Trump Calls Troops For Thanksgiving, But Quickly Begins Complaining Instead
It’s tradition for the president to speak with American troops stationed all over the world for Thanksgiving. It’s not so traditional for the president to end up complaining. Newsweek reported that Trump turned the holiday into a Festivus-style airing of grievances.
“We’re doing very well on the southern border,” Trump told the troops on Thursday. “We’re very tough. We get a lot of bad court decisions from the 9th Circuit, which has become a big thorn in our side. We always lose and then you lose again and again and then you hopefully win in the Supreme Court, which we’ve done.
“It’s a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border. It’s a disgrace.”
Trump expressed anger at the courts earlier this week. His remarks sparked a heated response from Chief Justice John Roberts — to which, of course, Trump responded. It all began when Trump called District Court Judge Jon Tigar an “Obama judge” on Tuesday after Tigar blocked an executive order that would have changed the current U.S. asylum policy.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for,” Justice Roberts fired back, as reported by CNN.
Based on his Thanksgiving comments, the president is still angry about the court’s decision.
UN #Thankful
Being a US Troop having to take a phone call from Donald Trump on Thanksgiving
— Med?um R?re (@StickAForkInYou) November 22, 2018
“In many cases, they’re not good people. They’re bad people,” he said of the immigrants. “They’re not coming through, we’re not letting criminals into our country.”
Trump has deployed around 8,000 active duty and National Guard troops to guard the U.S.-Mexico border against a few thousand immigrants from Central America. The caravan of immigrants formed in Honduras. Many have already made it into the border city of Tijuana, where they are being temporarily housed in tent shelters.
Wednesday, the White House authorized the use of lethal force on the border. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the troops have not been armed, however, as previously reported by Inquisitr.
Trump didn’t stop at complaining about problems with judges. He ranted about trade deals while on the phone with the Coast Guard.
“We want to have good free trade…We also want to have fair deals where we can do well, too, not just everybody else. Right now every nation in the world does well with us, we don’t do well with them.”
And though it’s a national holiday, Trump says the troops on the border don’t mind.
“These are tough people. They know what they’re doing and they’re great. And they’ve done a great job. You’re so worried about the Thanksgiving holiday for them. They are so proud to be representing our country on the border,” Trump said, according to the Huffington Post.
