Tuesday is Veterans Day in the US, also known as Armistice Day around the world, except for Canada where it is called Remembrance Day. This day is set aside by almost the whole world to remember the day when what we now call World War 1 ended. Then it was known as the Great War or as The War To End All Wars. The end of the war laid many of the grievances that would lead to World War 2.

Here is a brief video focusing on Wilson’s selling of the war. Much of the history of World War 1 is being forgotten as it fades deeper in the past. However, it greatly affected the future world.  6 minutes: 

Over his 10 years or so in the public eye as a politician, Donald Trump has done little but insult and ignore Americans in uniform. From his skipping of a commemoration ceremony for US WW1 soldiers in France due to a light rain in 2018 to his use of military as props for his own birthday party last June, Trump has shown little but disdain for America’s military.  

Do not forget that Trump faked an injury to avoid service during Viet Nam. Do not forget that at various times Trump has shown disrespect for those who lost their lives in the military from refusing to meet their caskets coming home to calling dead soldiers “losers” and “suckers.” 

Now it seems that in what most of America hopes is Trump’s last turn on the political stage we wonder what his final insults to American soldiers will be? Will he ignore the day for commemoration Tuesday? Or will he make some remark to once again disparage their service? 

But even more importantly will he use those in our service today as pawns in one of his schemes to enrich himself and his family. Will they be used in some crazy invasion of oil rich Venezuela or Nigeria based on bogus issues? Will they be used as pawns in his attempts to use America’s cities as a launching pad for his authoritarian brand of government?

The man is erratic. His policies and those of his administration are erratic. It is scary to think this man is at the head of the most powerful military in history. It is just as scary to think he has the power to launch nuclear weapons. He is currently using our military to launch murderous attacks on small fishing boats in the Caribbean with only the flimsiest of excuses. Normally such attacks would be acts of war.

Here at home he is using his quasi-military ICE brigade to provoke a response from our own citizens in what appears to bean attempt to declare an emergency and use the military to invade our own cities.

The Constitution was written with autocrats like Trump in mind – to blunt attempts to use the awesome power of our military wrongly. Yet here we are, looking at another Veteran’s Day with a leader who seems to be itching to use our military might to settle some scores. 

Please commemorate our military and your own fallen dead peacefully Tuesday. Last Tuesday’s peaceful election repudiation of the extreme right that Trump heads up was a great thank you to our troops.