Dem
51
Ties
3
GOP
46
Donald Trump is most certainly a hero in his own mind. And he apparently wants to be a hero in your mind, as well. To that end, he's done a few things recently to pitch that narrative.
First up is the 9/11 attacks. Trump has always claimed that he was somehow on the scene, lending a helping hand, shortly after the Twin Towers fell. There is no evidence for this claim, of course. Nobody recalls seeing him there, despite the fact that he was one of the most famous men in New York at the time. He does not appear in any photos or video footage captured on that day, despite there being enough of each to fill a warehouse. Plus, he's just not the type.
Yesterday, Trump doubled down on that obvious fantasy. He has already taken a pass on participating on the 9/11 commemoration scheduled for New York later this week, because they would not let him give a speech. So, instead he gave a speech in Washington yesterday, at an event that was largely organized so Trump could give a speech. And here is the part that raised eyebrows all over the Internet:
The United States Steel Building was creaking, really creaking, and we thought it was going to fall down. The truth is, it creaked a lot. It creaked. It still creaks, but it never came down. And I'll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big, strong guys—and I'm not the smallest guy in the world—they grabbed me under the arm, said, 'Got to get out of here!' And they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, 'Fellas, I can run myself,' but they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn't come down.
So, Trump was not only participating in the rescue efforts, but he was so brazenly risking his own life in service of those efforts that he had to be forcibly removed by two New York City firemen. Does anybody believe that actually happened? Does anybody think Trump would come within a country mile of putting his life in danger to help save the lives of others? And does anybody believe that, if he had to, he could run half a city block?
Meanwhile, Trump has also developed a habit of posting AI pictures of himself in military uniform. More specifically, he keeps casting himself in the role of a high-ranking World War II general. Here are a couple of specimens of the genre:
Let us pause here for a moment to note how very bad AI is at this. First of all, "Patton" and "MacArthur" do not look like the actual George S. Patton and Douglas MacArthur. Beyond his general incorrect appearance, MacArthur is smoking the wrong kind of pipe (he famously smoked a corncob pipe), the rank on his shoulder boards is an ambiguous mess, and he's wearing upside-down corporal's chevrons on his shoulder for some reason.
Patton, for his part, does not have the ivory-handled revolvers that he always wore and that were his trademark, his helmet has no rank on it (he always had insignia on his helmet), and who on earth knows what's going on with HIS shoulder boards. We cannot even tell what rank that is, but we can say that Patton was a tank commander, and so if he was going to wear colored shoulder boards, the correct color is yellow.
Meanwhile, in the picture on the right, note that the AI has granted Trump the riding gloves and revolvers that should be on Patton. It has also granted Trump five-star rank, as well as the Congressional Medal of Honor. That said, the five-star rank insignia is laughably incorrect. It's not supposed to be five stars in a row, it's five stars in a star-shaped pattern. They only appear in a row if you're "The General" from the insurance company:
On the left is "The General." On the right is an actual five-star general. Note difference in rank insignia.
It is a really bad look to claim ranks and decorations that are not yours to claim. It's even worse when those ranks and decorations are the very highest the United States Armed Forces has to offer. It's worse still when you never even served in the armed forces. And it's even worse than that if you not only did not serve, but you were a draft dodger.
So, this is not going to endear Trump to all the war hawks and military fans/veterans out there. We do not know why he's suddenly so desperate to push the narrative that he's a great hero. and we also do not appreciate having to write a second item in as many days about this sort of foolishness. Still, any or all of the theses we put forward yesterday could also explain all the phony hero stuff. To wit: (1) He's losing his marbles, (2) He's doing everything he can to make the midterms about him, and/or (3) He's trying to create a distraction. In any event, tonight he'll be the featured speaker at the Republican "convention." Maybe by the time hs speaks, he will be the guy who cured cancer, the guy who saved Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and the guy who died on the cross so that wrong-doers around the world could be forgiven of their sins. Literally anything is possible at this point. (Z)