CNN, one of the networks that condemned Donald Trump for breaking with the tradition of his predecessors in the White House, who visited the troops abroad at Christmas, is now revising its story. Trump may have gone to Iraq, the network is saying in essence, but while he was there he violated protocol by signing troop’s MAGA hats.
CNN’s Eli Watkins even provides a link to the Defense Department’s Standards of Conduct, which specify:
[A]ctive duty personnel may not engage in partisan political activities and all military personnel should avoid the inference that their political activities imply or appear to imply DoD sponsorship, approval, or endorsement of a political candidate, campaign, or cause.
One might quibble with the network’s interpretation of what constitutes “partisan political activities,” but I’ll concede the point so long as CNN explains why they maintained radio silence when Barack Obama did the same thing during his presidency.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Well almost the same thing. As Dinesh D’Souza notes in a tweet:
With Trump, the troops brought their own MAGA hats for him to sign. With Obama, they brought nothing so the narcissist-in-chief distributed signed photographs of himself
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) December 27, 2018
Obama also signed hats, albeit ones belonging to the troops, when he was a candidate for president. Here he is doing precisely that in a photo released by the Associated Press in July 2008:
DEAR CNN. .. we have this new invention called photography.
Below is a picture of Obama signing a military troop's hat.
Care to comment, enemy of the people? pic.twitter.com/OT8jY8oGJF
— Catturd (@catturd2) December 27, 2018
His missus even got into the act in April 2012, in the middle of the period when her husband was running for re-election. Here is photographic evidence of her affixing her Joan Hancock to photos and gear at Fort Stewart during a visit.
(h/t: Chuck Callesto, I Love My Freedom)
