04.06.26
Stolen valor
Canon to the right of them! Canon to the left of them! Trump is creaming his shorts over the rescue of the third crewman of the fighter jet downed Friday by Iran. The president sent out not one but two Truth Social posts, crowing about his own heroic role in the rescue.
Sunday morning just past midnight, he wrote (in part):
This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue. At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine. This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation. This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!
And seven hours later (again, in part):
… The Iranian Military was looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close. He is a highly respected Colonel. This type of raid is seldom attempted because of the danger to “man and equipment.” It just doesn’t happen! . . .
As usual, not true by a long shot. Along with the killing, war is a story of the valorous, selfless saving of lives. For instance:
Air Force Pararescueman William Hart Pitsenbarger flew on almost 300 missions during the Vietnam War to rescue and give medical aid to downed pilots and soldiers on the ground. He was one of five men in his unit of three helicopters—not “dozens of aircraft armed with the most lethal weapons in the World.” In one operation Pitsenbarger hung from a cable to reach a wounded South Vietnamese soldier in a burning minefield. On April 11, 1966, when the copters had to leave or run out of fuel, he stayed on the ground, crafting splints and stretchers out of gnarled vines and saplings. Having helped save over 60 men, Pitsenbarger was killed.
And then there was Desmond Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist who volunteered to serve as an Army combat medic during World War II. According to NPR, in the spring of 1945, during the battle of “Hacksaw Ridge” on Okinawa,
[u]nder a barrage of gunfire and explosions, Doss crawled on the ground from wounded soldier to wounded soldier. He dragged severely injured men to the edge of the ridge, tied a rope around their bodies and lowered them down to other medics below.
Doss saved 75 men. He refused to carry a gun. In a documentary about Hacksaw Ridge, Doss says: "I was praying the whole time. I just kept praying, 'Lord, please help me get one more.' "
That this weekend’s Iran rescue was accomplished on Easter was all the proof the president’s Christian nationalist idol worshipers needed that God is on our side and Donald Trump is his second, only slightly less miraculous, son — like Eric after Don Jr.
Numerous admirers replied to the president’s triumphal narrative with posts like this:
And should anyone doubt that the siege of Iran is a Christian holy war, Trump previewed the war crimes to come:
Agent Orange Man has never participated in ANY military combat. Period. But he worships those who have (suckers), or those that are willing to go to the meat-grinding front lines on his delerious command (also suckers). Not those who refuse to kill fellow humans, like Desmond Doss.
He does not value human lives. Period. He values only bullying violence. Period. A total imposter who merits only a 25th Amendment by those he claims to serve.