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QuestionHow will the law come after Donald Trump when he is out of office, or will he still be immune to lawsuits and investigations against him?Absolutely not.If he's voted out of office, the first thing he may face is the fact that he's still individual 1. You remember the case Michael Cohen partially went to prison for himself? Campaign finance violations.That's why he wants to be re-elected so bad. Although he hasn't been charged and I'm not sure exactly how it works as I'm no lawyer. The statute of limitations since we found out about his part in that crime will run out about a year into his second term. And as we've all been pounded repeatedly with, is the fact that you can't arrest a sitting president. You can investigate a sitting president. I mean it's already happened to no avail.But there were a lot of hidden things in the Mueller report that could directly point at the president that they kept to themselves by redacting them. That could simply be to keep him from being under scrutiny for even more nefarious activities as the election gets nearer and nearer, day by day. But it doesn't make him any less of a criminal.Right now there's a woman trying to get his DNA, from a coat she was wearing that she hasn't laundered and unidentified male DNA from skin cells are on the coat. She claims they're possibly from when he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room.NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s lawyers want to put the brakes on a lawsuit filed by an advice columnist who has accused him of raping her in the 1990s and is seeking his DNA as possible evidence.Trump attorneys argued in legal papers this week that E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit and “extensive and burdensome” information-gathering requests should be delayed until New York’s highest court rules on whether another woman can proceed with a somewhat similar suit.Carroll and the other woman, former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos, claim Trump besmirched them by calling them liars after they, separately, accused him of sexual assault.In Zervos’ case, Trump’s lawyers have argued that an incumbent president can’t be sued in state courts, and they are asking the state high court to decide.“That threshold issue should be decided” before Carroll’s case goes any further, Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz wrote.If a court agrees, Carroll’s suit would be on hold for months.Her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, noted Thursday that a judge declined previously to dismiss the case or put it on hold. The earlier request, made by a different Trump lawyer, was based on different arguments than the new bid for a delay.“It is hardly a surprise that Trump is seeking to stop this lawsuit,” Kaplan said in a statement, adding that Carroll will continue to pursue Trump’s DNA.Carroll, a longtime Elle magazine advice writer, alleged last year that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. She said it happened after they ran into each other by chance and bantered about trying on a bodysuit.Trump has said Carroll was “totally lying” to sell a book she published last year. He said he’d never met her, dismissing a 1987 social-scene photo of the two and their then-spouses as a moment when he was “standing with my coat on in a line.”Carroll said his remarks hurt her career by making readers reluctant to seek her advice.She is seeking a DNA sample from Trump to see whether it matches unidentified male genetic material in skin cells on a dress that Carroll says she wore during the alleged rape, didn’t launder and has since worn only once — to a photo shoot for a magazine story that aired her allegation last year.Zervos, a California restaurateur, was a 2006 contestant on the Trump-hosted reality show “The Apprentice.” A decade later, she became one of more than a dozen women who came forward during Trump’s presidential campaign to accuse him of sexual assault or sexual harassment over the years.So why would he want to drag this out, because he wants to be a reelected? So he can avoid any prosecution or damages from what he did to this woman. And there are so many, that I find it hard not to believe it.Remember he's still the “who who” grabber in chief. That of course by his own admission on tape. Access Hollywood tape, remember?Trump seeks to delay woman's suit after request for his DNAHe just wants to delay it so if he gets re-elected he can sit back, immune from prosecution in this case.But Bill Clinton was sued while he was in office. He fought it, but he wound up having to testify and give depositions in that case.On May 6, 1994, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Arkansas State Police Officer Danny Ferguson. She claimed that on May 8, 1991, Clinton, then Governor of Arkansas, propositioned her. David Brock had written, in the January 1994 issue of The American Spectator, that an Arkansas state employee named "Paula" had offered to be Clinton's mistress. According to the story, Ferguson had escorted Jones to Clinton's hotel room, stood guard, and overheard Jones say that she would not mind being Clinton's mistress.The suit, Jones v. Clinton, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Jones, represented by Attorneys Joseph Cammarata and Gilbert K. Davis, sought civil damages from the President, whose request to file a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds of Presidential Immunity was approved on July 21, 1994.On December 28, 1994, Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled that a sitting President could not be sued and deferred the case until the conclusion of his term, essentially granting him temporary immunity (although she allowed the pre-trial discovery phase of the case to proceed without delay in order to start the trial as soon as Clinton left office).Both parties appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which ruled in favor of Jones, finding that "the President, like all other government officials, is subject to the same laws that apply to all other members of our society."Clinton then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, filing a petition for writ of certiorari.So what did the Supreme Court have to say about this?In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals.In the majority opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens, the Court ruled that separation of powers does not mandate that federal courts delay all private civil lawsuits against the President until the end of his term of office.The court ruled that they did not need to decide "whether a claim comparable to petitioner's assertion of immunity might succeed in a state tribunal" (a state court), but noted that "If this case were being heard in a state forum, instead of advancing a separation-of-powers argument, petitioner would presumably rely on federalism and comity concerns".The court also found that "our decision rejecting the immunity claim and allowing the case to proceed does not require us to confront the question whether a court may compel the attendance of the President at any specific time or place."In his concurring opinion, Breyer argued that presidential immunity would apply only if the President could show that a private civil lawsuit would somehow interfere with the President's constitutionally assigned duties.So why would an innocent person deny giving their DNA in a case that would exonerate them if they claim they're innocent. It's not a head scratcher. It's a man that's worried it might be his DNA.I'm sure that once Trump is out of office he will face a slew of federal and state charges. And he won't be able to hide behind the curtains in the White House under executive immunity.Which should not exist. As he's already admitted. As we can all hear ourselves on the Access Hollywood tape that he's a womanizer.On Friday afternoon, the Washington Post published a clip of Trump on a hot mic before an interview with Access Hollywood. In chatting with then-host Billy Bush, who is now co-host of NBC's Today show, Trump talked about kissing women and grabbing them between their legs (using far cruder language) without permission, because he's "attracted" to them like a "magnet."'You Can Do Anything': In 2005 Tape, Trump Brags About Groping, Kissing WomenTrump could be in trouble for a lot worse things than that, and not just of a sexual nature.I focused on that because they're easy to pull up facts people can read. Such as his wonderful friendship with Jeffrey the pedophile Epstein.Who may I remind you was hired by Donald Barr, William Barr the president from harms father, to teach at a school filled with teenage girls.Jeffrey Epstein Taught at Dalton. His Behavior Was Noticed.I wonder if he read Donald Barrs novel Space Relations, because his pedophile operation kind of mirrored that. The book was filled with sexual slavery.And under William Barr the president from harms watch, Jeffrey Epstein no longer draws breath. Which was a rip-off to all of the people he harmed because now they'll never get Justice.I mean at the same time that Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal suits were settled before his election, A third lawsuit vanished also that was by a woman who claimed when she was 13 she was raped by Trump and Epstein. I will leave a link and if you're interested you can read the court documents.I've had this a while so I hope it still works. but I'm just showing that even in just one respect he could face a whole lot of heat. And he is just a citizen once he's no longer president. And subject (thank Goodness) to the same laws. And I hope that they come after him for the crimes he has committed.Because they would certainly come after us.All Documents in the Doe v. Trump Lawsuits — The Memory Hole 2Thanks for the a2a.

Men are not granted due process on college campuses when they are accused of rape.It began with a letter sent of by President Obama, you can find the text of it here.Dear Colleague Letter from Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali.-- Pg 1This letter basically advised campuses to use the same standard of proof that is used in small claims cases, it is more reasonable that not, as opposed to the stricter standards of the criminal court, which is beyond reasonable doubt. This has laid the ground work for the utter and complete destruction of many young men’s lives, and the suicide of at least one.All someone has to do is levy an accusation of rape. There needs to be no proof, no criminal investigation, no collection of evidence, no witness statements, nothing, and the accused can be summarily dismissed from school without grounds for appeal.Currently there are over one hundred lawsuits against the University system the basis of which is a violation of students due process. For an example of how this use of Title IX is being used as a weapon, read here.1. Stony Brook University"The current failed system left one student to fend for herself at a university disciplinary hearing," said Devos. "She told her university that another student sexually assaulted her in her dorm room. In turn, her university told her she would have to prosecute the case herself. Without any legal training whatsoever, she had to prepare an opening statement, fix exhibits and find witnesses."I covered that case here: "College Rape Trials Are Unfair to Men and Women. Here's Why."2. The University of Southern California"You may have recently read about a disturbing case in California," said DeVos. "It's the story of an athlete, his girlfriend, and the failed system. The couple was described as 'playfully roughhousing,' but a witness thought otherwise and the incident was reported to the university's Title IX coordinator. The young woman repeatedly assured campus officials she had not been abused nor had any misconduct occurred. But because of the failed system, university administrators told her they knew better. They dismissed the young man, her boyfriend, from the football team and expelled him from school. 'When I told the truth,' the young woman said, 'I was stereotyped and was told I must be a 'battered' woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled.'"Elizabeth Nolan Brown wrote about that one here: "Star-Crossed Student Athletes Torn Apart By Title IX Witchhunt at USC."3. George Mason University"Another student at a different school saw her rapist go free," said Devos. "He was found responsible by the school, but in doing so, the failed system denied him due process. He sued the school, and after several appeals in civil court, he walked free."There are a few different cases that arguably meet this description; I wrote about one of them here: "Students Had BDSM Sex. Male Says He Obeyed Safe Word. GMU Agreed, Expelled Him Anyway."4. The University of Tennessee"A student on another campus is under a Title IX investigation for a wrong answer on a quiz," said DeVos. "The question asked the name of the class Lab instructor. The student didn't know the instructor's name, so he made one up—Sarah Jackson—which unbeknownst to him turned out to be the name of a model. He was given a zero and told that his answer was 'inappropriate' because it allegedly objectified the female instructor. He was informed that his answer 'meets the Title IX definition of sexual harassment.' His university opened an investigation without any complainants."That can't be true. It's just too crazy, right? Wrong. It happened, and I wrote about it here: "Tennessee Student Accused of Sexual Harassment Because He Wrote Instructor's Name Wrong." And I posted a follow-up here: "UT Student Now Being Investigated for Sexual Harassment After Writing His Instructor's Name Wrong."5. various colleges"Too many cases involve students and faculty who have faced investigation and punishment simply for speaking their minds or teaching their classes," said DeVos.Consider the case of Northwestern University's Laura Kipnis, whose skepticism about rules forbidding sexual relationships between students and professors led to her being investigated under Title IX: "This Prof Dared to Challenge Her Students' Views on Sex. Here's How They Retaliated."Or the case of Louisiana State University's Teresa Buchanan: "LSU Professor Fired for Telling Jokes Is Latest Victim of College Anti-Sex Hysteria."Or a case at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where residence advisors claimed that making jokes about Harambe, the dead gorilla and internet meme, could constitute a violation of Title IX: "UMass-Amherst: Harambe Jokes Are Racist Microaggressions, Violate Title IX."Then there are some Title IX cases DeVos neither mentioned nor implied, but could have easily served as examples of the sort of mania that has taken hold on campuses:6. Amherst CollegeA male student was expelled for sexual assault, even though he had credible evidence that his accuser had assaulted him: "Amherst Student Was Expelled for Rape. But He Was Raped, Evidence Shows."7. Brandeis UniversityA gay male student accused his ex-boyfriend of sexual assault. Even though the alleged infractions—a stolen glance in the shower, a wake-up kiss—were incredibly silly, the investigator found the accused responsible for sexual misconduct: "Judge Sides with Gay Brandeis Student Guilty of 'Serious Sexual Transgression' for Kissing Sleeping Boyfriend."8. Colorado State University-PuebloAn athlete of color, Grant Neal, was accused of sexually assaulting a female trainer—but not by her. When questioned, the trainer said, "I'm fine and I wasn't raped." University officials pointed out that according to Title IX, they got to be the judge of that, not her. Neal was deemed guilty and expelled: "Female Student Said, 'I'm Fine and I Wasn't Raped.' University Investigated, Expelled Boyfriend Anyway."9. University of Texas-ArlingtonA gay male student claimed a classmate, Thomas Klocke, told him to "consider killing himself." The classmate denied ever saying such a thing; according to his version of events, the accuser came on to him and didn't appreciate being rejected. The gay student filed a Title IX sexual harassment complaint against Klocke, who was found responsible. He then committed suicide: "Lawsuit: Male Student Accused of Sexual Harassment for Rejecting Gay Advances Commits Suicide After Title IX Verdict."What makes this more egregious is that by disagreeing with this use of Title IX, and my adamant opposition to the removal of due process, I will be considered by some to be a rape apologist. To that I say, I don’t care. I have personally and on more than one occasion, witnessed women that use rape as a weapon. It is a tool of manipulation to keep boyfriends and lovers in line, to get their way, to take revenge, to hold leverage. It is a pathetic habit, but one that they have no problem engaging in.I have known young men that were falsely accused of rape when there is no possible way that it could have occurred the way the accuser says. When an accusation of rape is levied, there should be a complete investigation, no names should ever be published anywhere without a conviction on the books, no suspensions should be allowed until due process has been completed. The accusation needs to stand on it’s merits, and if a conviction in a criminal court could not be obtained due to a lack of evidence, then ruining someone’s life due to an accusation is unacceptable.Also, accusers that do so for the reasons I list above should face heavy criminal charges. A woman in the UK will be serving up to ten years in prison for this behavior after accusing no less than fifteen men of rape at different occasions. One served prison time and was entirely innocent. I think that the sentence is too light. Women want rape to be taken seriously, they need to start in their own backyard. If it is acceptable to wage rape as a weapon, then the lack of faith in accusations cannot be surprising.If someone, a man or a woman is raped, the perpetrator should be castrated and/or maimed to be left for wolves as far as I am concerned. However for those that make false accusations, I wish for no better. The same black harvest that they sow, so shall they reap, and they have no one to blame but themselves.Lack of due process hurts actual victims of rape as well, as the first story shows. This is a terrible policy and one that needs to be overturned. If someone is raped, they should be afforded adequate investigation so they need not attend a school with their rapist. On the flip side no one should be expelled on the merits of, because I say so.Here Is Every Crazy Title IX Rape Case Betsy DeVos Referenced, Plus a Bunch More

It was interesting to see Jennifer Griffin of Fox News confirm that Trump has repeatedly insulted American servicemen and women by calling them “losers” and “suckers.” On the record, Trump has called America’s top generals “pussies,” “dopes” and “morons.” Let’s think about that for a second. If Trump thinks and speaks that way about America’s highest-ranking generals, what can we expect him to think about the lower ranks? This is why the reports that Trump called American soldiers “losers” and “suckers” rings true for me …These and similar statements have been confirmed by Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin, the Associated Press, Department of Homeland Security former chief of staff Miles Taylor, senior Newsweek and AP News military and national security correspondent James LaPorta, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and others. LaPorta, a former Marine, said he doubted the initial report, found it shocking, and thus launched his own investigation, only to be told by his sources that it was correct. And while Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said he was not in the room to confirm these particular comments, he pointed out that no one who knows Trump would find them out of character: “I haven’t heard anybody yet react to say, ‘That’s not the Donald Trump I know’.” (I have provided exact quotes, confirmations and links below.)We know from things Trump has said in the past, on the public record, that he detests many people and is not shy about insulting and berating them, so as shocking as these new revelations are, they are not surprising. Rather, they are part of a longstanding pattern for Trump (see “THE PATTERN” below.)Trump "has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades," multiple sources told The Atlantic. According to The Atlantic, Trump also described Americans who lost their lives fighting for their country in France during WWII as "losers" and "suckers." I will provide the full quotes below, but will first establish a rather obvious pattern, then consider WHY the draft-dodging Trump would say such detestable things. Is Trump such a narcissist that he only admires people he finds physically attractive? Do vets' missing limbs offend Trump so much that he wants them kept out of parades?THE PATTERNTrump has made it very clear that in his eyes the only "good" women are young "beautiful pieces of ass" with large breasts, like his daughter Ivanka. Trump has also made it very clear that he has no respect for women he considers unattractive, even disparaging the looks of Angelina Jolie and Heidi Klum. (The Donald has YUGELY & BIGLY high standards!) Trump has also made it very clear that he has no respect for the handicapped, by mocking a disabled reporter before the eyes of an astonished world. And this perverse disregard for people who don't meet Trump's superficial standards for perfection extends to veterans, from grunts to generals:Trump has even called our highest-ranking generals losers! As Bob Woodward just revealed in tapes made on the record, Trump called our top generals “pussies.” During his first presidential campaign, Trump publicly insulted them as a group, saying, “I know more about ISIS than the generals do.” During a meeting at the Pentagon in 2017, Trump berated our top generals: “I wouldn’t go to war with you people, you’re a bunch of dopes and babies.” Trump called Afghanistan a “loser war” and told the assembled generals “you don’t know how to win anymore.” In other words, Trump called our highest-ranking generals “losers.” Trump called Jim Mattis “the world’s most overrated general.” Trump also blasted Mattis as “not tough enough” then in his incredible egotism said “I captured ISIS!” as if he had done it personally. (Of course much of ISIS remains at large, and uncaptured.) Senator Tim Kaine called Trump’s attack on Mattis “delusional” and praised the former U.S. Central Command leader as “one of the finest public servants I have ever worked with in 25 years of public life.” A Military Times poll found that nearly 84 percent of troops had a favorable view of Mattis and among officers the figure was almost 90 percent. In any case, if Trump thinks and talks like that about generals, what should we expect him to think and say about ordinary soldiers? But these horrendous insults are just the tip of an enormous iceberg (more follow). Thus these new quotes ring true for me.Future US president George H. W. Bush was the Navy’s youngest pilot when he earned his wings a few days before turning 19, but he was a “loser” to the draft-dodging Donald Trump because his plane was shot down.Pilots who get shot down, like John McCain and George H. W. Bush, are "losers" to Trump. Three sources told The Atlantic that Trump had described Bush as a "loser" because his plane was shot down during World War II. Bush was the youngest Navy pilot when he earned his wings a few days before turning 19. Flying a Grumman Avenger TBM torpedo bomber into the teeth of the Japanese fleet at age 19 sounds pretty damn heroic to me. How about you? And the US Navy agreed. For his 58 combat missions, Lieutenant Bush was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery and three Air Medals. And Bush was hardly a “loser.” In the mission where his plane went down, Bush and his crew encountered intense antiaircraft fire. While starting the attack, Bush's plane was hit and his engine caught on fire. Bush still completed his attack, released his bombs and scoring several damaging hits. Bush and his crew then bailed out. Unfortunately, only Bush survived. He was rescued by the submarine USS Finback. During the month he remained on the Finback, Bush participated in the rescue of other pilots. Yeah, pretty effin’ heroic, pardon my French. What was Trump doing at age 19? Playing it safe, ducking the draft, working on his tan, fighting his “personal Vietnam” against venereal diseases?BTW, such statements by Trump go WAY back in time. When Mark Bowden was writing his article about Trump for Playboy magazine in November 1996, he traveled with Trump on his private jet to Mar-a-Lago. This is what he observed:“What was clear was how fast and far one could fall from favor. The trip from “genius” to “idiot” was a flash. The former [military] pilots who flew his plane were geniuses, until they made one too many bumpy landings and became “fucking idiots.” [This sounds like a personality disorder called “splitting” in which, like a baby, the person with the disorder judges everyone else by how they make him feel at the moment. Feel-good things are “perfect” while feel-bad things are “evil.” Thus a baby can see his mother as an angel one minute, and as a witch the next, if she withholds something he wants. People with this disorder don’t see shades of grey: everything is black or white, perfect or evil. Trump has called himself a “perfect person” more than once and claims to have “no faults” and to never bear any responsibility for anything he does that goes wrong. If he is perfect, anyone who contradicts or otherwise displeases Trump is the opposite of perfect, and that can explain why he reacts so badly to criticism, even when the criticism is warranted. It also explains why Trump calls people who displease him “losers” even when they are not at fault. McCain and Bush were not responsible for getting shot down. McCain was not responsible for getting captured. But these things make Trump unhappy and he lashes out at the source of his unhappiness. Ditto for soldiers with missing limbs that he doesn’t want in his parades. Ditto for war dead whose graves he would rather not visit, especially when his hair might get wet.]Continuing Mark Bowden’s account:The gold carpeting selected in his absence for the locker rooms in the spa at Mar-a-Lago? “What kind of fucking idiot . . . ?” I watched as Trump strutted around the beautifully groomed clay tennis courts on his estate, managed by noted tennis pro Anthony Boulle. The courts had been prepped meticulously for a full day of scheduled matches. Trump took exception to the design of the spaces between courts. In particular, he didn’t like a small metal box—a pump and cooler for the water fountain alongside—which he thought looked ugly. He first questioned its placement, then crudely disparaged it, then kicked the box, which didn’t budge, and then stooped—red-faced and fuming—to tear it loose from its moorings, rupturing a water line and sending a geyser to soak the courts. Boulle looked horrified, a weekend of tennis abruptly drowned. Catching a glimpse of me watching, Trump grimaced. [Bowden went on to explain that Trump became the only person he interviewed who tried to bribe him not to mention what he had seen with his own eyes.]POWs like John McCain are not heroes because Trump only likes uncaptured soldiers. Captured soldiers are "losers" to Trump. While Trump has claimed that he never called John McCain a “loser,” he most certainly did, in a 2015 videotaped interview with Frank Luntz — the same interview where Trump insisted that McCain was not a war hero. (I have provided a link to the interview at the bottom of this page.) Trump had also made negative remarks about McCain being captured in a 1999 interview with Dan Rather, questioning why he had been called a hero, so this was obviously not some sort of fluke. Trump continued to disparage McCain after his death, saying, "We sent him on the way, but I wasn't a fan of John McCain.” Trump even insinuated that McCain was in hell and seemed to be happy with that prospect: "And sometimes, you know, we had a little hard time with a couple of them, right? Fortunately, they're gone now. They've gone on to greener pastures — or perhaps far less green pastures. But they're gone. I'm very happy they're gone." [In other words, Trump is very happy that McCain went to his grave and, hopefully, to hell.]According to the Washington Post, Trump told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, according to a person familiar with the discussion.Being mutilated and/or losing limbs is worse than being captured, so wounded warriors are even bigger "losers" to Trump.Trump finds mutilated soldiers embarrassing and wanted to keep them out of the 2017 Fourth of July parade, saying the inclusion of "wounded guys" is "not a good look" and that "Americans don't like that." As Marc Clamage pointed out: “Donald Trump, in case you hadn’t noticed, is a quivering bundle of neuroses. One of them is mysophobia, the pathological fear of contamination and germs. [Remember how Trump freaked out when Hillary Clinton took a potty break during a debate?] … The dead, the injured, the deformed, the disfigured—Donald Trump is repulsed by them. He keeps his interaction with injured or disfigured veterans to a minimum and, being incapable of empathy, he is angered by the response they elicit in him. Since he is also not too bright, he assumes others share his visceral response. [This is why he said wounder warriors a “not a good luck” and “Americans don’t like that.] When he calls American soldiers losers and suckers, he expects you to agree with him. Donald Trump is severely impaired—mentally, morally, and emotionally.”Getting killed is even worse than being captured or mutilated, so what Trump said about the American war dead in France actually fits this grotesque pattern.Trump's aversion to wounded veterans is nothing new. During the first Republican presidential debate, Megyn Kelly quoted what Trump had said about other women, calling them "pigs," "dogs" and "disgusting animals." Trump earned a well-deserved public spanking for attacking Kelly, when all she had done was QUOTE him, and the endlessly petulant Trump decided to skip the next debate. Trump’s excuse? He claimed to "love" our vets so much that he preferred to do a benefit for them. This "Trump love" sounded very dubious to me, so I decided to do some independent research. What I discovered was that Trump had repeatedly tried to get New York City mayors to keep vets from selling patriotic wares on ritzy Fifth Avenue, even though this was their right by New York law. The Donald didn't "love" vets; in reality he didn't want to see them, or smell them. When New York mayors refused to deny vets their legal rights, the huffy Donald built giant concrete columns outside Trump Tower to keep wounded warriors from standing anywhere close to his expensive baubles.Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran and two-term Republican senator, told ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz that if Trump's reported comments are "real, it's beneath the dignity of any commander in chief. Truly they're despicable." Hagel said that while the report was based on anonymous sources, the remarks fit with a pattern of previous statements and actions. He cited Trump's past comments about the late Sen. John McCain as well as three former military general who served in his own Cabinet: former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, former national security adviser William McMaster and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. He also accused the president of using veteran and active-duty troops as political "props." "Let's go back and look at Mr. Trump's words himself coming out of his own mouth starting in 2016 with what he said about John McCain and what he continued to say about McCain," Hagel said. "How he degraded the service of Gens. Mattis and McMaster and just recently Gen. Kelly. The history of this president over the last three and four years is pretty clear." Hagel also pointed to Trump's decision not to go to a 2018 ceremony at a military cemetery in France to honor America's war dead. Trump claimed he was unable to attend because of weather. "Every other leader went. Every other leader drove. The leaders of France, Germany, Canada," Hagel said. "And you can go through a litany of past things that he said from his mouth, actions that he's taken and it corroborates really the Goldberg article in The Atlantic.'"The weather and traffic did not keep Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel or French President Emmanuel Macron from attending gravesite ceremonies that day. Only Trump failed to honor America’s war dead. Why? Apparently because he was worried about his hair and didn’t see any need to honor “losers” and “suckers.”THE WHYSo what does Trump really mean? In my opinion, what Trump really means is this: "I was smart to dodge the draft and send other men to fight and die in my place in Vietnam. Anyone who fights and dies for his country, or gets wounded, is a moron, a fool, a loser, a sucker."WHAT DO VETERANS THINK ABOUT TRUMP’S INSULTS?Jeff McCausland, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former member of the National Security Council, wrote: “We want to believe our commander in chief wouldn’t say such incredibly offensive things. But we also know, deep down, that it’s likely he did. Because he has before.” Upon reading the Atlantic article, I was angry. Sadly, I was not surprised. These allegations are consistent with numerous other comments and actions made by Trump over the past three years that, taken together, demonstrate a clear pattern of disrespect toward the military. Even before he was elected in 2016, Trump argued that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. was “not a war hero.” He later described McCain, as well as President George H.W. Bush, as “losers” for being shot down in combat. Trump even resisted lowering the flag over the White House when McCain died. In a Pentagon meeting in the summer of 2017, Trump blasted senior military leadership in front of junior officers and civilians as “losers” and a “bunch of dopes and babies.” In the aftermath of this meeting, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly referred to the president as a "moron." The list goes on. Former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis observed that Trump used troops as political props for a photo op in Lafayette Park. Trump criticized Gold Star families and reportedly told the grieving wife of a soldier killed in combat that he “knew what he signed up for.” The president has also denigrated and directly interfered in court-martial actions against soldiers accused of war crimes. These are not gaffes, nor are they the blunders of a man who simply lacks empathy. Rather, they reveal the president’s basic lack of understanding of the military — and even bigger than that, his lack of understanding of the concept of “service.” This is a man who, in a 1997 interview with Howard Stern, bragged about how avoiding sexually transmitted diseases in the 1960s and '70s was his own “personal Vietnam.” Trump is, at his core, a figure born of privilege who views people not as individuals, but as pawns. This transactional worldview explains the fact that he simply cannot fathom why anyone would volunteer to serve. It is incomprehensible to him. In Trump’s mind, nothing is worth doing without the possibility of a significant monetary reward or boost in status. As Goldberg noted, after then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford had delivered a White House briefing, Trump asked aides: “That guy is smart. Why did he join the military?”One of Trump's "losers" and "suckers" is 95-year-old WWII veteran Harvey Hafter, who spoke with evident pride of serving his country on a PT Boat, then let the Demander-in-Chief have it with both barrels: "Boy is he a loser! What has he done? Other than screw up, and that's exactly what we called them in the Navy: a Foul-Up, Top to Bottom. He can't insult us and get away with that kind of nonsense! Who does he think he is, that Draft Dodger? He's a coward! And I'd call him so to his face! I wish he were here right now! I'm five-foot-six. I weigh 135 pounds soaking wet. And I challenge him. Any way he wants: pistols, swords, fists. Any way he wants, 'cause that kind of an insult, I won't stand for it! And neither will any other service person. Who does he think he is? Whatever chance he had of getting a vote from me is gone. I want someone who's calm, quiet and not a Loud-Mouth, an Empty Barrel. I want Joe Biden. That's it."Listen to this pistol of a 95-year-old veteran call Trump the coward he is and ask “Who does Trump think he is?” https://t.co/Z5gJEkSBtc— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 6, 2020THE ORIGINAL QUOTESHere is what Trump said and did, as reported by The Atlantic in an article by editor-in-chief and award-winning journalist Jeffrey Goldberg:When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.THE CONFIRMATIONSJennifer Griffin of Fox News has confirmed that Trump called veterans LOSERS and SUCKERS:Jennifer Griffin tweeted:Two former senior Trump admin officials confirm .Jeffrey Goldberg reporting that President Trump disparaged veterans and did not want to drive to honor American war dead at Aisne-Marne Cemetery outside Paris.President Trump's staff explained he could cancel (his visit to the cemetery), but he was warned, 'They (the press) are going to kill you for this'." The President was mad as a hornet when they did.When asked IF the President could have driven to the Aisne-Marne Cemetery, this former official said confidently: "The President drives a lot. The other world leaders drove to the cemeteries. He just didn't want to go."Regarding Trump's July 4th military parade, during a planning session at the White House after seeing the Bastille Day parade in 2017, the President said regarding the inclusion of "wounded guys" "that's not a good look" "Americans don't like that," source confirms.The main gist of the report has also been confirmed by the Associated Press:The allegations were first reported in The Atlantic. A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018 cemetery comments.The defense official said Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2018.Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. Trump responded by saying he didn't want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly.According to The New York Times, the Defense official who confirmed the report in The Atlantic also said that on Memorial Day 2017, Trump had gone with his chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly's son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don't get it. What was in it for them?"The Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, also reported that Trump declined to support the August 2018 funeral of John McCain, a decorated Navy veteran and POW, because he was a “loser.” Trump reportedly told his senior staff that “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral.” Trump was also upset that flags were flown at half-staff for McCain, saying: “What the f—k are we doing that for? Guy was a f—king loser.” In 2015, early in his presidential candidacy, Trump had publicly blasted McCain, saying “He’s not a war hero.” Trump added, “I like people who weren’t captured.” Even after McCain’s death, Trump continued to attack him posthumously. The New York Times verified that Trump resisted supporting an official funeral and lowering flags after John McCain’s death, citing McCain as “a Vietnam War hero whose military service he [Trump] had disparaged.”The Atlantic said Trump also referred to former President George H. W. Bush as a “loser” because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.The New York Times also said:“Moreover, people familiar with Mr. Trump’s private conversations say he has long scorned those who served in Vietnam as being too dumb to have gotten out of it, as he did through a medical diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels. At other times, according to those familiar with the remarks, Mr. Trump has expressed bewilderment that people choose military service over making money. Some also recalled him asking why the United States should be so interested in finding captured soldiers, a comment made in the context of Mr. McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Another former official said Mr. Trump often expressed discomfort around people who had been injured, although he has held events with wounded veterans.”The New York Times also said:“While Mr. Trump demanded that allies knock down the article, aides recognized that few senior military officers were willing to openly defend the president.”According to The New York Times, while John Bolton could not confirm the quotes in question because if they had been made he was not present at the time, “Mr. Bolton added that the reported comments were not out of character for the president. ‘I haven’t heard anybody yet react to say, That’s not the Donald Trump I know.’”Personally, I believe John Bolton is telling us that these are indeed the kinds of disparaging remarks Trump makes about our servicemen and servicewomen.James LaPorta, a senior correspondent for Newsweek covering national security and military affairs, tweeted that he had confirmed the Atlantic reporting: “A senior Defense Department official I just spoke with confirmed this story by @JeffreyGoldberg (Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) | Twitter) in its entirety. Especially the grafs about the late Sen. John McCain and former Marine Gen. John Kelly …”Sarah Blake Morgan tweeted: “My colleague, ⁦@JimLaPorta⁩, confirming ⁦@TheAtlantic⁩’s reporting - including Trump’s cemetery comments in both France and Arlington’s Section 60.”Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, has disputed Trump’s assertion that he lowered the flags for Mr. McCain without complaint. Taylor said that he received calls from the White House complaining that the department had ordered flags lowered. “The president is upset, this has gone out too soon and he doesn’t want it to happen,” he quoted a White House aide telling him. “I was then asked, ‘Would you guys be able to rescind the directive?’” Mr. Taylor said in an interview. He said he resisted, and ultimately White House aides pushed Mr. Trump to keep the flags lowered. But it was made clear that the president “won’t want them down, and he’s angry.” Taylor said that he found the episode “astounding and disgusting.”According to the Washington Post:Trump also couldn’t comprehend why some of the high-ranking military men serving in his administration such as [John] Kelly and former defense secretary Jim Mattis would choose that path. He regarded their rank as a sign of accomplishment, but also of squandered earning potential. “You seem like fairly talented guys — why would you do that? You don’t make any money,” Trump said, according to the former official, who added of Trump: “Everything is transactional to him.”According to Political Wire:Fox News Confirms Trump Disparaged VeteransSeptember 4, 2020 at 4:32 pm EDT By Taegan GoddardTwo former senior Trump administration officials confirmed to Fox News that President Trump regularly disparaged veterans.According to one former senior Trump administration official: “When the President spoke about the Vietnam War, he said, ‘It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker’.”He added: “What’s in it for them? They don’t make any money.” [This sounds very much like what Trump reportedly said to John Kelly when they visited his son’s grave.]Explained the source: “It was a character flaw of the President. He could not understand why someone would die for their country, not worth it.”THE REBUTTALSThis from Politico:Senator Tammy Duckworth homed in on a different detail from The Atlantic’s report: the president’s request during a 2018 White House planning meeting for a military parade that the celebratory event not include wounded veterans such as amputees. “Nobody wants to see that,” Trump allegedly said.Duckworth insisted that Trump’s remarks do not “diminish the sacrifices of wounded soldiers who gave up their limbs, like I did, for all Americans — including him.”“I’d take my wheelchair and my titanium legs over Donald Trump’s supposed bone spurs any day,” she said, referring to the medical exemption that granted Trump a deferment from being drafted into military service during the Vietnam War.Also featured on the Biden campaign call was Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004 and who has feuded with Trump since addressing the Democratic National Convention in 2016. On Friday, however, he leveled what appeared to be his most forceful and personal condemnation of the president yet.“Words matter. The words we say are a window into our souls — of how we see the world and our place in it,” Khan said. “When Donald Trump calls anyone who places their life in service of others a ‘loser,’ we understand Trump’s soul.”Khan went on to describe Trump’s life as a “testament to selfishness,” contending that the president is “incapable of understanding service, valor and courage. His soul cannot conceive of integrity and honor. And let me say very loudly and clearly so America can listen: His soul is that of a coward.”Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb, a Marine veteran and the final Biden surrogate to participate in Friday’s press call, was more reluctant to discuss Trump’s reported remarks, instead explaining the historical and symbolic significance of the Battle of Belleau Wood to the U.S. Marine Corps.Many of the Marines killed in that battle are buried at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, which Trump declined to visit, and the three-week World War I conflict is widely regarded as “if not the most, certainly one of the most important battles in Marine Corps history,” according to Lamb.“That battle and that burial ground deserve the utmost respect and veneration to any American,” Lamb said, but “for a president to pass up the opportunity to pay his respect at that site, it’s just a tragedy regardless of what was said or wasn’t said.”Several of Lamb’s fellow House Democrats who also served in the military similarly criticized Trump in a conference call with reporters on Friday. The group of lawmakers included Reps. Gil Cisneros and Ted Lieu of California, Jason Crow of Colorado, Elaine Luria of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.“I was incredibly proud to serve our country. I didn’t do it because I was stupid or a sucker. I did it because I love this country,” Sherrill said, adding: “I don’t think he’s fit to be the president of the United States.”THE AFTERMATH … SO FARTrump is trying to get Jennifer Griffin fired ... This per Rolling Stone:On Saturday morning, following a late Friday night tweet from the president calling on Fox News to fire her, the network’s national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin told host Neil Cavuto that Trump did indeed use the sort of language The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg said the president had.After being asked about The Atlantic’s framing of Trump’s comments, Griffin told Cavuto that she double-checked with her sources this morning and they reconfirmed both Goldberg’s reporting and her own.“Well, I circled back with my source this morning and he firmly said this was not a one-off,” Griffin said, adding that Trump “used, according to my source, he used ‘suckers’ and that term repeatedly to describe McCain and anyone who went to Vietnam.”Griffin continued, “He always described — according to the source — Vietnam vets as those who couldn’t get out of it. And he would often say to his advisers when they suggested that he would go to visit the war dead, ‘What is it about you guys and guys who get killed?’ So, he used ‘losers.’ That’s a big part of the president’s vernacular. I think anyone who’s been around him knows that.”A recent poll by the The Military Times shows Joe Biden leading Trump with 41 percent to 37 percent among active-duty troops, a “stark departure from the military’s longstanding support for Republicans and a danger sign for the president.”Barely 15 hours after the original Atlantic article was published, VoteVets, a veterans organization that has long been critical of Trump, released an online ad featuring the parents of troops slain in Iraq and Afghanistan, each one declaring that their son or stepson was not a “loser” or “sucker.”Trump is now trying to claim that he really wanted to attend the graveside ceremony, after all. But he has been caught in an obvious lie. Trump said he "called home, I spoke to my wife and I said, 'I hate this. I came here to go to that ceremony.'" But Melania Trump was in France with him, so he obviously didn’t “call home.”THE ARTICLE AND RELATED LINKSHere are links to the Atlantic article and associated links:Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’Fox News confirms the Atlantic account:Trump calls John McCain a “loser” and says American POWs are not heroes because he only likes soldiers who don’t get captured:THE END