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  • 2018-08-16 (xsd:date)
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  • Did President Trump Say If Soldiers Were 'Real Patriots,' They Wouldn't Take a Pay Raise? (en)
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  • On 13 August 2018, President Trump visited Wheeler-Sack Army Air Field at Fort Drum, New York, for a ceremonial signing of the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act, a $717 billion military spending bill for fiscal year 2019. In addition to funding increases in troop strength, equipment upgrades, and modernization, the bill included a 2.6 percent pay raise for service members (the highest increase in nine years), as well as a 3.4 percent increase in basic subsistence allowance and a 2.9 percent increase in basic housing allowance. Before the official signing took place, Trump spoke to the assembled troops of the 10th Mountain Division, whom he complimented on their valor and dedication. You're not just tough, you're mountain tough, you're mountain proud, and you're mountain strong, ever climbing to glory, he told them. But something else Trump allegedly said drew way more attention on social media. After announcing the increase, he supposedly told the troops that if they were real patriots, they would turn down the pay raise: Some posts on Twitter and Facebook included a short video clip from the speech: A full transcript and video of President Trump's speech and the signing ceremony are also available. One thing they make clear is that the president did not utter the words, If soldiers were real patriots, they wouldn't take a pay raise. It isn't a direct quote. Here is the relevant passage from the official White House transcript of the speech: In context, it's obvious that the president was teasing the soldiers, not literally questioning their patriotism. His improvised remarks were clearly intended as a joke, even if some listeners might have considered it to be a rather lame one. Many of the commenters who acknowledged that it was a joke felt it was a disrespectful one, though. And at least one tweet accused Trump of mocking the troops: But again, the criticism seemed to presume that at some level President Trump seriously doubted his audience's patriotism. It bears pointing out that this wasn't the first time he had ribbed U.S. soldiers about wanting a pay raise. During a speech he delivered a few months earlier in which he took credit for a 2.4 percent military pay hike in fiscal 2018 (which he erroneously claimed was the first increase in 10 years), Trump feigned uncertainty as to how soon the troops would like to see another such raise: Although Trump didn't mention patriotism that time, the form of the joke was reminiscent of the one he would later make at Fort Dodd, right down to answering his own tongue-in-cheek question with I don't know. This is typical of Trump's deadpan, sometimes awkward improvisational style. Arguably, then, what some have interpreted as a slight against U.S. service members' patriotism can be interpreted with equal validity as a clumsy attempt at irony -- although the only point on which most observers are likely to agree is that it wasn't particularly funny. (en)
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