In the Navy

The position of President of the U.S. is supposed to be one of dignity, integrity, and representing the 300+ million Americans in the best traditions of the country.

Then there's the Trump way.

President Donald Trump misrepresented what he’s doing for members of the armed forces when he spoke Friday to graduates of the United States Naval Academy.  Link

Keep in mind that he's talking to Naval Academy graduates, young women and men who have volunteered to serve this country at risk of their lives and who live up to very strict moral standards.

“Going to have new equipment and well-deserved pay raises. We just got you a big pay raise. First time in 10 years. We got you a big pay increase. First time in over 10 years. I fought for you. That was the hardest one to get, but you never had a chance of losing.”

This is an out and out baldfaced LIE.

Here's the AP:

THE FACTS: That’s not right. U.S. military members have gotten a pay raise every year for the past 10 years and several have been larger than this year’s 2.6 percent increase. Pay increases in 2008, 2009 and 2010, for example, were all 3.4 percent or more.

But wait, there's more!

“We have now the lowest number of ships that we’ve had since World War I, and very soon you’re going to get to 355 beautiful ships. 355. That’s almost a couple of hundred more ships.”

This is stupid as well as a LIE. It's stupid because comparing the number of modern, sophisticated warships we have today to the number of our WWI ships is just moronic and has been so every time the Republicans have done it over the past ten years. Our modern ships are a little more capable than those of a century ago.

As for the LIE, here's AP again.

THE FACTS: No it isn’t [a couple hundred more]. The Navy now has 283 ships.

And a 355-vessel battle fleet is not going to be achieved “very soon.” The Navy plans to reach 355 in the 2050s while saying that could happen in the 2030s if it gets more money and extends the normal life of ships in the fleet.

This is the Commander-in-Chief, the man who holds these graduates lives in his minuscule little hands, and he's either straight up lying to them, or too stupid to know that he's wrong.

Either way it's appalling and an affront to the service to which these graduates have dedicated their lives.