Polling during this election cycle has consistently shown that members of the military would prefer Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton as their next commander in chief.
While this matches the historical trend of the troops preferring the GOP candidate, there have been some questions regarding whether that trend would hold this year, largely due to the media-driven false narratives regarding Trump.
Nevertheless Trump’s latest effort at outreach to the military was widely regarded as a resounding success, as he received numerous cheers and rounds of applause from a gathering of troops at the National Guard Association of the United States convention in Baltimore on Monday.
According to Military Times, Trump reiterated his promise to rebuild the military and supply it with “the best, most modern equipment” if he is elected to the presidency.
“You deserve a government that recognizes your contributions and provides you the resources you need to get the job done,” Trump told the audience of Guard members and their families. “In a Trump administration, the National Guard will always have a direct line to the Oval Office, and I mean direct.”
Trump also addressed the “basket of deplorables” comment from Clinton over the weekend and refuted her insulting accusations about his supporters while calling her out for demonizing a significant portion of the population who are merely working-class Americans with a different political viewpoint from hers.
“People who warn about radical Islamic terrorism are not Islamophobes,” he said pointedly. “They are decent citizens who want to uphold our values and keep our country safe.”
Returning to the military theme of the convention, Trump reiterated his proposed military policy, which included a promise to do away with the federal budget sequester and restore defense spending to prior levels, part of his promise to rebuild the military into a premier fighting force that will secure peace through unquestioned strength and determination.
“We will abandon the policy of reckless regime change favored by my opponent, and we will instead work with our allies to advance the core national security interests of the United States,” he vowed. “America first, remember that.”
Trump also spoke of the need to quickly and decisively defeat the Islamic State group wreaking genocidal havoc throughout Iraq, Syria and beyond.
It is noteworthy that while both Trump and Clinton received invitations to address the National Guard convention, only Trump responded. No reason was given for Clinton declining the invitation, and though some might blame her recent “medical episode” for her failure to attend, it should be pointed out that she was scheduled to do fundraising events in California this week, on the opposite coast from the convention in Baltimore.
As stated previously, Trump was well received by the troops in the crowd, and his promises to fully fund and better equip them as they prepare to defend the country from our various enemies can only help him in his bid to secure the military vote in November’s election.
(via: Conservative Tribune)
