It's still a fairly reliable voting block for republicans, but they're losing more military votes every year.

On the flipside, we have reliable democrat voting blocks like hispanics, shifting right.

Nothing is stagnant, no matter what TPTB tell you. Todays voting demographics may bear little resemblence to voting demographics 20 years from now.

I can't see Republicans gaining any new support but certainly will lose a fair amount.

it is so frustrating.

with the candidates/GAZA/the economy, etc

That will be VERY different in 2026.

But fuck, we may well be at war with Canada in a year too.

What the FUCK would be this bad this fast.

ETA: Who am I kidding, we knew that if he was put back in office it would be bad, but I never thought it would be "war with Canada" bad so quickly.

and are likely quite shocked

Probably won't either until I die.

They usually do not allow discussions of politics but it still leaks through. Although a few veterans seem to support Trump no matter that it hurts veterans, the vast majority that still support Trump seem to double down on denial of what is actually happening.

The number of times I have heard veterans repeat FOX news type talking points about cutting waste and other forms of something needed to be done has astonished me. If some veterans do disagree they don't say anything. I guess it is about membership in the club.

On the other hand, there are social media VA groups that are outraged about what is happening and want Trump stopped, especially with respect to the firings.

So, I guess the other 40% get screwed because they didn't want to vote for a Black woman whose VP candidate was a literal veteran.

About benefits/cash. Not true, but revelatory.

and general rightwing sentiment about Dems being weak on national security

As the formerly appreciated Dem Charlie RANGEL (veteran) used to say, (paraphrase) The reason the military is stocked with minorities and higher fatalities in combat is not because of "fighting 'Communism' " it's because they/we enlisted (volunteers) of economics, unavailability of higher education and jobs.