Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is once again back in the headlines as he finally provided details of which veterans groups received some of the $5.6 million – including $1 million of his own money -- raised during an event held four months ago.
After intense scrutiny, Trump finally caved and released the names of the 41 veteran groups that will share in the windfall and he did it in his usual bellicose manner as he complained about the media attention he has received in recent days.
"The press should be ashamed of themselves," he said as he admonished the reporters at the press conference. “You make me look very bad. I’ve never received such bad publicity for doing a good job."
Of course, in his “poor me” tirade, he forgets that this is his fault. Back in January, he made a “huuuge” deal about raising $6 million for veteran groups as he boycotted a Fox Republican presidential nominee debate.
You can’t blame a reporter for trying to find out where that money was spent. That is just journalists doing their job. What the hell is so hard about releasing a list of names that received money and why did it take a week of pressure before the names were released?
But, and this is the crux of my comment, does the money that Trump donated (not including money he collected from donors) undo the damage that he’s inflicted on the veteran community when he said that he didn’t consider former Republican nominee John McCain a war hero.
"He's not a war hero," Trump said in his now infamous July event. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."
He has never apologized for that comment, which basically ridiculed every U.S. veteran and especially POWs.
Instead of apologizing, he has instead tried to shrug off the comments, praise veterans for their sacrifices and shower them with money.
The money is great and the groups could definitely use the support, but the fact is that you can’t throw money at the problem and think it will go away.
For soldiers and veterans, it not about the money. You don’t enlist because you want to get rich. You enlist because you believe in something that is bigger than yourself; you believe in an idea that is worth fighting for and dying for.
This is a concept I don’t think Trump gets and will haunt him during his entire presidential campaign, and will probably be one of the reasons why in the end he won’t get elected.
As we can see from his many comments, Trump doesn’t really have any principles. His ideas shift with what he perceives will be the most profitable for him.
What could we all do with a million dollars:
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