Veterans? Who are they? And how in the world did they get a “day”? After all, here’s a curious fact: since World War II ended in victory, the United States, often seen as the greatest power on planet Earth, has indeed fought a seemingly endless series of wars from Korea and Vietnam in the last century to Afghanistan and Iraq in this one (and all sorts of more minor conflicts as well) without ever — yes, ever! — winning any of them. In May, it was clear enough that, at some deep level, Donald Trump had grasped that reality because he seemed eager to take November 11th away from America’s veterans and rename it “Victory Day for World War I” (with May 8th to be declared “Victory Day for World War II”). Admittedly, he backed down on that fast, but it still tells you something about this world of ours that, 80 years after World War II ended, when it comes to the country now heading for a trillion-dollar “defense” budget, there hasn’t been a victory in sight for decades.
And that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump and crew, whether in Somalia (yes, Somalia!), where his administration has launched a record 89 airstrikes so far this year, or in the Caribbean Sea, where it’s been ramping up American forces (including sending in an aircraft carrier task force) and making a habit out of blowing the boats of supposed drug smugglers out of the water there and in the Pacific Ocean, too, at least 18 of them as I was writing this (killing at least 70 people), and possibly preparing for an invasion not just of Venezuela, but also conceivably of various cities in this country.
And yes, you know that you’re in a new world when, with the government shutdown still ongoing, the president pays part of the salaries of the U.S. military with a $130 million donation from one of his billionaire supporters.
Welcome to his version of Veterans Day 2025. Now, let TomDispatch regular Kelly Denton-Borhaug give you some sense of how endless disastrous conflicts have affected America’s own troops.
Hellbound and Down 