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BREAKING: HELL YES! Vietnam veterans hit Trump with a massive lawsuit to stop his hideous and “disrespectful” Triumph Arch from being erected in D.C.
They didn't mince words about that draft-dodging coward...
"We know how authoritarian dictatorships work. There's no rule of law, there's no consent of the governed, and there's monuments for the leaders there," said veteran and retired diplomat Jon Gundersen.
"I think what we're doing is being loyal to the country. And loyalty can be measured in different ways," Gundersen added. He's suing the Trump administration along with veterans Shaun Byrnes and Michael Lemmon. Their lawsuit is joined by the ethics watchdog group Public Citizen.
The arch, which Trump has admitted is being built to honor himself, is slated to go up between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, our country's most hallowed resting place. At over twice the size of the Lincoln Memorial, the 250-foot-tall eye sore would cut off a clear view between the memorial and cemetery — inserting Trump's ego smack dab in the middle of our national soul.
"It's more about the duty I feel towards my colleagues and friends who did not come home to stand up against this project, regardless of who's in charge," said Byrnes. "I think it's just disrespectful to those that I served with who didn't come back, and then, of course, to all those who are lying in Arlington National Cemetery."
He explained that he has always hoped to be buried at Arlington when he dies but if Trump's arch goes up he'll be forced to "reconsider" his options.
The lawsuit argues that not only is Trump's vanity project arch illegal because he failed to obtain congressional approval, but it's also a disastrous design decision because it disrupts the intended sightline between the cemetery, which lies on land seized from Robert E. Lee, and the Lincoln Memorial, which was erected in the wake of the Civil War.
Tellingly, the administration has yet to unveil a price tag for the arch. While Trump previously claimed that it would be fund by private donations (meaning corrupt pay-to-play bribes) he also said the same thing about his ballroom and is now seeking $1 billion to build that.
“Even if you took private donations, is that how we want to build monuments?” said Gundersen. “To the oligarchs who give money for favors?"
More to the point, what "triumph" is Trump celebrating? His Iran War is a world-historic debacle that will almost certainly end with Iran in direct control of the Strait Hormuz, cementing themselves as a preeminent world power. On the domestic front, it has been one defeat after another for the United States. Trump gutted Medicaid, destroyed our education and scientific research systems, and devastated our economy with harebrained tariffs and costly military adventurism overseas.
The only Trump-related triumph will belong to the American people when we finally kick him and his entire party out of power.
Please ❤️ and share if you oppose Trump's arch!
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