Trump says he loves the military, but he keeps insulting its members

(CNN)For a president who professes to revere the US military more than any of his predecessors, Donald Trump gets entangled in a lot of scrapes that raise doubts about the sincerity of his admiration.

He has feuded with war heroes and the relatives of fallen soldiers, sparked controversy by ducking remembrance observances and been accused of using the troops to advance his political goals. He's said he knows more about ISIS than the generals do.
The President's latest spat with an admired military figure is with retired Adm. William McRaven, the architect of the daring special forces raid into Pakistan that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2011, acting on CIA intelligence.
This controversy, like the President's past run-ins with military heroes, was set off by Trump's perception that he was being unfairly attacked, apparently by a politically motivated critic.

When asked on Fox News Sunday about McRaven's warnings that Trump's claim that the media is the enemy of the people endangered democracy, the President lashed out, accusing McRaven of being a Clinton backer and in the camp of former President Barack Obama.
"Of course, we should have captured Osama bin Laden long before we did," Trump said, dumping on the military planners behind one of the most dangerous and audacious special forces operations in recent military history.
His response was characteristic for several reasons.
First, it reflected his obsession with his predecessor and apparent belief that anyone who worked in a past administration -- even as a nonpartisan military officer -- is somehow suspect.
Second, it underlined how the President sees almost every issue through a prism of how it affects his image and prestige. Trump's first instinct when criticized is not to move on or shrug it off, even in deference to a great soldier's sacrifice, but to see the critique as a motivated by political animosity.

The episode is a reminder of how the President tramples protocols as a matter of course in his normal daily rituals. The idea that any other recent commander in chief would take a shot at a military hero like McRaven, who is respected across partisan lines in Washington, is unthinkable.
The clash also shows that when the President thinks he has been attacked -- by McRaven, a senior former intelligence chief, or a former prisoner of war like the late Sen. John McCain -- nothing is off limits.

While Trump's words may strike many people as inappropriate, he had learned early in the 2016 Republican primary that he does not pay a political price for such comments.
Many political observers predicted that Trump's attack on McCain, who he said was not a war hero because the then-Navy pilot had been captured in Vietnam, would spell the end of his White House hopes. But instead Trump went from strength to strength.
Similarly, his insults thrown at the parents of slain Muslim US soldier Humayun Khan, who had criticized him from the stage of the Democratic National Convention two years ago, did not stall his White House run.

In a sign of how times have changed, the official GOP Twitter account, which in a past era might have been looked to for unquestioning support of a military hero, on Monday endorsed Trump's comments about McRaven.

In a tweet, the Republican Party said McRaven had been on Clinton's shortlist for vice president in 2016 and had been critical of the President.