Did Trump Blame the Military for the Loss of a Navy SEAL?

Updated: February 28, 2017

By RU Twisted

The headline by The Huffington Post would have you believe that the answer to the question posed in the title is an absolute yes. But I don’t think it’s that simple.

Upon being asked about the recent mission that resulted in the death of Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, the President offered the following:

“This was a mission that was started before I got here. This was something they wanted to do,” he said. “They came to me, they explained what they wanted to do ― the generals ― who are very respected, my generals are the most respected that we’ve had in many decades, I believe. And they lost Ryan.

“I can understand people saying that. I’d feel ― ‘What’s worse?’ There’s nothing worse,” he added. “This was something that they were looking at for a long time doing, and according to [Defense Secretary Jim] Mattis it was a very successful mission. They got tremendous amounts of information.”

The words they are focusing on seem to indicate, in this context, that Trump is in fact blaming the military. “And they lost Ryan” appears to point a finger directly at his generals.

But I think it’s important to watch the video of the interview and remember something crucial: Trump is a horrible speaker. Really. I don’t care if you like him or voted for him or whatever, you have to admit that a great deal of what comes out of his mouth makes absolutely no sense. It’s a word salad.

My point is that, when watching the video, it could just as easily be taken as a sort of non sequitur, because the man is not short on those. It may not be “my generals are great, but they lost Ryan” so much as it is “my generals are great. On this mission they lost Ryan” with the second subject not being directly tied to the first.

I’m not making excuses for Trump by any means. I didn’t vote for the guy, and if my alternative view of looking at this is correct, then it’s kind of a mark against him–not for him (his ability to form coherent sentences is, uhh, lacking to say the least). But I could also be entirely wrong on this. I just think Huffington Post is, once again, reaching.

What say you, Rhino Den faithful?