The office of the President of the United States is imbued with immense power. The man or woman who holds that office assumes an incredible responsibility -- that of leading the most powerful nation on Earth. Every single day they must make decisions that determine the fate of millions of Americans and impact the lives of all the world’s billions. The ultimate power possible, when you strip away the layers of economics, social stratification and even liberty, is that of life and death. The most basic animal instinct is to preserve one’s life -- the ability to take that away at will is what forms the basis of all power dynamics.
On a national scale, that power is rooted in a country’s military. When push comes to shove, when it’s kill or be killed, you want to be the one with the bigger gun. That is why the most vital power that the President of the United States holds is that of Commander in Chief over the United States Armed Forces -- unquestionably the most powerful military in the world. It is the president that has the final authority over the vast majority of military actions, including that ultimate scourge in our vast arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The only thing standing between us and the world’s terrors is that military that the President must command. The men and women who don the uniforms of the various military branches are committing their lives to keeping their fellow citizens -- and often the world at large -- safe. That is why we honor them so much and why those who make the ultimate sacrifice for their country are honored above all. Set aside the politics, set aside debates over a war’s justification, set aside your personal views of violence, we can all agree that the men and women of our armed forces deserve our utmost respect.
Donald Trump, though he has spent a lot of time on the campaign trail touting his respect for the military and readiness to assume the mantle of Commander-in- Chief, time and time again he has proved otherwise with his actions. This is the man who insulted Senator John McCain -- who spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam -- and all POWs by saying that he, “like[s] people who weren’t captured” and that the Senator wasn’t a hero. That enormous disrespect, alone, should disqualify him from any claim to be a friend of the military.
This is the man who urged Russian hackers to invade Hillary Clinton’s email servers. Though he later walked it back as “sarcastic,” even jokingly encouraging a foreign power to interfere with an American political campaign is conduct hugely unbefitting a Commander-in-Chief.
Most recently, this is the man who engaged in a public feud with the family of an American soldier killed in the line of duty. U.S.. Army Captain Humayun Khan was killed by a car bomb while serving in Iraq in 2004. He saw the suicide bomber approaching, commanded his men to seek cover, and strode 10 steps towards the vehicle himself to ascertain the situation before it exploded -- killing him. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He is an American hero.
At the Democratic National Convention, Khan’s father and mother took the stage to tell their son’s story. Muslim-Americans, as their son also was, the elder Khan took the opportunity to condemn Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. It was a powerful moment that demonstrated the hypocrisy of religious discrimination. He blasted Trump who, in his words, has “sacrificed nothing and no one.”
Trump, being the thin-skinned narcissist he is, was not content to let the blistering attack slide -- or even to counter it in a respectful way. No, instead he went on Twitter and television to argue that the Khan’s had “no right” to insult him in such a manner and that his business record of creating jobs was a “sacrifice” in itself. He even had the audacity to imply that Khan’s wife, Ghazala, “wasn’t allowed to have anything to say” due to her religion. Mrs. Khan, when asked, stated that she simply found it too painful to speak about her son’s death -- something anyone with any sense of decency should understand implicitly.
Trump’s attacks on a family that has lost so much for this country are appalling. His equating of a successful business career with the sacrifice of a slain soldier is beyond insulting to any member of the armed forces and their family members, especially Gold Star families. These actions, and his refusal to apologize for them, have crossed a sacred line many times over.
Donald Trump is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief of the United States military, he is not fit to be President, and he is not fit to call himself a patriot.
