Joanne pre-NYMHM: 3 Oct 2016

1.

That Fahrenthold corruption story that I previously shared tweets about came out:

In 2013, it gave a donation to a political group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) — despite a ban on nonprofit groups making political gifts. The Trump Foundation then filed an incorrect tax filing, which omitted any mention of that gift, and said incorrectly that the money had gone to a charity in Kansas. Trump paid a $2,500 penalty tax for that political gift this year.

In two other instances, Trump’s foundation has made payments which appeared to help settle legal disputes involving Trump’s for-profit businesses. In 2007, Trump’s foundation paid $100,000 to settle a lawsuit involving his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. And in 2012, the foundation paid $158,000 to the charity of a New York man named Martin Greenberg on the day that Greenberg settled a lawsuit against one of Trump’s golf courses.

WaPo: “Trump Foundation lacks the certification required for charities that solicit money” by David A. Fahrenthold, September 29, 2016

2.

“When people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what the people in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it,” Trump told a room full of veterans.

Buzzfeed

We don’t know yet why some people get PTSD and some don’t, but it has actual physiological effects, its not just ‘in your head.’ Saying that you’re strong if you avoid PTSD (and weak if you get PTSD) is the same as saying you’re strong if you keep all your limbs in a war zone, but weak if you get a leg blown off. It’s nonsense. Worse, it’s nonsense that makes the suicide epidemic currently happening amongst service personnel worse, because it reinforces the false but common idea that strength means not seeking treatment.

Trump is absolutely correct that we need to be doing more for vets, but that’s the only thing he’s right about here.

[Note from the future: NYMHM grew out of these public posts from Joanne Merriam’s Facebook account. We retain them here in archives to provide a record going back to the beginning of Trump’s presidency.]