The president’s alleged disparagement of US soldiers may have given pause even to some of his staunch supporters
It has been a while since I’ve travelled through an airport in the US, but I assume that in that time, nothing has changed. Specifically: buying snacks in a branch of Hudson News and being asked, while paying, if you would like to make a donation with your purchase to support the US military. This never got any less weird, not just the solicitation, but the piety with which it was made. As a friend said after one such experience, he was sorely tempted to reply, “on the contrary: I would like to reduce their budget by at least 80%”. It would, we suspected, result in instantaneous repatriation to Britain.
Reverence for the military is a cultural norm in the US that makes the recent Donald Trump firestorm around veterans unusual. According to a report in the Atlantic, the president allegedly made private remarks in which he referred to dead American soldiers as “losers”, and “suckers,” while expressing bafflement as to why anyone would join the military. “What’s in it for them?” he is said to have asked.
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