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‘Careless’ Purple Heart Remarks Put Trump in Hot Water With Veterans

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Republican nominee for president Donald Trump has upset several United States military veterans with comments he made Tuesday, seemingly joking about earning a Purple Heart.

Speaking at a rally in Virginia, Mr. Trump announced that a veteran had given him his Purple Heart as a gift. Trump said “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.”

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving with the U.S. military.

Trump’s comments, which seem to make light of the sacrifice involved in earning that decoration, have upset several veterans who did not take kindly to Mr. Trump’s remarks.

One veteran took special offense at the fact that Mr. Trump had the opportunity to join the armed forces repeatedly and yet deferred the draft five times.

“Obviously he didn’t ‘always want a purple heart’ or he wouldn’t have deferred his draft multiple times over and over rather than heading into the service when his country needed him,” Mohammed M. Shaker, told Conservative Review in reference to Trump’s comments.

Shaker is the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Tampa Bay and a veteran of OIF 09-10 with the 82nd Airborne Division. He served as a specialist, combat medic.

“Here’s the thing,” Shaker said. “It isn’t fun getting a purple heart. Nobody wants a purple heart. Purple hearts are awarded posthumously and awarded to servicemen whom have lost life, limb, or eye sight. Even mental capacity.”

“Sure it’s easy some dude gave him a purple heart and I can respect that but that doesn’t mean other veterans and their families see his comments as a matter of being funny,” Shaker continued. “If he wanted one that badly they cost about $35 at Amazon or any Army Navy store.”

Conservative writer and one-time speculative independent candidate for president David French, who is also an Iraq War veteran and Bronze Star recipient, had a more cynical take on Trump’s comments. He suggested that Mr. Trump was not aware of what it meant to earn the Purple Heart.

Trump’s comments about the Purple Heart follow a controversy that emerged over the weekend in which Mr. Trump criticized the Muslim parents of a decorated American soldier that was killed in Iraq after they spoke at the Democratic National Convention and condemned Mr. Trump’s negative rhetoric concerning Muslim-Americans.

For a candidate who repeatedly assures voters that he’ll take care of veterans and who brags about all the money he’s raised for veterans’ groups, comments like those made Tuesday run the risk of alienating veterans and voters who strongly support them.

In the 2008 presidential election, 54% of veterans and those that were currently serving in the military at the time voted for the Republican candidate. In 2012, 59% of those voters went to the Republican ticket.

Donald Trump is currently under-performing in the polls with demographics Republican candidates historically need to win. He’s on track to be the first Republican candidate to lose white college graduates in 60 years. His favorability is underwater with women, with Latino voters, and he is losing Catholics. He cannot expect to win the election if he loses veterans and active military personnel as well.

So what can he do to improve his standing with veterans? Shaker suggested that Mr. Trump should use a little more tact when he speaks rather than always trying to be the entertainer and the showman. “If I was in the position to actually say something, I would say to use a little more tact when referring to something like the Purple Heart, especially so carelessly,” he told Conservative Review.

“He may see it as funny and so many his supporters in that room,” he added. “But the guy in the wheelchair probably doesn’t think it’s funny.” (For more from the author of “‘Careless’ Purple Heart Remarks Put Trump in Hot Water With Veterans” please click HERE)

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Trump Makes Ominous Prediction About November Vote

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In his latest expression of the odds he sees against him, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Monday he has concerns about the integrity of this fall’s presidential election.

“I’m afraid the election’s going to be rigged, I have to be honest,” Trump told a crowd in Columbus, Ohio, during a campaign appearance. He did not go into detail.

Complaints about a “rigged system” have been a feature of Trump’s campaign, targeting first the Republican establishment and later the efforts of the Democratic Party to hamstring the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

“We’ll will never be able to fix a rigged system by counting on the same people who have rigged it in the first place,” Trump said in a June speech. “The insiders wrote the rules of the game to keep themselves in power and in the money. That’s why we’re asking Bernie Sanders’ voters to join our movement: so together we can fix the system for all Americans. So important. This includes fixing all of our many disastrous trade deals. … Because it’s not just the political system that’s rigged, it’s the whole economy. It’s rigged by big donors who want to keep wages down. It’s rigged by big businesses who want to leave our country, fire our workers, and sell their products back into the United States with absolutely no consequences for them. It’s rigged by bureaucrats who are trapping kids in failing schools. It’s rigged against you, the American people.”

As for the impact of the “rigged” system on the election, Trump supporter Roger Stone has said voter fraud is “widespread” and that if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wins a state like Florida after polls show Trump in the lead, the election would be “illegitimate.”

“If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government,” Stone said. He also promised a “bloodbath” if the Democrats attempt to “steal” the election.

During Trump’s Columbus appearance on Monday, he focused on the economy.

“They call it the Rust Belt for a reason: because everything is rusting and rotting,” Trump said. “They’ve lost their jobs, they’re moving to Mexico.

He said that if elected, he would end the cycle of companies that move U.S. jobs to Mexico.

“If you leave Ohio, you’re not going to make your product and sell it back to Ohio . … You’re going to have a tax to pay,” Trump said. (For more from the author of “Trump Makes Ominous Prediction About November Vote” please click HERE)

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A Marine Veteran’s Open Letter to Trump Critic Khizr Khan

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Dear Mr. Khan,

I want to preface this letter by stating that I respect your son’s sacrifice for this great nation. By all accounts, he is a true hero that sacrificed himself in service to our country. For that I am thankful.

As a veteran, I watched your comments at the Democratic National Convention with a mixture of sadness, and anger. The United States has a military comprised of volunteers. Every single member has made the conscious choice to join the military and serve. There is not a single service member who has been forced into service. It is important for all service members (and apparently, their families) to understand that service to this great nation does not imbue one with special privileges or rights. I found your comments troubling when you said: “Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”

Does it matter whether Mr. Trump has sacrificed “…nothing and no one?”…has Ms. Clinton “..sacrificed” for this nation? How about Mr. Obama? Your comment stating that Mr. Trump “…has sacrifice no one” is alarming. Are you intimating that YOU sacrificed? Sir, your son willingly sacrificed himself. As a father I cannot imagine the pain you must feel but his sacrifice is his own. He was not forced to serve.

I am troubled that you would allow a party that has little more than contempt for the US Service Member to parade you into the DNC to denounce Donald Trump. Did you watch when protesters at the DNC booed and heckled Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Florent Groberg? Did you notice your party interrupting the moment of silence for slain police officers? Your own hypocrisy in not denouncing these acts and instead using the DNC as a platform to make a political point is disgraceful. The simple fact is that whether one served or sacrificed does not give greater power to their statements. One vote is as valuable as another. That sir, is why our Country is great. Your condemnation of one person for a statement while standing idly as your party disparages veterans and police officers is the height of hypocrisy.

To conflate the need to prevent potential terrorists from entering our country with the belief that ‘all Muslims’ should be banned is simply wrong and disingenuous. As a reminder, Mr. Trump said: ” “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” The irony of your son’s own death at the hands of these very people in Iraq should not be ignored. I have little doubt that your son would have recognized the need to protect our country from these very people. In fact, he held is own troops back so that he could check on a suspicious car. Your son understood sacrifice and how to protect “his people”…’his soldiers’….’his fellow Americans’…

As you continue to make the media circuit and bask in the glow of affection cast upon you by a party that has little regard for your son’s own sacrifice, and veterans in general, I would ask you to consider your comments and your position more closely.

Respectfully,

Chris Mark

US Marine and Navy Veteran.

(“A Marine Veteran’s Open Letter to Trump Critic Khizr Khan” originally posted HERE)

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Lewandowski: Khans’ Son Would Be Alive If Trump Had Been President

By Sandy Fitzgerald. A Gold Star Muslim couple’s son, who was killed in military action 12 years ago, would not have lost his life if Donald Trump had been president at the time, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski argued Monday in a heated exchange on CNN.

“Their son is a hero, and every person who’s ever died fighting for our country and their families are heroes,” Lewandowski said in the segment, aired as a discussion after the couple, Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, wrapped up an interview minutes before. “The difference is we’ve got 7,000 soldiers who have died, $6 trillion wasted in wars overseas that if Donald Trump was the president, we would never have had. And Captain Khan would be alive today” . . .

Trump has come under fire by Democrats and Republicans alike for his criticism of the Khans, who took the stage at the Democratic National Convention last week. Khizr Khan delivered a stinging indictment of Trump’s calls against Muslim immigration as his wife silently stood at his side. Trump criticized Ghazala Khan for her silence and questioned if she was allowed to speak. (Read more from “Lewandowski: Khans’ Son Would Be Alive If Trump Had Been President” HERE)

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Retired Four Star General Predicts “Civil-Military Crisis” If Trump Elected, Reflects Pathetic State of Modern Flag Officers

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By Connor O’Brien. The election of Republican Donald Trump as president could mean a breakdown in the relationship between civilian and military leaders, a former top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan warned Sunday.

In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” retired Marine Gen. John Allen criticized Trump for his rhetoric on the wider use of military force and torture. And if Trump followed through with those pledges, Allen said, it would create “a civil military crisis, the like of which we’ve not seen in this country before.”

“It’s an inherent responsibility in who we are,” Allen said. “So what we need to do is ensure that we don’t create an environment that puts us on a track conceivably where the United States military finds itself in a civil military crisis with a commander in chief who would have us do illegal things.”

“That’s a major issue that we’re facing here, the potential for a civil military crisis where the military could be ordered to conduct illegal activities,” he added.

But Allen, a supporter of Hillary Clinton who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, said he hoped it wouldn’t come to a public feud between military leaders and a Trump administration. (Read more from “Retired Four Star General Predicts “Civil-Military Crisis” If Trump Elected, Reflects Pathetic State of Modern Flag Officers” HERE)

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Former Joint Chiefs Chairman: Retired Generals Shouldn’t Speak at Political Conventions

By Jeff Schogol. Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is arguing that retired general officers should not endorse political candidates.

In a letter to the Washington Post, Dempsey wrote that retired Marine Gen. John Allen and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn crossed the line by speaking at the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively. . .

“As generals, they have an obligation to uphold our apolitical traditions,” Dempsey wrote. “They have just made the task of their successors — who continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our security — more complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so.” (Read more from “Former Joint Chiefs Chairman: Retired Generals Shouldn’t Speak at Political Conventions” HERE)

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Clinton: Trump’s Comments on Gen. Allen ‘Prove’ He Should Not Be Commander-In-Chief

By Liz Kreutz. Hillary Clinton on Saturday ripped into Donald Trump for his critique of retired four-star Gen. John Allen, saying it’s unpresidential to “insult and deride our generals.”

“Just yesterday, he went after retired Gen. John Allen who commanded our troops in Afghanistan. . . . Our commander in chief shouldn’t insult and deride our generals, retired or otherwise. . .”

On Friday, Trump unleashed on Allen, who delivered a scathing critique of the Republican nominee during remarks to the Democratic National Convention.

“Let me tell you, I think my kids have more star power, I really do. I think they do, than everybody I saw,” Trump said of the DNC. “They had a general named John Allen. And he, I never met him, and he got up and he started talking about Trump, Trump, Trump. Never met him

“And you know who he is? He’s a failed, he was the general fighting ISIS. I would say he hasn’t done so well, right? Not so well.” (Read more from “Clinton: Trump’s Comments on Gen. Allen ‘Prove’ He Should Not Be Commander-In-Chief” HERE)

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Backlash Against Trump Continues in Fight With Slain Army Captain’s Family

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Hillary Clinton defended the bereaved parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain, saying Donald Trump has a “total misunderstanding” of American values and has inflamed divisions in American society. Her comments came after the Republican nominee refused to back down from his criticism of the Gold Star parents’ remarks.

Making her most extensive statements about the Khan family since Trump criticized their Thursday night convention appearance, Clinton expressed concerns about the GOP nominee’s character, saying he repaid a family that made the “ultimate sacrifice” with “nothing but insults” and “degrading comments about Muslims.”

“I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity their disability,” she told parishioners in a Cleveland church on Sunday morning. “That’s just not how I was raised.” (Read more from “Backlash Against Trump Continues in Fight With Slain Army Captain’s Family” HERE)

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Actress Debra Messing Goes After Singer Blake Shelton’s Donald Trump Remarks

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Debra Messing is apologizing for her social media outburst.

The outspoken Democrat, 47, came under fire Thursday after she urged Gwen Stefani to take Blake Shelton to task for his comments about Donald Trump.

Shelton, 40, didn’t exactly endorse the Republican nominee when he told Billboard, “Whether you love him or hate him, he says what he thinks, and he has proven that you don’t always have to be so afraid. A lot of people are pulling for him, no matter how much Hollywood fights it.”

Messing had a knee-jerk reaction to the remarks, tweeting to Stefani (before later deleting it), “Omg. How? @gwenstefani please talk to your man to not vote for the person who will STRIP you of your rights.”

Stefani never responded, but Shelton stood up for himself in a series of tweets of his own. “Hey before this gets going like it always does… I haven’t [endorsed] ANYBODY for president,” he wrote. “And I [I’m] not going to. I don’t do that s–t. My comment about ‘wish there was another option but there’s not’ is across the board … period. Now go dig up another story.” (Read more from “Actress Debra Messing Goes After Singer Blake Shelton’s Donald Trump Remarks” HERE)

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Trump: DNC Speech Beamed Down From Clinton’s ‘Fantasy Universe’

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s speech Thursday night “an insulting collection of clichés and recycled rhetoric … delivered from a fantasy universe, not the reality we live in today.”

In statements released on Twitter and Facebook, Trump lambasted the speech and said it proved Clinton was not fit to be president.

Trump criticized Clinton’s foreign and domestic agenda.

In a statement released on Facebook, Trump said the speech showed Clinton’s disconnect from the American people.

“She spent the evening talking down to the American people she’s looked down on her whole life,” the statement said, adding that Clinton’s “globalist agenda denies American citizens the protections to which they are all entitled.”

“Her radical amnesty plan will take jobs, resources and benefits from the most vulnerable citizens of the United States and give them to the citizens of other countries. Her refusal to even say the words ‘Radical Islam,’ or to mention her disaster in Libya, or her corrupt email scheme, all show how little she cares about the safety of the American people,” the statement said.

The statement said that although Clinton talked about unity, her proposals would not achieve it.

“Excluded from Hillary Clinton’s America are the suffering people living in our inner cities, or the victims of open borders and drug cartels, or the people who’ve lost their jobs because of the Clintons’ trade deals, or any hardworking person who doesn’t have enough money to get a seat at Hillary Clinton’s table,” the statement said. (For more from the author of “Trump: DNC Speech Beamed Down From Clinton’s ‘Fantasy Universe'” please click HERE)

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Pence Breaks With Trump on Russian Hacking

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Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Gov. Mike Pence issued a statement saying Russia should face “serious consequences” if it hacked the Democratic National Committee, at nearly the exact same time Republican Nominee Donald Trump told reporters “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”

Trump continued, “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Pence’s statement by contrast reads, “If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences.” Espionage, it should be noted, in all forms, is widely considered fair game in the international world. Trump’s comments, even in jest, go a step further by appearing to encourage a foreign power’s hacking of an American leader.

Trump doubled down shortly after the press conference, tweeting “If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!”

Reports now indicate U.S. intelligence agencies have told the White House they now assess with “high confidence” that Russia was responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee’s email server. Trump told reporters if Russia is behind the hack it only exhibits the weakness of the Obama administration, and that when he was in office respect for America by Putin would be restored. (Read more from “Pence Breaks With Trump on Russian Hacking” HERE)

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Trump Asks Russia to Find Hillary’s Missing Emails, Media Attacks, Makes Treason Allegation

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By Ashley Parker. Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power to cyberspy on a secretary of state’s correspondence.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, staring directly into the cameras during a news conference. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Mr. Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the United States’ presidential election. His comments came amid questions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, which American intelligence agencies have told the White House they have “high confidence” was the work of the Russian government. (Read more from “Donald Trump Asks Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails” HERE)

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Media Accuses Trump of ‘Treason’

By Joe Kovacs. Donald Trump’s suggestion Wednesday that Russia help find Hillary Clinton’s missing emails is being viewed by some as a joke, while others say it’s tantamount to treason. . .

Trump Tweet

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta told CNN Trump’s remarks were “totally outrageous,” and he questioned the Republican presidential nominee’s loyalty to the U.S . . .

Journalist David Gregory, speaking on a CNN roundtable, said Trump’s comments were childish:

“You know, I’ve run out of words to express my shock in how, uh, completely beyond the pale that Donald Trump is as a potential leader of the Free World, the commander-in-chief of our country. This was truly beyond the pale,” Gregory said. . .

When asked if he was concerned that he may be encouraging Moscow to spy on the Democratic Party, Trump said, “It gives me no pause. If Russia or China or any of those country gets those emails, I’ve got to be honest with you, I’d love to see them.” (Read more from “Trump Asks Russia to Help, Media Accuses Trump of ‘Treason'” HERE)

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Obama Implies Russians Committed DNC Email Hack to Benefit Trump

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President Obama suggested there could be a relationship between Donald Trump and the Russians in an interview excerpt Tuesday, citing the Democratic National Committee email hack.

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie asked Obama a two-pronged question: the first was if the Russians were behind the hack, and the second was if they were trying in interfere in an American presidential election.

He said that the FBI still has an open investigation into this matter, but experts point to the Russians.

He then implied that there was a relationship between Russia and Trump. Even though the comment was vague, the suggestion was still present.

“Well, I think the FBI is still investigating what happened,” he said. “I know that experts have attributed this to the Russians. What we do know is that the Russians hack our systems, not just government systems, but private systems. But, you know, what the motives were in terms of leaks, all that, I can’t say directly. What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin.” (Read more from “Obama Implies Russians Committed DNC Email Hack to Benefit Trump” HERE)

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