George W. Bush and Donald Trump are the Poster Boys for not Enlisting in the Military

A voluntary enlistment program depends on making a partial or lifetime career in a branch of our military attractive. It doesn’t help when the “Commander-in-Chief” of our military forces abuses and disrespects the men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives for their fellow countrymen if necessary.

In 2001, George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan. The purpose was to capture or kill the architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden. He failed but decided to leave our military in a foreign country. They remained for 20 years.

In 2003, Bush illegally invaded Iraq. He lied to the U.N., Congress, and the American people, claiming Saddam Hussein was harboring “weapons of mass destruction” for bin Laden’s terrorist group, Al Qaeda.

This forced many of our military to serve as many as 3, 4, and even 5 tours in the Middle East. It was no surprise that this resulted in physical injuries as well as PTSD for thousands of young men and women who were used as tools by a politician.

In 2018, Trump revealed his opinion of our military on a trip to France. The purpose was to honor fallen Americans during WWI. When it began to rain, Trump refused to attend the ceremony, claiming it would “get his toupee wet.” One of his aides revealed Trump’s true reason for not attending the event. He said, and I am paraphrasing, “why should I go? They were suckers and losers. What was in it for them?”

This remark was from a draft dodger. Trump’s father, Fred, purchased several deferments for his son for the purpose of avoiding a deployment to South Vietnam. On January 20, 2025, this traitor and coward once again became the Commander-in-Chief of America’s armed forces.

Some of you may know that I rate Trump as the worst president in our nation’s history. George W. Bush is just above Trump, but the margin of difference is very slim. The disrespect they revealed for our finest young men and women is appalling and unforgivable.

Other reasons they are the two worst presidents in American history include extreme economic failure, lying to the American people, immoral and illegal campaign practices, and a refusal to serve all Americans. Both old, white men added trillions of dollars to the national debt, and damaged our relationships with our closest allies.

I have witnessed the actions of 13 presidents, and Trump for a second time, and only one of them could be rated as great, seven were tolerable at best, two were effective and placed the people of their country first, and three were in the bottom five of worst in history. I’ll let you guess who belongs where, at least in my estimation. You probably won’t agree with me, but at least for today, you are an American and are allowed to have free thought, and therefore your own opinions.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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