After the September 11 attacks, the United States asked the world to stand with it. The world did.
Soldiers from dozens of non-American nations crossed oceans to fight an enemy that had not struck their own cities, but which they recognised as a shared threat. They served under foreign command, in unfamiliar terrain, often at enormous personal and political cost. Hundreds of them were killed. Many thousands returned home wounded in body or mind. Their sacrifice was real, and it was given in good faith.
That is why hearing a President of the United States mock non-American soldiers – suggesting they “avoided frontlines” or lacked courage – lands with such force. It is not a gaffe. It is not “blunt talk.” It is an act of contempt directed at the dead, the wounded, and the nations that answered America’s call when it was most vulnerable.
This is not a matter of partisan disagreement. It is a matter of honour.
Alliances are not built on slogans or arms deals. They are built on trust – on the belief that shared sacrifice will be remembered, not ridiculed. When a U.S. President sneers at allied forces who fought and died alongside Americans, that trust is corroded. The damage does not stop at wounded pride; it extends to the future willingness of nations to stand together when the next crisis comes.
The insult is heard far beyond Washington. It is heard by parents who buried sons and daughters under foreign flags. By veterans who still carry the weight of wars they joined out of solidarity. By countries that believed the word “ally” meant something more than convenience.
America’s moral authority has never rested solely on its military power. It rested on the idea that sacrifice mattered, that loyalty was reciprocal, and that those who stood beside it would not be discarded or mocked once they were no longer useful.
To mock allied soldiers is to cheapen the very coalition that once defined America’s leadership. It tells the world that gratitude is optional, memory is selective, and honour is expendable.
Disgust is not an emotional excess in response to this behaviour. It is a rational reaction to a profound moral failure – one that will be remembered long after the words themselves are denied, minimised, or walked back.
Leadership is measured not by who you belittle, but by who you honour. On that measure, these remarks fall catastrophically short.
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Why we persist with the belief that the US can be trusted to come to our aid in time of need is beyond me. We should abandon AUKUS and try standing on our own two feet.
the next time the US calls on other nations to join a coalition of the willing in one of their escapades we need to remember Trump’s nasty mean-spirited comments.
In the meantime, we and others should be demanding an apology from this imbecile.
The geriatric demented PPOTUS (Pederast Protector of the United States) has once again demonstrated a complete contempt for anything other than his own warped, long-winded ego. As a ”bone spurs” draft dodger from the Vietnam imperialist war in Vietnam (lost by the USA) the convicted felon and four times bankrupt has confirmed what many political commentators have recognised for years ….. TACO Trumpery is unfit for his current office as will be confirmed when the whole unredacted Epstein files are exposed for all to see.
Simply put ….. everything TACO Trumpery touches turns to manure.
Really!!!! And the world is surprised….
The USA has always been a narcissistic dangerous and murderous bully, clearly under control by guess who?
The US is and always has been transactional in its dealings with other nations. It first and foremost actions as a country and by its governments is ‘what’s in it for me”.
We should not be surprised that trump says openly just what the US government thinks of its allies.
Kissinger said it and people laughed at it, but those who are not wearing their rose tinted US glasses knew that his words were not only prophetic but a warning.
On all measures Trump falls short!
And we just paid the US another billion dollars as part of the dud AUKUS deal. Luckily Trump doesn’t appear to know Australia had troops there or he’d be insulting our servicemen as well. Of course Afghanistan was another one they lost having first armed those who eventually won. Now there’s Syria too. What a bunch of FU’s the CIA have turned out to be. A bunch of other POTUS’s have to take some of the blame but none has been as simply appalling as the incumbent. Time to cut us loose.
When you have big tech deciding what you listen to or search for you know that trouble is not far away, seems to take a while to wake up.
I’ve been listening to the following for at least 20 years and it’s the sanest viewpoint out there….
https://planetwavesfm.substack.com/p/so-much-trouble-in-the-world-whats?
He does not put any real thought into what he’s going to say before he opens his burger hole, and simply doesn’t care about what verbal shit spews forth. His attention span seems to be about 90 seconds so that anything he says is forgotten and therefore never occurred and he can move on to the next crazed and inane thought. That is, unless someone pulls him up on what he just spouted then he gets angry and nasty. Criticism is grounds for attack in his twisted mind.
The Trump thing is so obviously deteriorating,both mentally and physically,that it can be only a matter of time before he is dragged away.You have to wonder what drugs they’re tipping into him to keep him upright.The worry is whichever puppet replaces him, may be no better.
I dare Albanese to conduct a pre-election referendum on whether Australian citizens do or don’t want any further commitment or involvement in the AUKUS project.
Like him or loathe him, Trump has the world in he palm of his hand. I am reminded of the historical quote “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest”. Sdaly, it seems there is no one prepared to go against him.
Why Australia is acting like the little lap dog of this repulsive man is beyond all comprehension. I wish the Australian PM was a bit more like the Canadian PM. Australia should dis-associate itself from the USA. Trump is relying on its “tame” Australia to keep paying for the submarines it doesn’t need , which may never be delivered, to support an alliance which doesn’t exist except for convenience to the USA.