‘Vote him out,’ Capt. Sully tweets after Trump reportedly derides fallen soldiers
Military veteran and famed US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III urged voters to send Donald Trump packing in November on Friday, a day after news broke that the president allegedly had derided Americans killed in World War I as “losers” and “suckers.”
“We owe it not only to those who have served and sacrificed for our nation, but to ourselves and to succeeding generations to vote him out,” Sullenberger said in a tweet thread.
The allegations were first reported in The Atlantic on Thursday. Defense officials later told The Associated Press that Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the Aisne-marne American Cemetery outside Paris in 2018. Trump, for his part, called the story “totally false.”
Sullenberger is a former resident of Danville and famously landed a jetliner on the Hudson River in New York in 2009 after it hit a flock of geese and became disabled. He is also a U.S. Air Force veteran.
“I have long known that serving a cause greater than oneself is the highest calling, whether in the military or in civilian life. And I have always tried to be a voice of reason and to speak in a measured way,” said Sullenberger, who included a link to The Atlantic report in the tweet thread. “But this situation calls for a much more direct approach. It is time to call out egregious behavior for what it is.
“For the first time in American history,” he continued, “a president has repeatedly shown utter and vulgar contempt and disrespect for those who have served and died serving our country.”
According to The Atlantic report, Trump also called the late Sen. John Mccain a “loser” after he died in 2018 and resisted lowering flags to half-staff in Mccain’s honor.
“He took an oath of office that is similar to the one that each person takes who enters the U.S. Military,” Sullenberger said about Trump. “But he has completely failed to uphold his oath. Now we know why. He has admitted that he cannot comprehend the concept of service above self.
“He cannot understand selflessness because he is selfish,” Sullenberger said. “He cannot conceive of courage because he is a coward. He cannot feel duty because he is disloyal.”
Trump has denied making the comments.