the murder “shocked our conscience” & “forced us to take a critical look at our systems, our policies, & ourselves.”
#Trump #racism #misogyny #US #military #Unfit #disrespect #disgrace
Acc/to a person close to then president #Trump was agitated by McCarthy’s comments & raised questions about the severity of the punishments dispensed to snr officers & NCOs.
In an Oval Office meeting on Dec 4, 2020, ofcls gathered to discuss a separate #NationalSecurity issue. Toward the end of the discussion, Trump asked for an update on the McCarthy investigation.
#racism #WhiteSupremacy #MaleSupremacy #misogyny #military #ServiceMember #Unfit #disrespect #disgrace
#ChrisMiller, the acting secretary of defense (Trump had fired his predecessor, #MarkEsper, 3 weeks earlier, writing in a tweet, “Mark Esper has been terminated”), was in attendance, along w/Miller’s chief of staff, #KashPatel. At a certain point, acc/to 2 people present at the meeting, #Trump asked, “Did they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?”
#racism #WhiteSupremacy #MaleSupremacy #misogyny #UnitedStates #military #ServiceMember #Unfit #disrespect #disgrace
Acc/to attendees, & to contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered: Yes, we received a bill; the funeral cost $60,000.
#Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, #MarkMeadows, & 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.”
…no money was ever received by the family from #Trump. Some of the costs…were covered by the #Army (which offered…to allow Guillén to be buried at #ArlingtonNationalCemetery) & some were covered by donations. Ultimately, Guillén was buried in Houston.
…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 & for their devotion to #duty, #honor, & #sacrifice. Fmr generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is #obedience. As his presidency drew to a close, & in the years since, he has become more & more interested in the advantages of #dictatorship, & the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver. “I need the kind of generals that #Hitler had,” Trump said….
@Nonilex He never watched Downfall, I guess
@Nonilex
This sums it up well:
“Retired General Barry McCaffrey, a decorated Vietnam veteran, told me that Trump does not comprehend such traditional military virtues as honor & self-sacrifice. ‘The military is a foreign country to him. He doesn’t understand the customs or codes,’ McCaffrey said. ‘It doesn’t penetrate. It starts with the fact that he thinks it’s foolish to do anything that doesn’t directly benefit himself.’”
@Nonilex I'm guessing Trump went by his own costs of burying Ivana in some backwater of his property. Those were actually negative because he used it as an excuse to designate some of the property a burial site as a tax dodge. He's probably surprised it costs anything at all to bury someone.