Thursday night’s episode of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell did little to venerate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, instead focusing on the liberal media’s Public enemy number one Donald Trump. O’Donnell began his almost six-minute rant by stating: “Donald Trump’s vocabulary is and always has been the size of his mind. Which is to say very, very small.” Good one O’Donnell, no one saw that coming.
He continued: “That’s the way his tiny vocabulary expresses his likes and dislikes. He’s either a fan or not a fan. He actually has no idea that wars do not have fans. He has no idea that war is hell.” O’Donnell, who himself never served in the military during Vietnam, took a break before launching into a full-fledged attack on not only Trump, but all of Donald Trump’s ancestors, for their lack of military service:
“Donald Trump's grandfather Frederick didn't do his mandatory military service when he was living in Bavaria… Donald Trump's father was 36 years old when World War II started in the United States. The United States participation started. All men up to age 45 had to register for the draft during World War II in this country. Plenty of men of Donald Trump's father's age and Donald Trump's father's situation served in World War II. But no one in Donald Trump's family did that. That's just not what they do.”
Apparently in 2019 America, people are judged by the actions of their ancestors. Making a bold, and inappropriately timed assumption, O’Donnell continued: “…remember, that Donald Trump's father was actually arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in New York City years before so we don't really know just how sympathetic to Hitler Donald Trump's father might have been.”
O’Donnell, who was attending Harvard during Vietnam, continued: “And like millions of other young men in those years, he tried to find a way out. He found the rich kid way out.” Despite the fact that liberals praised draft dodgers [which included Bill Clinton by the way] during the time of Vietnam, apparently, Trump’s lack of service wasn’t the only problem: “Donald Trump's moral failure was that he was not out in the streets marching.” Because Trump wasn’t a hippie activist, as presumably, O’Donnell was, MSNBC host and other rich dissenters were morally superior.
After holding up John Kerry as the moral example of how Trump should have handled Vietnam, O’Donnell concluded: “And so the real answer to what Donald Trump did during the Vietnam war is nothing.” Sort of like MSNBC’s effect on Donald Trump’s presidency.
Here is the transcript form the June 6 episode of The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell:
MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
June 6, 2019
10:48 p.m. EasternLAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Donald Trump's vocabulary is and always has been the size of his mind. Which is to say very, very small. It takes a small man to produce the kind of angry and hateful tweets that Donald Trump does at all hours of the day and night, including from Air Force One, using government paid for telecommunications. And that small man is always limited to that very, very small vocabulary of his. And that's why he said yesterday in London that he was never a fan of the Vietnam war. That's the way his tiny vocabulary expresses his likes and dislikes. He's either a fan or not a fan. He actually has no idea that wars do not have fans. He has no idea that war is hell. And that though some people might be proud of their military service during war, they are not fans of the war they had to fight. Donald Trump said more about the Vietnam war and why he avoided service in the Vietnam war yesterday. And I'll have more to say about what Donald Trump said, much more, right after this break.
(....)
10:54 p.m. Eastern
O’DONNELL: I would have been honored. That would have made Donald Trump the very first person named Trump honored by military service. That is something that Trumps don't do. Donald Trump's grandfather Frederick didn't do his military service when he was living in Bavaria. After he obtained American citizenship he was ordered to leave the kingdom of Bavaria in 1905 or be deported, and unfortunately for history, he returned to the United States. Donald Trump's father was 36 years old when World War II started in the United States. The United States participation started. All men up to age 45 had to register for the draft during World War II in this country. Plenty of men of Donald Trump's father's age and Donald Trump's father's situation served in World War II. But no one in Donald Trump's family did that. That's just not what they do. When Donald Trump was asked about this yesterday, he knew no sane person could believe his bone spurs story and so he simply stressed that he wasn't a fan of the war because we weren't fighting Hitler and Nazi Germany, an enemy that Donald Trump's father chose not to fight. And, remember, that Donald Trump's father was actually arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in New York City years before that so we don't really know just how sympathetic to Hitler Donald Trump's father might have been.
(....)
10:57 p.m. Eastern
O’Donnell: Donald Trump knew all about Vietnam and he knew he didn't want to die there. And like millions of other young men in those years, he tried to find a way out. He found the rich kid way out. His father had a doctor who was a tenant in one of his buildings and the doctor wrote a note to the draft board about Donald Trump's bone spur. Donald Trump seems very proud that he did not protest the war, but that is what is so wrong about Donald Trump's history. He says he was never a fan of the war but he wasn't going to say that out loud. He says I wasn't out in the streets marching. And that's the problem. Donald Trump's moral failure was that he was not out in the streets marching.
(....)
10:59 p.m. Eastern
O’Donnell: John Kerry did go out into the streets marching. John Kerry did testify to the United States Senate against the Vietnam war. John Kerry joined the millions and millions and millions of war protesters in the United States who kept marching and kept protesting and kept changing minds every day in America, including in Congress, and eventually turned this country against what was an immoral and unwinnable war for the United States in Vietnam. The war ended when it did, in 1975, because the peace movement, which Donald Trump had no part of, forced that war to end when it did. The peace movement saved lives. Saved American military lives by ending that war when it did. And so the real answer to what Donald Trump did during the Vietnam war is nothing.
