Donald Trump is not having a great week. Today retired Marine General John Allen warned that if the Republican presidential nominee wins the election in November, there would be massive unrest in the military, saying, “I think we would be facing a civil military crisis, the like of which we’ve not seen in this country before.”
Retired general warns of a massive civil military crisis under Trump https://t.co/hG60B5ZNBR via @HuffPostPol
— John Narby (@carpediem1969UI) August 1, 2016
Trump has been on a rampage, attacking everyone who dared to speak about him at the Democratic National Convention last week, including the father of a Muslim war hero and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Ret. General Allen was no different. Allen spoke at the DNC and was joined on stage by dozens of military brass, where he passionately argued that Hillary Clinton is “exactly” the kind of Commander-In-Chief that the country needs.
According to Politico , Allen commanded troops in Afghanistan and worked with Clinton while she was Secretary of State. While he didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, he made mention that under Clinton the country’s international relations would not be reduced to a business transaction, and went on to say: “I also know that our armed forces will not become an instrument of torture, and they will not be engaged in murder, or carry out other illegal activities.”
In response to Allen’s criticism of him, Trump said “You know who he is? He’s a failed general. He was the general fighting ISIS. I would say he hasn’t done so well, right?” He didn’t stop there. He also went on Twitter to respond to Allen with the following tweet:
General John Allen, who I never met but spoke against me last night, failed badly in his fight against ISIS. His record = BAD #NeverHillary
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Donald Trump also had some controversy with the Koch brothers this week after he claimed that he had turned down a meeting request with the billionaire brothers. A spokesman for the brothers adamantly denied that any such meeting request was ever made. The Koch brothers have been very critical of Trump’s policies and statements and have so far sat out of the presidential campaign.
I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
On Sunday the Washington Post reported that Charles Koch clarified in a speech to his network of donors that he would definitely not be supporting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election but that he would also not be supporting Trump. Their organization has stated that they will be focusing on Senate races but were careful to say that they would not be launching an explicit effort to defeat Clinton.
Turning their back on Trump, Koch brothers’ network focuses on Senate https://t.co/uLh6OwHenX pic.twitter.com/aTrEL8UzNQ
— Maclean’s Magazine (@MacleansMag) July 31, 2016
In addition to warring with the Koch brothers and every speaker at the DNC, Donald Trump also had a dispute with the NFL this week. Trump claimed that the NFL had contacted him about two debates that are scheduled on nights that also have football games airing on television. In an interview, Trump said that they had sent him a letter about the debates. The league, however, denied that they had sent any letters to Trump or his campaign. They said they obviously wished that the debates did not conflict with football games but maintained that no letter had been sent.
As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
Instead of addressing this discrepancy, Trump took the opportunity to lash out against Hillary Clinton, claiming that she was rigging the debate schedule to her benefit. There’s just one problem with that claim. As The New York Times reports, the dates and sites of the 2016 debates were set in September 2015 by the independent, nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The Commission serves as the debate sponsor and sets the participation criteria, dates, sites, and formats of debates.
Debate committee responds to Donald Trump’s complaints that 2 debates are scheduled to take place during NFL games https://t.co/sLIiYLhSp8
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 31, 2016
The next few months are bound to be interesting with all of this mudslinging and trash talking, but people keep asking — exactly how low is Donald Trump going to go? Attacking veterans, women, Muslims, disabled people. No one is safe from his tirades. Somehow, though, his poll numbers don’t seem to be affected by his statements and behaviors. Clinton received a boost after the DNC, but time will tell if she can sustain that lead.
[Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images]
