The Republican Party Not Only Doesn’t Support Our Troops. It Utterly Despises Them.

‘America Rises’ Post #14: Saturday, September 30th, 2023

As the richest nation on earth braces for another completely arbitrary government shutdown at the hands of the bottomless pit of disgrace that is the Republican Party, I thought I’d dedicate this Saturday’s post to just how much the GOP loathes our nation’s armed forces. Some may find this ironic in light of how long they’ve seemingly defined themselves as the party of unparalleled military approbation. Personally, I’ve always found their chest-thumping bellows to “support the troops” to be embarrassingly transparent and disingenuous. They seem to primarily use the military as props for photo ops, campaign ads, and displays of post-9/11 paranoia that reads about as patriotic as a giant pick-up truck covered with American flags. Republicans cheerleading for the military always came across as largely performative; a way for them to sound cool and tough and loyal to the country while never actually following through on becoming or demonstrating any of those things. And today, it’s clear that the GOP doesn’t just “pick on” the military with pejoratives like “woke” (which from what I can gather just means reasonably enlightened, well-educated, concerned about the welfare of others, and against bigotry, racism, and inequality- sign me up!); it actively hates our military.

The Post-Trump Republican Party will never openly admit its disdain for the military. However, it also no longer seems to bother putting up much of a pretense of holding any respect or esteem for its members. A complete list of all the ways the GOP denigrates our military would likely span over a hundred pages. While this might make a great future Twitter thread, which I am known for constructing of that length, it’s too much for this piece. Instead, I am going to highlight what I believe to be the most appalling and flagrant examples of Republicans’ contempt for our current and former military service members.

Here we go: