Trump Suggests That Soldiers Who Suffer From PTSD Aren’t “Strong”

[AmericanMan1958]

“When people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what the people in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it,” Trump told a room full of veterans.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/trump-ptsd?utm_term=.uljk8ly6M#.hbm6m9GzL

[Fast Walker 52]

1. OH... MY... GOD

I'm just amazed how he keeps going lower and lower!!!!

[vlyons]

2. Well that's sure to be a big hit at VFW lodges around the country *snark*

Trump just has this talent for saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong audience. This one is sure to get commented on by HRC at her next debate.

[bluestateguy]

3. Any other candidate (including a Republican) I might be inclined to give a pass for this

But Trump's phony empathy with veterans has been shown over and over again.

[Sunlei]

4. the same nasty-words that drove elder son, Donalds older brother to an early grave.

must be hell to work or live with him.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. I just wrote something similar!

I didn't see your post until later.

[Sunlei]

13. His 10 year old son never smiles. Words hurt, Donalds an experienced pro at verbal abuse.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

18. In the recent Frontline episode about Hillary an Donald...

... some of Donald's former military school buddies said that he seemed to enjoy the bullying aspects of it.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Not surprising.

He didn't seem to have much sympathy for his brother, Fred Jr, either.

Not that Fred Jr was in a war, but I can imagine some people getting PTSD after growing up with their father and his cutthroat attitudes (according to what I've heard about Fred Sr). Fred Jr became an alcoholic.

[BSdetect]

6. Says he, the dodger of service

What a wanker

Coward in chief

How's that purple heart feeling?

[Siwsan]

8. I'm hoping Trump has his own attack of PTSD, on November 9.

[niyad]

10. bless you, that is excellent.

[The River]

22. He's Already Too Crazy

There's no more room in his tiny little brain for that injury.
You have be a decent human being before the effects would be noticeable.

[brooklynite]

9. Here's an important observation...

The speech that preceded the Q&A (which this comment was in response to) was on a teleprompter and was relatively controlled. This happened when he no longer had a script. Now think about the Town Hall debate format...

[WiffenPoof]

14. Yep...

The Town Hall format is not going to be kind to Trump. The less controlled the environment, the less controlled Trump will be. I suspect that we will not only learn more about is lack of policy knowledge, but we will learn more about his temperament. In addition, he will want to throw the kitchen sink at Clinton...it will be too much for him to handle.

[Cracklin Charlie]

15. Gonna need to get more popcorn.

He's gonna bomb that one in spectacular fashion.

[nolabear]

11. Dear God. He has no idea what being a feeling human being is like..

I'm so angry. I've known so many incredibly good people who were damaged by war, and who THESE words will harm. That bastard.

[niyad]

12. and he was talking to a roomful of vets.

[TexasProgresive]

16. After he gets trounced by a woman he will experience PTSD.

[mnhtnbb]

17. My husband spent a good portion of his professional life as a psychiatrist working at the VA

from the 1970's through the late 1990's. And yes, he is also a vet from the Vietnam era: Major, USAF (Retired)

Trump is an ignorant, unempathic, cowardly a$$hole.

[VulgarPoet]

19. I hope this goat-mouthed, draft dodging piece of shit learns what it's like.

Thankfully, the 9th'll probably do it for him.

[Doctor Jack]

20. I hate to defend trump but...

...if you read his remarks he didnt seem to be suggesting that people with PTSD are weak. He said some people came back from war without mental health problems but others do. Sounds more like a slighly ambiguous, somewhat poor choice of words in one sentence. Maybe even not quite understanding the exact causes of PTSD. I can see how people can take it as meaning that people with ptsd are weak but I dont see that as the actual intention there.

" When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat — and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it,” Trump said. “And they see horror stories. They see events that you couldn’t see in a movie. Nobody would believe it.”

[Fast Walker 52]

21. I don't see how that mitigates what he said

Yes, obviously he could have phrased it better, but that was the whole point.

Not to mention-- how does he know he wasn't talking to people who had or had had PTSD?

[Doctor Jack]

24. Thats a good point

He cant assume that the people in the audience didnt have ptsd as well. I suppose i see it as more ignorance or poorly worded and less malicious intent. I dont think that he was intentially trying to belittle people with ptsd but being careful about choice of words is obviously important for someone that wants to be president.

Perhaps i am so used to him saying overtly offensive things that his more subtle ignorance is slipping under my radar.

[mnhtnbb]

23. Yeah, just stiff upper lip time. Buck up. No sissies. Just be "strong".

FFS. Do you tell people that who have depression, too? Snap out of it? They aren't "strong" enough to handle it?

Ever seen the play, "Copenhagen"? About Heisenberg and Niels Bohr and the Uncertainty principle?

"The play, written by Michael Frayn, re-enacts the meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg several times from different perspectives, reflecting different interpretations of what was said and what it meant."
http://unhmagazine.unh.edu/f02/uncertainty_principle.html

People can come away from the same experience affected differently and with different interpretations. It has nothing to do with "strength to handle it".