Why Trump Targeted "Stars and Stripes" for Shutdown

You all have heard by now that Trump had demanded the elimination of the Pentagon budget allocation for "Stars and Stripes", the Independent News service which has informed men and women in uniform since 1861, effectively ending their existence.  In the aftermath of the bombshell report in "The Atlantic" documenting Trump's vile denigration of our Military, he was forced to backtrack on his shutdown and restore the budget, keeping the news service alive.

Most of the coverage however was empty, in that there was no serious discussion as to why the initial shutdown. Most chalked it up as a mystery, and remarked there was no apparent reason.

Well, all you have to do is a cursory search of some of their coverage, and it's obvious. Stars and Stripes gave fair coverage to the Russian Bounty story which Trump wanted buried.

This story, dated June 30 is an example of their independent editorial policy, and insistence on allowing transparency, fair coverage, and criticism. Imagine the impact on those members of  our Armed forces when the "Russian Bounty" story broke, and they read about it.

The recent polls indicating a precipitous drop for Trump in the polls are a reflection of that impact, among other things. And, never one to miss an opportunity to take revenge on anything that he thinks is personally disloyal, he did what he always did, and retaliates. In fact, he probably had a certain Russian "advisor" make some suggestions about this on their weekly private call.

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/rep-adam-smith-certainly-evidence-of-russian-involvement-with-bounties-against-us-troops-1.635728

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