Trump Overstated His Military Credentials From Marines

In an answer trying to bolster his military credibility, Trump referenced receiving an award in April, saying it came from the United States Marines Corps when it was actually the charity The Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.

During an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Trump made the claim:

“I was given the biggest award by the Marines the other day, one of the biggest civilian awards by the Marines the other day. I was with all of the Marines, I was with the new head of the joint chiefs of staff, he’s a very impressive guy, at the Waldorf Astoria the other night. I was given one of the most distinguished awards, which was a great honor for me.”

Cuomo interjected: “So you’re saying they respect you.”

“I think they do. Well, I got the award from them. And they presented it to me, so I think they do.”

But the award came at a charity gala, where Trump pledged to donate $100,000 to the organization in his speech, the New York Post’s Page Six reported at the time.

Trump’s spokeswoman confirmed that was the award he was referring to.

But that doesn’t add up because Trump boasted many times before that he was receiving the award from the actual United States Marines.

A picture of the award from the Marine Corps clearly shows the name of the charity on the award. The Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation is a charity that gives scholarships to the children of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers.

The Marines also confirmed they did not give an award to Trump.

“The U.S. Marine Corps has not presented any awards to any presidential candidates this year,” said Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Paul Greenberg. “It is not customary for the Marine Corps to make such presentations.

Greenberg said the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation is a nonprofit not officially affiliated with the Department of Defense or the government.

(h/t CNN)

Media

Trump Gets Foreign Policy Advice From TV Shows

Donal Trump on Meet the Press

In an August 16 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Chuck Todd grilled Trump on who he turned to for foreign policy advice.

“Well I really watch the shows. You really see a lot of great, you know, when you watch your show and all of the other shows, and you have the generals and you have certain people that you like,” Trump said.

“But is there somebody — a go-to for you?” Todd pressed. That’s when Trump made his next mistake…

“Probably there are two or three. Yeah, probably there are two or three I mean, I like [former U.N. Ambassador John] Bolton. I think he’s, you know, tough cookie, knows what he’s talking about. [Ret. Col. Jack] Jacobs is a good guy… and I see him on occasion,”

In an interview with Mother Jones later that week, retired colonel Jack Jacobs said that while knew Trump, the two had never discussed military policy.

“He may have said the first person who came to mind,” Jacobs said. “I know him. But I’m not a consultant. I’m not certain if he has a national security group of people. I don’t know if he does or if he doesn’t. If he does, I’m not one of them.”

Links

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-interview-trump-on-immigration-hillary-clinton-and-his-controversial-campaign-505901123767

http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-11-worst-foreign-policy-gaffes-us-election-syria-mexico-iraq/

 

Trump’s ISIS Foreign Policy Isn’t All That Great

Chuck Todd

Donald Trump on MSNBC’s Meet the Press answered questions about his foreign policy.

Well, I want to take away their wealth. And, as you know, for years I’ve been saying, “Don’t go into Iraq.” They went into Iraq. They destabilized the Middle East. It was a big mistake. Okay, now we’re there. And you have ISIS. And I said this was going to happen. I said, “Iran will take over Iraq,” which is happening as sure as you’re sitting there. And ISIS is taking over a lot of the oil and certain areas of Iraq. And I said you take away their wealth, that you go and knock the hell out of the oil, take back the oil. We take over the oil, which we should have done in the first place.

Reality

Dumbing a complex situation like ISIS down into a simple catchphrase may play well to a riled up crowd, but we will never know how effective it will be until Trump becomes President and can take action. Except the military already analyzed his plan and found it to be just plain bad. Whoops!

Links

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/17/donald-trump-on-meet-the-press-annotated/

Trump Not Caring Whether Ukraine is in NATO

Donal Trump on Meet the Press

In a “Meet the Press” interview with Chuck Todd, Trump expressed ambivalence about allowing Ukraine into NATO.

“I would not care that much to be honest with you. Whether it goes in or doesn’t go in, I wouldn’t care. If it goes in, great. If it doesn’t go in, great. Look, I would support NATO,” Trump said. “Why isn’t Germany, Chuck, leading this charge? Why is the United States? I mean, we’re like the policemen of the world. And why are we leading the charge in Ukraine?”

Reality

Many might agree with Trump’s general point, but it very much matters whether Ukraine is a member of NATO: One of the organization’s founding principles, codified in Article 5 of the treaty, specifies that member countries must take “such action as it deems necessary,” as “an armed attack on one … shall be considered an armed attack on all.” Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and subsequent meddling in eastern Ukraine could have obligated the United States to come to Ukraine’s defense, were the country a NATO member.

Links

http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-11-worst-foreign-policy-gaffes-us-election-syria-mexico-iraq/

Trump Fails Again on Iran Deal Details

Donal Trump on Meet the Press

In his interview with Todd, Trump stated that Iran would get to keep its $150 billion from the deal even if it does not live up to it. As Politifact noted, that figure is in line with, but very much on the very highest end of evaluations of the value the regime’s frozen assets as a result of international sanctions. (The general consensus is somewhere in the ballpark of $100 billion, according to experts interviewed by Politifact, though without U.S. participation, the maximum amount Iran could recover is $40 billion.)

“No sanctions relief?” Todd asked.

“‘We will never give you back your money. We will never … give you back your $150 billion. You’re never getting that money back,’” Trump said he would say in negotiations with Iranian leaders.

Links

http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-11-worst-foreign-policy-gaffes-us-election-syria-mexico-iraq/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/16/donald-trump/donald-trump-iran-gets-keep-150-billion-even-if-us/

Trump Rumors Megyn Kelly Took Vacation Because Of Him

Megyn Kelly announces 10 day vacation.

Donald Trump thinks Megyn Kelly‘s vacation could very well be because of his feud with her over her “inappropriate” questions at the first Republican primary debate.

Kelly asked famously tough questions of Trump during the televised debate, and several days later the real estate mogul made his infamous comment to CNN that she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her… wherever.” Fox News CEO Roger Ailes and Trump eventually had a phone call to “clear the air.”

On Wednesday evening, Kelly told her Kelly File viewers that she will take a long overdue 10-day vacation to spend some time with her husband and children.

Newsmax TV host Steve Malzberg asked Trump: “Do you think there was any connection to have her go away for a while in the wake of what she did?”

The GOP candidate replied: “Well, there probably was, but I wouldn’t know anything about it.” But he added: “People were very surprised that, all the sudden, she decided to go away for 10 days… Some people make those quick decisions.”

Contrary to that, however, a Fox News representative told Mediaite that Kelly’s vacation had been planned long in advance. Nevertheless, Trump said he hopes “she is well” and that she returns to be “fair,” presumably to him.

(h/t Mediaite)

Reality

We’re not Megyn Kelly’s boss so we’re not privy to when she requested her time off. Until actual evidence is presented otherwise we should take Fox News at their word, and their response is actually pretty priceless:

“The conspiracy theories about Megyn Kelly’s vacation rank up there with UFO’s, the moon landing and Elvis being alive. Megyn is on a pre-planned, annual summer vacation with her family, which is much deserved. To imply otherwise as Donald Trump and his campaign operatives have is not only wildly irresponsible, but downright bizarre. Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks it’s advantageous to his poll numbers to keep talking about Megyn, but that doesn’t change the fact that Roger Ailes has fully supported her and her tough journalistic questioning since day one and is thrilled with the added exposure from the debate which resulted in even higher ratings of The Kelly File this week. Anyone who knows Roger is aware of how historically and consistently loyal he is to all of his talent and how he protects them at all costs. As Governor Terry Branstad said today, ‘when you’re a candidate, you’ve got to basically answer the questions. You can’t just attack the person asking the questions. That doesn’t work.’”

Media

NBC Fires Trump

The Celebrity Apprentice

NBC joined the list of companies who fired Donald Trump over his comments about Mexicans during his announcement speech.

NBC entertainment chairman, Bob Greenblatt, had two words Thursday on whether Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump would ever return as host of “The Celebrity Apprentice:” Absolutely not.

Greenblatt said that the show will not be back next season, but will return in the future with a new host.

NBC cut ties with Trump in June days after he made critical comments about Mexican immigrants and NBC canceled its airing of the Miss USA pageant, which Univision also decided not to air.

Reality

Some people may argue about “political correctness run amok” but Donald Trump’s comments were clearly racist. Companies do business with more than just white people.

Links

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/08/13/nbc-officially-fires-donald-trump-from-celebrity-apprentice/

Trump Believes Auto Workers Make Too Much Money

Donald Trump has something to say to Detroit autoworkers: you make too much money. Talking about U.S. vehicle manufacturers moving production to Mexico in an interview with The Detroit News, Trump said this:

He said U.S. automakers could shift production away from Michigan to communities where autoworkers would make less. “You can go to different parts of the United States and then ultimately you’d do full-circle — you’ll come back to Michigan because those guys are going to want their jobs back even if it is less,” Trump said. “We can do the rotation in the United States — it doesn’t have to be in Mexico.”He said that after Michigan “loses a couple of plants — all of sudden you’ll make good deals in your own area.”

Reality

Trump is, of course, dead wrong about this. The article goes on to say, “Although wages are lower at non-union U.S. plants owned by foreign automakers, hourly employees for Detroit’s Big Three are paid the same no matter what state they’re in, under the terms of United Auto Workers contracts.”

Links

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/8/14/1412018/-Donald-Trump-to-Detroit-autoworkers-you-make-too-much-money

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2015/08/12/trump-autos/31589899/

Protester Calls Trump Not a Friend to Women

It’s not easy to put brash Donald Trump on the spot. But that’s exactly what a young woman did during an event in New Hampshire.

“So, maybe I’m wrong, maybe you can prove me wrong,” said Lauren Batchelder, a student at St. Anselm College in Manchester. “But I don’t think you’re a friend to women.”

It turns out she is a volunteer for the Jeb Bush campaign, though the Bush folks say she attended the event on her own accord. Some Trump supporters suggest the questioner was a plant from the Bush campaign where she has volunteered.

Reality

The Bush campaign says she was at the event on her own and the campaign did not “sanction” her question. That is plausible, but it is also just as plausible that she was a plant.

However that does not matter at all and it (obviously intentionally) redirects attention from the actual argument. Trump has made seriously sexist and misogynist comments over the course of his entire campaign. He is not a friend to women.

Links

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/13/that-passionate-young-woman-who-questioned-donald-trump-in-new-hampshire-shes-a-volunteer-for-jeb-bush/

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