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Trump plays 'Patton' clip and bashes ‘woke’ generals, trolls remind him 'Patton was Antifa'

'Do you think that General Patton was woke? I don’t think so,' Trump said, 'He was the exact opposite'

Former US President Donald Trump held a huge rally in Alabama on August 21. There, Trump criticized “woke” generals in the United States military, contrasting them to World War II General George Patton. While bashing President Joe Biden again over the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan during the speech, he played a General Patton movie speech before taking the stage. It was a clip of a six-minute speech delivered by actor George C Scott from the movie ‘Patton’.

“We’re getting tired of the woke generals that we have right?” he asked. He also criticized Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. “I said this guy doesn’t have what it takes, and you see that now because the worst decision I’ve ever seen,” he said.

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Trump said he was inspired to play the ‘Patton’ clip right before his rally. “I said, ‘Get that clip quickly. The people of Alabama understand that,'” he said. “Do you think that General Patton was woke? I don’t think so,” Trump said and added, “He was the exact opposite.”

A 2016 Politico feature noted that Patton was one of the very few role models Trump held up during his campaign for the Presidential election. He frequently rued the fact that the military lacked modern-day Pattons.

Patton’s success in wartime, the feature noted, had over the years, whitewashed the rest of his character -- “His views on race and America’s role in the world were retrograde even in the 1940s.” Like Trump, the feature said that Patton reveled in ignoring the experts and bulldozing his way forward in the face of criticism. “Let the gentleman up north [Eisenhower and his staff] learn what we’re doing when they see it on their maps,” he proclaimed before launching the March 1945 offensive in the Eifel Forest.

Patton also reportedly had “zero sympathy” for the Holocaust victims living in wretched, overcrowded collection camps under his command. To him, the displaced Jews were “locusts,” “lower than animals,” “lost to all decency.” They were “a subhuman species without any of the cultural or social refinements of our times,” Patton wrote in his diary. A United Nations aid worker tried to explain that they were traumatized, but “personally I doubt it. I have never looked at a group of people who seem to be more lacking in intelligence and spirit.”

Trump was criticized for his comments. “Yeah, we need to return to the old days of allowing racism and sexism without saying anything. I’m down,” said one person on Twitter. Another person said, “LOL. What a bunch of losers watching a failed reality star AND an ACTOR portraying a great general and thinking it's some kind of statement. It sure is, but y'all don't get it.” One person wrote, “Patton slapped a hospitalized soldier who was later diagnosed with malaria. #Patton later slapped another hospitalized soldier with PTSD. Upon discovering this General Dwight Eisenhower sent a letter of reprimand to Patton. Eisenhower became President.” Others reminded Trump: "Patton the ultimate Antifa," and "You do know that Patton was anti fascist, right?"