On December 23, President Trump vetoed the annual defense spending bill. The $741 billion bill provides funding for a 3% pay raise for U.S. Troops, military programs and construction projects. The bill passed with veto-proof majorities in each chamber of Congress.
In Trump’s veto statement, he said the defense bill, “includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history.” By this, Trump was making a thinly veiled point that he objected to a provision in the bill that would rename military bases that honor Confederate generals.
While Trump also objected to the lack of a provision that would repeal Section 230, a federal law that protects internet companies from content their users post, a defense bill should have nothing to do with telecommunications, so we will put that issue aside, as Congress rightly did.
The recklessness of Trump’s decision to veto the defense bill as he departed D.C. for his Mar-a-Lago estate, must not go unacknowledged, even if Congress has the votes to override his veto.
As staunch Trump ally Senator Inhofe (R-OK) said in a statement, “The NDAA has become law every year for 59 years straight because it’s absolutely vital to our national security and our troops. This year must not be an exception... I hope all of my colleagues in Congress will join me in making sure our troops have the resources and equipment they need to defend this nation.”
In vetoing the defense bill, Trump has put the legacy of dead traitors ahead of America’s security, U.S. troops and the bipartisan will of the American people. Apparently, the president has forgotten, or is unaware, that the Confederacy was fighting to preserve the institution of slavery. The 10 U.S. Amy bases that are named for Confederate commanders were engaged in a ruthless war to kill as many U.S. soldiers as possible.
Instead of honoring the hundreds of American military heroes, Trump wants to embellish and obscure the history of turncoats. Is this foreshadowing what America will face as it confronts Trump legacy? We shall see.
There is ample evidence that Trump has sold out America by encouraging foreign powers to interfere with our elections, making foreign policy decisions based on what is in his best financial interest and ignoring U.S. intelligence in favor of the word of hostile foreign powers.
And yes, it is totally perverted that America would have ever named U.S. bases after Confederates that tried to kill the brethren of the soldiers who now occupy them. However, it rarely too late to right a wrong and Trump is now trying to throw a gigantic wrench into much-needed reforms.
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