Donald Trump rang in the Army's 241st birthday in unusual fashion on Tuesday -- by calling attention to theft of government funds by American soldiers in Iraq. "Iraq, crooked as hell. How about bringing baskets of money -- millions and millions of dollars -- and handing it out?," Trump said at an evening rally. "I want to know who were the soldiers that had that job, because I think they're living very well right now, whoever they may be."
While it's true that there was corruption in Iraq ... it still seems like a bizarre thing for Trump to bring up, completely unbidden. The context was his defense of the idea that the United States should have plundered Iraq's oil. So perhaps he was trying to justify his own illegal policy recommendation with the argument that there were already other forms of corruption. Trump had made a very similar statement last September. Whatever the logic of Trump's statement, it's very unusual for a presidential candidate to malign war vets, particularly for acts that took place under the presidency of his own party (since this alleged corruption was in the George W. Bush era). But Trump continues to break all the rules.