“A coward's courage is in his tongue.” Edmund Burke
In political campaigns, I’ve observed, when one Party has no real platform or tangible strengths to rally voters, their go-to approach is to disparage and undermine the character of their opponents in ways that suggest they are superior. These often baseless assaults are small-minded, petty and insulting to people who want more than the hollow leadership that spreads fear and ignorance.
In J.D. Vance’s attempt to marginalize Tim Walz’s service to his country as a member of the National Guard, he has demeaned not only himself, but other service members, past and present, who’ve served faithfully in U.S. military. Vance has falsely accused Walz “of ducking service in Iraq when he left the Army National Guard and ran for Congress in 2005.”
Not only does the factual record show the despicable fallacy of Vance’s maligned accusation it shines a light on his own own mediocre record as a war corespondent in Afghanistan for six months of his 4-year enlistment in the Marine Corps. An accomplishment that deserves some respect for his enlistment, but is less distinguishable than Walz's 24-year tour of duty that included a deployment with “the Minnesota National Guard in August 2003 to Vicenza, Italy, as part of support for the US war in Afghanistan.”
As I’ve recently discovered, Vance served in the same aviation unit that I was trained by, the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (2ndMAW), in Cherry Point, N.C., making me just a little ashamed at this time that we share this distinction. In 1967, I was deployed to Vietnam, where I served as a member of the 1st MAWs Light Anti-aircraft battalion, seeing combat action when the Tet offensive occurred, January of 1968
For Vance or any other veteran to demean another’s services to their country is callous and dishonorable. Vance himself saw no combat action and is supporting a candidate for President who cowardly avoided military service during the Vietnam war where his wealthy status aided him in getting him a deferment based on an alleged bone spur condition in one of his feet, of which when asked later by a reporter which one, he said he couldn’t remember.
Vance’s Trump-like glorification of himself at the expense of others is further evidence of someone with low moral character. Trump disparaged John McCain as a “loser” in June of 2015 as Trump considered running for President. McCain, as most will recall, was shot down flying a combat mission over North Vietnam during that war and was held prisoner for 5 and 1/2 years where he was tortured, starved, and beaten to the brink of suicidal yearnings. This “loser” was offered a chance to go home early because of his famous name, but refused to before those who had been held captive longer.
During his administration, Trump allowed himself to get caught up in the trial of Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher whose own team members turned him in for his ruthless and deadly behavior towards Iraqi civilians where he was deployed in 2017. FOX news pundit Pete Hegseth encouraged Trump to weigh in on this, where some members of the military warned against such Executive intervention, fearing it undermine military justice.
While Walz has enriched many of his constituents in Minnesota with his political service since leaving the National Guard, Vance has enriched himself in the field of investment capital. Declaring himself as a ‘never Trumper” in 2016 and calling the former President "reprehensible" and "America's Hitler”, Vance flipped this view to accommodate his desire to align himself with Trump’s ambitions to ban all abortions and alter our constitutional institutions to establish a Trump autocracy, via the 2025 Project.
Vance’s attempt to portray himself more of a patriot than his Democratic counterpart is itself a cowardly act to promote his own power interests along with Trump’s. It insults the intelligence of voters and plays on less informed voter fears. This is not leadership. It most certainly does not make America great.
