In this Thanksgiving week, we really ought to focus, for just a bit, on our shared core values.
For example, think about the core values President Donald Trump's fervent supporters are so proudly proclaiming across their red baseball caps: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."
Now think about the core values Trump's political opponents are proudly and patriotically proclaiming every time they respond that America has long been great � and still is. Many add that hopefully, we can work together to make America even greater.
Hmmm. Viewed from the lofty perspective of our core values, can it be that we may not be as far apart as we often think we are? Perhaps it depends upon how honest we are willing to be with ourselves.
Now let's consider another core value we all surely share: We Americans simply will never accept anyone who dishonors our military veterans.
A decade ago, I was so sure that was a forever red-white-and-blue core value that I adapted it for the subtitle of a book I wrote about the failures of Department of Veterans Affairs to serve our military veterans. Beneath the title ("Vets Under Siege") I added this subtitle: "How America Deceives and Dishonors Those Who Fight Our Battles."
But this week, the dishonoring of those who fight our battles was given shockingly new prominence.
On "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, President Donald Trump bizarrely lashed out at the four-star admiral who devised the plan and commanded the 2011 Navy SEAL special operations mission that killed Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Trump called Adm. William McRaven a "Hillary Clinton fan" and an "Obama backer" and contended bin Laden should have been caught quicker. "Wouldn't it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn't it have been nice?" Trump said. He added bin Laden was "living in Pakistan, right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there."
Retired military and intelligence top officials rushed to counter-explain that finding bin Laden was the CIA's job, not McRaven's. Former intelligence and military officials sharply criticized Trump for attacking the much-admired admiral.
McRaven, meanwhile, explain he never endorsed anyone for president in 2016 and that he was a fan of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, both of whom he served prominently.
"I admire all presidents, regardless of their political party, who uphold the dignity of the office and who use that office to bring the nation together in challenging times," McRaven said in a statement.
To understand what motivated Trump's sudden attack on the retired admiral, you need to remember that last year, McRaven, who was chancellor of the University of Texas following his military career, criticized Trump for repeatedly calling the news media the "enemy of the people." He said Trump's repeated attacks on the media were the greatest threat to democracy he'd ever seen.
The retired admiral also strongly supported former CIA Director John Brennan, whose security clearance Trump had revoked. Writing in a Washington Post op-ed, McRaven wrote that the president had "embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation."
Everyone who has observed Trump's ways understood it was only a matter of time before Trump lashed back at McRaven, despite the fact that he is revered as a genuine American hero.
Indeed, if we think back to the days when we first saw Trump's fine MAGA hats, we may also recall another time when we witnessed a most shameful dishonoring of those who served (yes, by Trump!). It involved Trump's shocking comment about a universally revered American hero of the Vietnam War, one who was not only imprisoned and tortured by the North Vietnamese captors, but who heroically refused to accept an early release because he was the son of a famous U.S. admiral.
Yes, John McCain, former naval pilot whose plane was shot down over North Vietnam.
At a 2015 Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, Trump, who received four deferments � one for bone spurs � and never served in the military, blurted this about McCain: "He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
(Soulless is as soulless does.)
And this brings us to our ultimate, shared core value: John McCain, who died this year, helped make America great, again and again. This week, we are thankful for all he gave us.
.jpg?w=600)
