Joseph Sabino Mistick: We should honor, not disparage, America’s best

When it comes to being a real American patriot, Donald Trump would not make a patch on the seat of Gen. Mark Milley’s pants. But that didn’t stop Trump from recently suggesting that the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committed a “treasonous act” by assuring his Chinese counterpart that we were not going to attack them during the final chaotic days of the Trump presidency.

Milley made a second call two days after the Trump-inspired Jan. 6 insurrectionists attacked our Capitol, telling the Chinese general, “Things may look unsteady. But that’s the nature of democracy. We are 100% steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”

Trump was especially unhinged at that time, and we may never know how lucky we are that Milley made that call.

Trump called Milley’s actions “so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Coming from Trump, those are more than mere words, when you consider the crazies that are out there who are so open to his suggestions. Milley responded, “We will take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and the safety of my family.”

You don’t have to be a psychologist to know that there is something just not right about Trump’s resentments toward our military personnel. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff and a Marine four-star general, recently addressed earlier stories about Trump’s disrespect for those who serve.

Kelly, a combat veteran who lost a son in Afghanistan, said Trump told him that “those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ ”

According to Kelly, Trump did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because “it doesn’t look good for me.” He called soldiers who died in World War II in France “losers” and refused to visit their graves. And he abused a Gold Star family on national television during his 2016 campaign.

Trump attacked U.S. Sen. John McCain that year, claiming, “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Trump had used his father’s contacts to get a doctor to keep him out of the Vietnam War. McCain could have been released early from a Vietnamese POW cell because his father was an admiral, but he refused. He stayed with his fellow American POWs and was beaten, tortured and permanently disabled.

I think it is too easy to move on from all this. These stories rarely last more than a couple of news cycles. There is always some new outrage from Trump that the media chases. But this one cannot be forgotten or forgiven.

When Trump talks about Milley and Kelly and McCain — and regular soldiers and sailors — the way he does, with his insults and contempt, I think about the people in my life who have served and even given their lives for us.

There are times when we have to pick a side. I pick those who have served and still serve. I honor their sacrifice and reject anyone who does not.