"Without presenting any policy details, Trump is claiming that he can fix everything ... if brought into office, I believe Trump's plans will have the same success as Nixon's." We sure don't need another Nixon!

...................................................................................................................................................................
COMMENT:
*   Thoughtful article from a veteran. Thank you for your service to our country and this article. Trump scares the hell out of me, frankly. He is a genius at manipulating people with fear and anger and hatred. His campaign manager has put dictators in power. We have almost three months left of this nasty and vicious election. He could still win; it is not over by a long shot. I'm terrified. Thanks again for your service and this article. Bless you.
*   The economy is good, it will be even better when the GOP decides to stop trying to keep it down for political expediency, the president has proposed jobs bills repeatedly including a tour of bridges and roads a few years ago trying to embarrass the GOP into an infrastructure package.gas is down, unemployment is low, wages are stagnant because the same big GOP donors that they give tax breaks and corporate welfare to have pocketed their tax savings while scaling back hours and refusing to pay a livable wage because unions are no longer there to keep them accountable to the employees, unions that the GOP helped get rid of, that yak you're talking only works on the illiterate inbreds in the TRUMPanzees coalition.
*  With what he said about getting the Purple Heart without having to risk his life, I would think this makes lots of Vets heads explode.
*  She hasn't been in an office since she was a senator where she could help veterans. Tell me, what has the GOP done for veterans since they have had total control of the house and senate? Job bills, health bills, family bills, war bills? They have done nothing. If you think the GOP cares about you, then you need to take another look at your party of do nothings. They did give themselves $100 billion increase in their pensions from 2015 -2016. Now we pay $1 trillion a year to support these clowns when they retire/get voted out. I am also an old vet and I find Donny Draft Dodger and GOP to be self serving do nothings. My state does more for Vets than the federal GOP lead congress and senate. just sayin.
...................................................................................................................................................................
GOP convention scared this veteran more than Afghanistan
By Christopher Carey, August 6, 2016

Watching the Republican Party's slow implosion unfold over the past months recently culminating with the Republican National Convention strikes me with fear I cannot ever recall having. This after two combat tours in rural eastern Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division, the premier division in the U.S. Army, synchronizing truly herculean combat power and destroying the enemy. Nothing has ever yielded fear as close to my heart as the Republicans' weeklong event. Blind partisanship, misplaced bomb-the-hell-out-of-them militarism and just plain hatred are not qualities that whoever is occupying our nation's highest office should ever embody.

The thought of a commander in chief wielding all the power of the Oval Office with the nuance of a child honestly scares me. Republican nominee Donald Trump has been crassly offensive to the cultures with which I was charged with partnering, and I do not see how this gives us a strategic advantage. He has said that he will bomb "the hell" out of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ignoring the high numbers of coalition aircraft coming home laden with bombs for want of military targets to destroy. All this while regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia have recently ceased formal diplomatic relations. Several Saudi satellites have also followed suit in breaking their relations with Tehran.

Southwest Asia is a complex area of the world that needs the level leadership and the correct, subtle and steady application of American power. I do not think Trump will be able to accomplish this with his freight-train persona.

Let me be clear: Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is not without her flaws. Her email scandal is, to this veteran, head-smackingly thoughtless and a violation of the great trust that the United States placed in her. That being said, she is an accomplished and dedicated public servant whom I hope will continue her efforts.

To me, Trump is the man who could not remember which foot medically disqualified him from service in Vietnam, then insulted Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) personal valor in combat and subsequent capture. To me, Trump is the man who muddied legitimate security concerns about fulfilling our nation's promise to accept huddled masses by advocating for prejudiced policies blocking entry on religious grounds.

To me, the Republican Party is not the party of responsible limited government, but the party of those who — save a select few — would not stop Trump's nomination before it happened. Republicans are members of a party that played to our lowest common denominator, our intolerance and our fear. It does not matter if those considering themselves to be Republicans in the classic sense hold these new views; the Republican Party has unequivocally codified them as a national platform and placed their standard-bearer, and de facto new leader, as their representative on the national ballot.

I spent the last year balancing the increasing commitments of a demanding full-time job and a world-class executive master's program. I am a gun owner. I am a combat veteran. I do not understand why I am not low-hanging fruit for Republican membership, something that I cannot ever see committing myself to.

Without presenting any policy details, Trump is claiming that he can fix everything: win the war, save the economy and "Make America Great Again." This is eerily reminiscent of what my father remembers as President Nixon's "secret plan" to win in Vietnam, and if brought into office, I believe Trump's plans will have the same success as Nixon's.
...................................................................................................................................................................