VETERAN’S LAMENT
As of this typing, Donald Trump is projected to be president of the United States.
Again
He is the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the 19th century. He is the first Republican to win the national popular vote in twenty years.
He is also the first convicted felon to be president.
Republicans are on track to flip the senate with a sizable majority having won seats in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The status of the US House is yet to be determined. Right now, Republicans have won 214 seats and are leading in enough seats to where they will maintain their majority.
This writing is not about the electoral consequences and fallout coming from this country handing over the reigns of power to Trump. I will save that for other writings.
Originally, I was going to go in great detail of my six-year Navy adventure and how it transformed an 18-year-old from the Fort Worth, TX suburbs. I knew nothing about how a nuclear power plant worked back then, let alone that they powered an aircraft carrier. As I was writing one of several drafts, I realized that recapping it in great detail would probably be a waste of my time given what happened last week. It is sad because there is a military-civilian divide in this country. Most civilians are unaware of the unique veteran experience and the sacrifices this community made in the years after 9/11. Less than one percent of our population is on active duty.
Apparently, American voters cannot look up basic economic statistics, read the Republican’s Project 2025 wish list, or recall Trump’s disastrous final year in office, with his proliferate legal issues. I question if Americans were even aware that we were at continuous war for nearly twenty years in support of the two campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq in the Global War on Terror. There is a reason that veterans refer to those years in Afghanistan as “Forgotistan”.
I entered the armed forces, like every other service member, making this promise to the American people:
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“I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
Trump is on the record for having grossly violated the Constitution, especially with his two impeachments. When he returns to the White House this coming January 2025, he will resume with little to no checks and balances. The hope for oversight will come from the national press, and I now have little faith that they will do the due diligence given their behavior in the previous election. He gives aid and comfort to our adversaries. The only true faith and allegiance that Trump bears is to himself and his criminal organizations. That is not someone that should be leading our military, but unfortunately Trump won a majority of electoral college votes as well as the most popular votes.
Do I really need to remind everyone that Trump insulted our fallen heroes as “suckers and losers”?
I highlighted in my endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in that she was way more qualified than Donald Trump in every matter. In the after-election coverage it appears that what pushed Trump to victory was the personal perceived economic conditions as well as those terrible attack ads that demonized transgender persons and immigrants coming from Trump. Never mind that the unemployment rate prior to the election was 4.1% and inflation at 2%. Both the transphobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric was straight out of the Lee Atwater playbook, and Americans displayed their failure to learn from history, ending up repeating its worst mistakes.
The fact is that Kamala Harris had concrete plans to combat price gouging, increase access to homeownership, and other programs to strengthen the middle class but the American voters were blatantly misled by the Trump campaign’s “concepts of plans” for cheap goods and services.
A veteran is described as “someone who, at one point in their life wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount up to and including their life.”
Perhaps in another posting I will share in depth about my unique Navy experience in an effort to bridge the divide between the military and its civilian population that it protects. I am proud of what my shipmates and I accomplished while we were in the Virginia shipyards. It was not the expected path my career went, but I look back on that time very fondly. Years after I received my honorable discharge, my ship played a significant role in American history.
At the United States Naval Academy in August 1963, John F. Kennedy stated that, “I can imagine a no more rewarding career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: I served in the United States Navy.”
I very much agree with those words, but right now I feel a sense of betrayal by my fellow Americans. The same fellow Americans that as a young man that I would do everything — including surrender my life — to protect them.
It turns out that my six years in the United States Navy is outweighed by savings on a grocery bill.
If you care enough to reimburse me, please include the full amount and make that check payable to Michael Watts.
