Trump Wants Fox Reporter Who Confirmed Atlantic Story Fired For Hurting His Wee Feelings

Jennifer Griffin said her sources confirm that Trump trash talked veterans.

On Thursday, The Atlantic published a story on several disparaging things Trump had been heard saying about soldiers and veterans. Because the story relied on multiple anonymous sources, Trump and his people spent all of Friday calling it fake news and his supporters agreed. After all, everyone knows you can only trust an anonymous source when they are telling you that Obama's birth certificate isn't real. 

Later on Friday, however, reporter Jennifer Griffin ... of Fox News, of all places, confirmed most of the story with her own sources, who also shared some other appalling things the president. For instance, about the Vietnam War, he reportedly said "It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker." While the first sentence of that statement is certainly true, those who went did not have the luxury of bone spurs and had to go — or else go to prison.

I have watched it approximately 25 times since yesterday, and let me tell you, it is extremely satisfying.

Pentagon officials respond to report Trump disparaged fallen American soldiers    www.youtube.com 

President Trump's staff explained he could cancel (his visit to the cemetery), but he was warned, 'They (the press)… https: //t.co/sSIJDvn3E2

— Jennifer Griffin (@Jennifer Griffin) 1599250082.0 

Now, no one is as anti-war as I am, but I still wouldn't insult veterans the way Donald Trump reportedly has. They're not the problem. It's the people in charge of the military, the people responsible for sending them to war, who are the problem. Duh. Donald Trump isn't anti-war, he's just a rich, spoiled asshole who can't believe everyone's daddy didn't buy them a Bentley for their Sweet Sixteen.

Trump, who is still denying he said any of this (though to be fair, it must be hard for him to keep track of all of the awful things he says about people), is now calling for Fox to fire Griffin:

Jennifer Griffin of Fox News Did Not Confirm ‘Most Salacious‘ Part of Atlantic Story https: //t.co/rUpbSWhHac via… https://t.co/FtbF8NcQGe

— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1599275964.0 

The part the Breitbart story says Griffin could not confirm was the part where he reportedly called Americans who died in wars "losers" and "suckers." Just the ones who died in Vietnam, I suppose.

The Breitbart story also hilariously attempts to justify one of the quotes that Griffin did confirm and finds a way to spin it positively.

Griffin also said that she confirmed that Trump had asked why veterans served, "What's in it for them? They don't make any money."

That reflected a similar claim by the Atlantic about a remark Trump was alleged to have made at Arlington National Cemetery — though without context, it is impossible to know whether Trump was praising them for volunteering regardless of personal or financial gain, rather than (as the Atlantic and Griffith presumed) mocking them for doing so.

Oh, sure. That is definitely very plausible.

Of course, don't let any of this get your hopes up. Trump's supporters have no true loyalty to anyone but him. They'll turn on Fox News on a dime. He already has, to a large degree, and started giving all his love to One America News Network. If there was a recording of this, if there were absolute proof, they would suddenly decide that veterans were hot garbage, even if they themselves were veterans. And, as long as he says it's not true, they will believe him. That is how this works.

Though perhaps on the bright-ish side, this might lead to Republicans being less thirsty for stupid wars, which would be nice. I'll take "no war" however I can get it, frankly.

On that same note, we have to be careful to not do something similar ourselves. While Trump is grotesque, while the things he says about people are grotesque, let's not 180 and suddenly decide that actually, war is pretty great and the military should be worshiped uncritically. That's not good, either. Nor is it a very popular position these days.

It's Labor Day Weekend, so I'm cutting out early. Which means that this is now your OPEN THREAD! Enjoy!

Enjoy!

[ The Guardian ]

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