“I take a dim view of humanity. I think I’m one of the better ones. And I know how bad I am.” — Samuel Johnson
I admit I’m taking this a little bit personally. A warrior is defined as: “a person engaged in or experienced in war.” Donald Trump, the presumed Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, has taken to calling the insurrectionists of January 6, 2021, “warriors.
They weren’t that.
Those folks were engaging in behavior that was decidedly not war. They riotously stormed the capitol of the United States of America with the goal of disrupting the transfer of power following an election that Trump lost.
Were they in a war against the U.S.A.? No. And it certainly wasn’t a peaceful protest. We’ve never seen such a display of disrespect for American tradition in the history of the United States, going back to the time of our founding fathers.
George Washington believed in democracy. All other presidents did. Until Trump. He could have told his followers to stand down, but he did nothing but watch the sickening news play out on TV, until issuing a weak statement as the rioters were running out of steam, tiring of assaulting the greatly outnumbered police forces, and weary of vandalizing the halls of the capitol.
It was probably getting smelly in there, with the mob taking pleasure in urinating and defecating in the halls of Congress.
But Trump calls them “warriors.” Admittedly, Trump wouldn’t know much about being a warrior. He didn’t serve his country, and went to great lengths to avoid doing so. He was disrespectful of military service, as President, when he referred to servicemen as “losers” and “suckers.”
Yet the January 6th fellows were “warriors,” according to Trump. Perhaps a small percentage met the definition, had they “engaged in or experienced war” prior to the events of January 6, but not because of their “valor” on that dark day.
We’ve become aware recently of Rep. Troy Nehls, (R-Texas). The U.S. Army wrongly issued Nehls a Combat Infantry Badge. Nehls was a clerk when the badge was mistakenly awarded. The award was rescinded.
Nehls says he is somehow entitled to wear the award, and he continues to do so, in the form of a lapel pin he still wears. He says he’s being picked on because he’s “Mr. MAGA”.
House Republicans are increasingly frustrated with Nehls for wearing the badge pin, several of them accusing the Texas Republican of “stolen valor.”
“It matters,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-MT, retired Navy SEAL. “If you didn’t earn it, you shouldn’t wear it.”
I take this rather personally, because I did engage in and experience war. It was a long time ago. I don’t know if it means anything special, but it’s a fact. I deplore the ex-president referring to the January 6th guys, and women, as warriors.
I still bear the scars, both the physical and the other kind. I am a person who engaged in and experienced war.
I don’t often refer to myself as a warrior, but I do fall within the definition. Let’s not throw that term around loosely.