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Donald Trump’s gaffe on veterans and PTSD shows just what an amateur he still is
WaPo ^ | 10/3/2016 | Aaron Blake

Posted on 10/03/2016 12:56:54 PM PDT by ObozoMustGo2012

There will be plenty of quibbling in the hours ahead, but Donald Trump clearly just created a new batch of problems for himself with his comments Monday morning, in which he suggested that veterans dealing with mental health problems aren't "strong" and "can't handle it."

"When people come back from war and combat, they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," Trump said to a veterans group in Northern Virginia. "And they see horror stories — they see events that you couldn’t see in a movie. Nobody would believe it. And we need mental health help, and medical. And it’s one of the things that I think is least-addressed, and it's one of the things that I hear the most about, when I go around and am talking to veterans."

Some suggested Trump was saying veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are weak. Others suggested that maybe he just got his words mixed up and shouldn't be raked over the coals.

But what Trump did here is thoroughly Trump. He was talking about an issue in very general terms and was trying to express sympathy. He used the kind of platitudes that you would expect from an amateur politician — but he also stumbled into the kind of language that anybody who is familiar with these issues would know to avoid.

Veterans' allies work hard to fight against the idea that problems like PTSD arise because people aren't strong enough — especially given the culture of strength that exists within the military and lingering resistance to the very idea of PTSD.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: 2016issues; ptsd; trump2016; veterans; virginia
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The anti-Trump bedwetters on social media are making their rounds with yet another taken out of context "quote"....
1 posted on 10/03/2016 12:56:54 PM PDT by ObozoMustGo2012
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Mountain out of mole hill.

And they are still trying to make being an “amateur” politician a negative.

They don’t get it at all.


2 posted on 10/03/2016 12:59:59 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Wow. That’s such BS! It’s clear what he meant.


3 posted on 10/03/2016 1:00:27 PM PDT by nhwingut (Trump-Pence 2016 - Blow Up The GOPe)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

What an utter nothingburger attack by the WaPo.


4 posted on 10/03/2016 1:01:20 PM PDT by Flick Lives (TRIGGER WARNING - Posts may require application of sarcasm filter)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Why is the media not asking why are we not helping these soldiers?

Trump has a point here, not everyone is as “strong” as everyone else and war can take its toll on people

I don’t see the problem with what he said, of course the liberal and dishonest media creates a quote out of that, that is totally false or the opposite of what Trump said


5 posted on 10/03/2016 1:02:17 PM PDT by arl295
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Yeah, another non-issue...

y’all can pucker up and kiss me Irish arse ~

Go, Trump, GO!


6 posted on 10/03/2016 1:03:20 PM PDT by heterosupremacist ("Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." (Thomas Jefferson))
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To: ifinnegan

Didn’t you know? Only “professional” ruling class politicians can be trusted to govern the deplorable basement dwellers.


7 posted on 10/03/2016 1:03:21 PM PDT by Spruce
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

The Compost has made their anti-Trump sentiment well known, but they’re reaching big time here. The left and their media arms are gripping big time.


8 posted on 10/03/2016 1:04:08 PM PDT by dowcaet (.)
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To: nhwingut

Combat is not a Rambo movie, it is nasty, some people handle stress better than others.


9 posted on 10/03/2016 1:05:41 PM PDT by Little Bill (o)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

I must have missed it, what did he say wrong?


10 posted on 10/03/2016 1:06:07 PM PDT by heights
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Speaking of amateurs...have you read your own paper lately, WaPo?


11 posted on 10/03/2016 1:08:13 PM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast (I'm deplorable)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

This is rich from the Washington Post. Probably during the other 364 days of the year, they could probably care less about veterans and how the Obama government screwed them over big time concerning the VA issue. But they will take this comment from Trump and completely misrepresent it.

Business as usual for these little creeps.


12 posted on 10/03/2016 1:08:45 PM PDT by OttawaFreeper ("If I had to go to war again, I'd bring lacrosse players" Conn Smythe)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Dear Aaron Blake:

Everything you wrote makes me want to vote for Trump.

You, the NYT, ABC, NBC, et. al and the Hillary campaign have a problem.

Donate a good amount to FR, and I’ll spell it out for you.

5.56mm


13 posted on 10/03/2016 1:09:09 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: ObozoMustGo2012
Ever since WikiLeaks unveiled the direct link between the MSM and the Democratic National Committee, the trust in the mass media has taken such a massive nosedive that even Snopes.com is coming under serious question. The anti-Trump screed from the MSM is now turning into white noise, in my humble opinion.
14 posted on 10/03/2016 1:10:09 PM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

We’re sick of professional politicians and their crooked media enablers.


15 posted on 10/03/2016 1:10:46 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012
Some suggested Trump was saying veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are weak. Others suggested that maybe he just got his words mixed up and shouldn't be raked over the coals.

And other people just recognize the truth. Realizing that you need help doesn't make you weak. It isn't insulting. Instead it can be just the support a veteran might need to encourage him or her to get the assistance that they require.

I don't agree with Trump on all things but this misquote on the part of the Post is just stirring up trouble where there is none.

16 posted on 10/03/2016 1:10:54 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

I love the smell of Liberal DESPERATTTTTTION.


17 posted on 10/03/2016 1:12:26 PM PDT by conservativepoet
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

Wow talk about out and out lying about what Trump said. The spin on this is completely at odds with the words


18 posted on 10/03/2016 1:15:18 PM PDT by MNJohnnie ( Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered)
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

How does that contrast with, say, denying support and going to bed while an embassy under one’s care is under attack?


19 posted on 10/03/2016 1:15:46 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ("If anyone will not listen to your words, shake the dust from your feet and leave them." - Jesus)
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To: heights

He said nothing that was wrong. It is simply true that the ability to withstand the rigors of combat varies from person to person. I just read Atkinson’s three volume work on WWII in Africa and Europe. It included a quote from an Army doctor to the effect that even the strongest personality would break after too much time in the front lines with a rifle company. This is just the latest example of the media taking a perfectly fine quote from Trump and unfairly characterizing it. The media have been trending steadily leftward for years. This year, however, they have simply gone over the top.


20 posted on 10/03/2016 1:16:53 PM PDT by p. henry
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