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On Monday, former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign photographed an event at Arlington National Cemetery, treating the burial grounds as a political venue despite federal laws expressly barring such behavior.
A “verbal and physical altercation” reportedly took place during a wreath-laying ceremony when Trump’s staffers tried to enter the area of the cemetery reserved for recently deceased service members.
The incident, which created a firestorm, is part of a broader pattern. Trump has for years demonstrated a flippant attitude toward veterans and a general lack of knowledge about military history.
Trump drew the ire of veterans groups only two weeks ago, when he said the Presidential Medal of Freedom is better than the Congressional Medal of Honor because the former doesn’t involve sacrifice. The former president and 2024 hopeful quickly doubled down on those comments.
“[Trump] can’t fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself,” a retired four-star general told The Atlantic in 2020. “He just thinks that anyone who does anything when there’s no direct personal gain to be had is a sucker. There’s no money in serving the nation.”
According to The Atlantic, Trump called American soldiers who died in war “losers” and “suckers” in conversations with his senior staff. Trump denies this. In 2018, sources told the outlet, the former president canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France because he didn’t want the rain to mess up his hair.
“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump apparently said. During the same visit, Trump asked aides, “Who were the good guys in [World War I]?”
John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, has since confirmed many of the claims in the story, adding that at one point, Trump did not want to be seen with military amputees because “it doesn’t look good for [him].”
Trump had visited Arlington with Kelly in 2017, when Kelly was secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly’s son, Robert, was killed in Afghanistan and is buried in Arlington. Standing by his grave, Trump turned to Kelly and said: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Trump’s insensitivity has sometimes directly affected the families of soldiers. In 2017, the then-president made a widow of a soldier cry when he called her to offer condolences and forgot her husband’s name. He apparently told her that her husband “knew what he had signed up for.”
During his 2016 campaign for president, Trump famously insulted former Sen. John McCain for having been captured during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/suckers-losers-jokes-medals-trump-160017322.html
A “verbal and physical altercation” reportedly took place during a wreath-laying ceremony when Trump’s staffers tried to enter the area of the cemetery reserved for recently deceased service members.
The incident, which created a firestorm, is part of a broader pattern. Trump has for years demonstrated a flippant attitude toward veterans and a general lack of knowledge about military history.
Trump drew the ire of veterans groups only two weeks ago, when he said the Presidential Medal of Freedom is better than the Congressional Medal of Honor because the former doesn’t involve sacrifice. The former president and 2024 hopeful quickly doubled down on those comments.
“[Trump] can’t fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself,” a retired four-star general told The Atlantic in 2020. “He just thinks that anyone who does anything when there’s no direct personal gain to be had is a sucker. There’s no money in serving the nation.”
According to The Atlantic, Trump called American soldiers who died in war “losers” and “suckers” in conversations with his senior staff. Trump denies this. In 2018, sources told the outlet, the former president canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France because he didn’t want the rain to mess up his hair.
“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump apparently said. During the same visit, Trump asked aides, “Who were the good guys in [World War I]?”
John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, has since confirmed many of the claims in the story, adding that at one point, Trump did not want to be seen with military amputees because “it doesn’t look good for [him].”
Trump had visited Arlington with Kelly in 2017, when Kelly was secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly’s son, Robert, was killed in Afghanistan and is buried in Arlington. Standing by his grave, Trump turned to Kelly and said: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Trump’s insensitivity has sometimes directly affected the families of soldiers. In 2017, the then-president made a widow of a soldier cry when he called her to offer condolences and forgot her husband’s name. He apparently told her that her husband “knew what he had signed up for.”
During his 2016 campaign for president, Trump famously insulted former Sen. John McCain for having been captured during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/suckers-losers-jokes-medals-trump-160017322.html
