Why I'm Voting For Harris

My Reasons for Voting for a (UGH) Democrat (Again)

Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff greet riders at the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride, Thursday, April 13, 2023, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)

If you haven’t read

Tim Miller

’s excellent essay this morning, please stop and do yourself a solid.

Which brings me to my final question. Do you really think you are better suited to make this risk calculation than Trump’s top national security advisers and his own vice president? These people saw him day in and day out for four years. They weren’t TDS-addled Never Trumpers wringing their hands about mean tweets. They were in the room watching and listening to Trump when there were no cameras around.

Link

Please read the whole thing.

Tim Miller

and I do not share the same politics. He’s more to the left of me on guns, LGBTQ issues, and other salient policy issues. Nevertheless, he’s right on all of the above and this excellent essay should dissuade a lot of concerns.

However, I want to write to my fellow Iraq and Afghan combat veterans and explain to them why I’m voting for Kamala Harris even though I would’ve voted for any other Republican candidate not named Donald Trump.

Let me stipulate a few things, right off the bat.

1. Harris will likely not be a great president. Maybe she will, but she probably won’t. I’ve seen her on the campaign trail, and while she’s good on the stump, but she struggles when asked serious questions. Luckily, as Tim states in his piece, she will be checked by a Republican Congress, Senate, and a majority on the Supreme Court.

2. Harris will likely continue the failed foreign policy that got us into this mess. She will likely constrain Israel just like President Biden will. Perhaps you think that’s a good thing. I do not. IMHO, the time to knock out Iran is now. Hamas and Hezbollah need to be destroyed. Not just decimated. Not just defeated, but destroyed, just like we did with the Nazis. Most Iraq and Afghan combat veterans have been fighting the Iranians their whole lives, and seeing the IDF take it to their proxies fills many of us with a mixture of glee and jealousy. We wish that we could be as decisive as the IDF—and Harris will not roll that way. She will continue to get in bed with the Qataris, even though they fleeced us at Doha. Her Ukraine policy will likely mirror Biden—just enough not to lose. On Afghanistan, she will likely continue Biden’s dishonorable conduct with the Taliban. I have hopes that she won’t because I know some nuggets of info from trusted sources that say she’s more inclined to make Afghan girls a center piece, but overall she’s not going to support the resistance groups unless there is an attack on the homeland.

3. She will continue implementing DEI in the military. One of the most surreal moments in my waning days of the military, was watching a drone strike inside one our intelligence agencies while simultaneously watching a tutorial on the 15 different types of gender identities. It was really something. Now, perhaps, you think that’s fine and dandy. I personally do not. The Wall Street Journal—yes, you should still read it—had a great essay yesterday laying this all out.

   

   Pew surveys in 2011 and again in 2019 found approximately 80% of veterans would advise young people to join the military. We recently commissioned a demographically representative YouGov survey of 2,100 veterans. Our data show the share of veterans recommending military service plunged 20 percentage points in five years, to just 62%.

   After watching four presidents lose two wars, buffeted by polarizing policy changes from one administration to another, veterans are no longer confident that their children and grandchildren will enjoy proper leadership. When asked to grade performance in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, veterans gave presidents a C-minus. More than 80% of veterans who wouldn’t recommend service cited “mistrust of political leadership” as a “major factor.” Generals didn’t fare much better, receiving a C-plus for their performance in recent wars.

   Link

There are tons of other policy reasons not to vote for her. She will likely give goodies to parts of the Democratic Party that I loathe. But as

Ruy Teixeira

recently wrote, “The Progressive Moment is Over.” Whatever damage Harris does—and she will do damage for more conservative leaning voters—I believe it will be checked by Congress, the Senate, and the Supreme Court.

Now, I just stipulated quite a bit above, so let me tell my fellow veterans why I am voting not just against Trump but affirmatively for Harris.

1. Harris Will Continue Getting Our Trusted Afghan Allies Out. Trump has made mass deportations a center piece of his campaigns. There are tens of thousands of Afghans in the United States working their asses off to make a living. They’re overwhelming good for our country. Yes, there will be a few bad apples, but having fought alongside these heroes, I can attest they love America—even after we betrayed them—and simply want to thrive in this country. The Trump administration led by that scoundrel Stephen Miller gummed up the SIV process that led to so many problems. Moreover, I certainly believe he will stop the refugee process which has allowed many of my allies to make it to the United States to this day. At the very least, he will probably severely slow it down until “we can figure out what the hell is going on.” In short, Harris will do more to uphold our promise to our allies than Trump. I know some veterans think Trump will back the resistance against the Taliban. I certainly do not. He didn’t give a damn about Afghanistan (see: Doha Agreement) and wanted to get out as fast as possible. Perhaps he would’ve done a better job than Biden retreating from the battlefield. I’m open to that possibility, but I do not believe he will stand by our allies in the United States. Mass deportations will inevitably lead to too many Afghans being deported back to Afghanistan, and that will lead to their executions.

2. Harris will stand by NATO. Yes, Europe should spend more on defense. Yes, they should be doing more in Ukraine. But our NATO allies fought shoulder to shoulder with us in Afghanistan. Trump has repeatedly disparaged the institution and his cabinet is likely to be filled with NATO skeptics who believe that the world’s most important alliance should tossed aside. “Defense intellectuals” like Elbridge Colby will convince Trump to toss Ukraine aside to focus on the Pacific. But if you think Trump is going to stand up to China over Taiwan, then I have a bridge to sell you too. Should we weaken NATO and sell out Ukraine, then all of our enemies will be further emboldened. In short, if you think the retreat from Afghanistan was rotten, just wait until the retreat from Europe.

3. Harris Admires John McCain. A lot of veterans don’t give two shits what General John Kelly, General Milley, or General Mattis think about Trump. And for good reason—they lost two wars, so who gives a f*ck what they think? I tend to be quite sympathetic to these views. However, we all know Trump said this.

   Here’s Harris on John McCain:

4. Kamala Harris Wants to Legalize Weed.

   

   Woohoo

   Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s beyond time to legalize weed. Further, I have the feeling that if she does this, then she’ll be more apt let combat veterans receive medicinal marijuana under the VA. Hell, inshallah, she will greenlight the VA to approve mushrooms and MDMA to treat PTSD. Why the hell should the government who betrayed our Iraq and Afghan combat veterans prevent us from seeking alternative medicines, since they’re the ones who got us into this mess?

5. January 6, 2020. In my opinion, Trump tried to conduct a coup. Now, perhaps you don’t believe that. That’s fine, but his dishonorable conduct directly led to this.

Those are my top 5 reasons. In the end, if you vote for Donald Trump, I won’t hate you. I’m sorry, but I just don’t roll that way. I think he’ll be a disaster for the country, but hating your fellow countrymen for their vote is how we got into this mess to begin with.

Nevertheless, I wanted to write this little ditty because I go hard at Biden and Harris all the time, causing so many people to think that I’m pro-Trump, when nothing could be further from the truth.

In the end, your vote is yours. And these are just my reasons for voting for Kamala Harris.

She will not make all of your wildest dreams come true, but she also won’t be a nightmare either.

---

The Weekly Wrap

Kate Kovarovic

is still enjoying her vacation. Sniff, sniff. We all miss her and we’re looking forward to her triumphant return, like MacArthur in the Philippines.

A Grumpy Combat Veteran Crying Because He Misses His Best Friend

We didn’t publish any podcasts this week, but we will have an episode next week with John Safi—you won’t want to miss it!

Free Articles

I had a couple of entries into our “Never Trump From the Jump” series.

I wrote a little something, something about Liz Cheney and her heroic stand against Trump.

Liz Cheney is one of my heroes.

I have a daughter, and she’s the only thing that matters to me. She’s my heart. And I want her to be like Liz when she grows up. I want her to take a stand when it matters. That ain’t easy, believe me, I know. It wasn’t easy fighting for the Afghans while on active duty. It wasn’t easy getting hundreds of Afghans out. It’s not easy to continue to uphold our promises to our Afghan allies.

Do yourself a solid.

I had some thoughts on Jeffrey Goldberg’s must read essay in the Atlantic.

At the end of the day, the Generals will not save us. Hell, a lot of them like Trump. And we shouldn’t want retired general officers tilting the election, it sets a bad precedent that some overly ambitious general will take advantage of.

I hate to tell you, but we can only save ourselves. And if we don’t, blaming the generals will only keep us from looking ourselves in the mirror—something we’ve needed to do for decades.

Good luck, America.

Just Do It

I also went hard to the paint on the New York Times over their despicable profile of Sirajuddin Haqqani.

But today, I just want to say how heartbreaking this coverage is to a generation of American combat veterans. Less than 3 years after Biden’s cowardly retreat, the New York Times does the dirty work for them, fluffing up the credentials of the Minister of Interior who is responsible for implementing a gender apartheid regime.

Why are they doing this? The American government, aided by Barnett Rubin, wants to normalize relations with the Taliban and would like Sirajuddin Haqqani—a man drenched in American blood—to be the face of a kinder, more “moderate Taliban.”

Pour yourself a stiff drink

For Paid Subscribers

On our second installment of “The Terrorism Chronicles” our first series just for paid subscribers, I took on the CIA’s disastrous counter-terrorism policy.

Analysis

The CIA’s attempts to use the Taliban as a counter-terrorism partner have clearly failed. That’s because the Islamic State is comprised of disaffected Taliban, Haqqani, and Al Qaeda members—who have repeatedly and consistently worked together to conduct attacks against shared enemies. Since the fall of Afghanistan, the Islamic State has conducted attacks against Russia and Iran and has repeatedly tried to attack the United States. Despite being the de facto rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban have been unable to prevent these attacks nor stop ISIS from radicalizing disaffected Muslims throughout the West.

The only effective counter-terrorism force in Afghanistan is the resistance: the National Resistance Front and the Afghan Freedom Front. The Afghan United Front is likely to enter the fray in the coming years.

Do It for The Children!

Other Publications

Bill Roggio

and I talked about the domestic terrorism threat on Generation Jihad.

Stuff From Our Friends

As always read and listen to everything from

Beth Bailey

. She had a great conversation with documentarian Brent Huffman and also wrote an excellent article about the sad state of the SIV program.

There will be a number of heroes in the courtroom when American legal professionals and Afghan families face a federal judge at week’s end to determine whether this law suit can continue. I hope that they make further progress in ensuring that the SIV program works as intended by rewarding those who put their lives in danger to support U.S. efforts in Afghanistan rather than subjecting them to new hardships.

Support the Troops!

I’ve started reading

Sasha Ingber

’s great substack, HUMINT. She’s got some great sources and I think she’s breaking some interesting stories.

The director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, Cho Tae-yong, has new intelligence on what the North Koreans are doing in Russia. He held a closed briefing with members of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee in Seoul on Wednesday.

What did they discuss? A source with knowledge of the matter shared some highlights with me. And it’s clear that they are preparing to join Vladimir Putin’s unjust war.

Do yourself a solid.

---

Next Week

This week was mostly a one man show, though I wouldn’t be able to write without the team behind me providing world class support to this old GCV.

Afghan refugees helping a confused Grumpy Combat Veteran

Nevertheless, there’s only so much GCV a sane person can take. Thus, I’ll ensure you hear more from our cast of characters next week.

However, do me a favor, share our publication. Help us grow! And consider becoming a paid subscriber. We desperately need more paid subscribers to attract more writers and guests for the show.

And if you’ve got extra $, consider becoming a founding member. My momma will love you for it!

Ok, zmaa andiwalaan (my people), that’s it for this week. Please take care of yourself and your families.