So Trump makes this surprise visit to visit troops in Iraq. Could he have made it look any less like he really wanted to do this? And he stands before our fighting men and women and tells them they're getting a 10% pay raise…
You haven't gotten one in more than 10 years — more than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. I got you a big one. They said: "You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3 percent. We could make it 2 percent. We could make it 4 percent." I said: "No, make it 10 percent. Make it more than 10 percent."
Now, of course, that's not true…none of it. Our troops have received a pay raise every year for decades. This year's is not 10%. It's 2.6%, which is just about what it takes to keep up with the rate of inflation. That means that it's not really a raise at all in that they won't be able to buy much more with it.
I've stopped wondering why he says things like that. He says them because something within him compels him to speak of darn near nothing else except what a fantastic president he is and we should all be so grateful we have him. Since he has nothing real to say to support that position, he makes shit up and doesn't bother to ask himself, "Won't they know this is a lie?" His more devout followers have made it quite clear to him they don't care…and he doesn't care that a military audience, composed of soldiers who were ordered to attend, is not an audience of his devout followers.
I've given up thinking it can be anything but pathological. If there's a logical thought process at all behind it, it's something like, "Hey, it works for me." What I still don't get is why anyone lets him get away with it.
I know I have devout Trump fans who read this site. Every day, I get one or two e-mails from someone who says they love everything here except the political stuff and it would be so nice if I'd knock that stuff off and stop spoiling my blog for them. Would a couple of you folks like to tell me you wouldn't be outraged if President Obama or any President Clinton had said one thing like that, let alone 7000+?