True story: Donald Trump is so wildly offensive about so many subjects that I accidentally memory-holed some big controversies. Like, remember how weird Trump has always been about veterans and the military? Remember how he treated gold-star families like dogsh-t? Remember how he mocked John McCain for being a POW? Remember how he refused to go to a WWI cemetery in France because it was full of “losers”? Remember how uncomfortable he was around wounded warriors? Like, Trump has never enjoyed being around people with disabilities or amputees, but it’s a next-level discomfort for him whenever he’s around a veteran who was injured or maimed in war.
Well, there’s a reason for this walk down memory lane. Last week, Donald Trump drew a comparison between the Medal of Honor (given to extraordinary servicemen and servicewomen) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is given to civilians who also do extraordinary work. The Medal of Freedom has gone to people like Billie Jean King, Tom Hanks, Simone Biles, Shirley Chisholm, Oprah, etc. Donald Trump said the civilian honor is better than the awards they give to military heroes.
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians, “is actually much better” than the Medal of Honor, because service members who receive the nation’s highest military decoration are often wounded or awarded it posthumously. Trump was praising Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson, whom he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom while in office, during remarks at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“Miriam, I watched (Sheldon Adelson, her late husband) sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version. It’s actually much better, because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor – that’s soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead,” Trump said.
“She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal,” Trump said.
It’s the latest in Trump’s history of making disparaging comments about military service. Early in his first presidential campaign, Trump attracted controversy by claiming then-Sen. John McCain — a political rival who served as a naval aviator during the Vietnam War and was imprisoned for more than five years by the North Vietnamese, during which he suffered injuries that would affect him for the rest of his life — was “not a war hero.”
“I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump said at the time.
Then, in 2020, The Atlantic reported that Trump said privately during a 2018 trip to France that he did not want to visit the graves of American service members and proceeded to refer to the fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers.” Trump has repeatedly denied making the remark.
Trump, who received five military draft deferments during the Vietnam War, also once referred to his efforts to avoid contracting sexually transmitted diseases as “my personal Vietnam.”
It’s genuinely insane how much Trump hates the military. Like, he despises veterans and their families. He doesn’t see any honor in their service or their sacrifices. It’s one of the easiest things for any politician to do too – respect the troops, honor the American military, try not to refer to fallen soldiers as losers and suckers. And Trump just can’t do it. It goes beyond his squeamishness around wounded warriors too – at a fundamental level, Trump’s lizard brain cannot comprehend why anyone would want to “serve” their country in any way. He has never seen the acquisition of power as having anything to do with service to one’s country or service to the greater good.
Trump: When we gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom… It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor— it’s actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many… pic.twitter.com/a766KxAC2e
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 16, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- US President Donald J. Trump, greets Korean War veterans at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, USA, 25 June 2020. On 24 June, in the wake of anti-racism protests aimed at monuments around the country, the president activated the National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in the nation’s capital.,Image: 563902352, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jim LoScalzo / Avalon
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- US President Donald J. Trump, greets Korean War veterans at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, USA, 25 June 2020. On 24 June, in the wake of anti-racism protests aimed at monuments around the country, the president activated the National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in the nation’s capital.,Image: 563902458, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jim LoScalzo / Avalon
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- US President Donald J. Trump, greets Korean War veterans at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, USA, 25 June 2020. On 24 June, in the wake of anti-racism protests aimed at monuments around the country, the president activated the National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in the nation’s capital.,Image: 563902465, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jim LoScalzo / Avalon
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- United States President Donald J. Trump departs after he and First lady Melania Trump participate in a National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA, November 11, 2020.,Image: 568474101, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- World Leaders Attend 75th Anniversary of D-Day Landings U.S. President Donald Trump, second right, and U.S.and French President Emmanuel Macron and French First Lady Brigitte Macron First Lady Melania Trump, sit with World War II veterans during a ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, on Thursday, June 6, 2019. President Donald Trump s European sojourn continues with a visit to France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.,Image: 889657858, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Franck Castel / Avalon
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- Washington, DC – US President Donald J. Trump, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, lays a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, USA, 25 June 2020. On 24 June, in the wake of anti-racism protests aimed at monuments around the country, the president activated the National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in the nation’s capital. Pictured: President Trump BACKGRID USA 25 JUNE 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC – US President Donald J. Trump, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, lays a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, USA, 25 June 2020. On 24 June, in the wake of anti-racism protests aimed at monuments around the country, the president activated the National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in the nation’s capital. Pictured: President Trump BACKGRID USA 25 JUNE 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- West Point, NY – Donald Trump attends the 121st Army-Navy football game at Michie Stadium at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 12 DECEMBER 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- US President Donald J. Trump (R) and Polish President Andrzej Duda (L) during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 12 June 2019. Later in the day President Trump and President Duda will participate in a signing ceremony to increase military to military cooperation including the purchase of F-35 fighter jets and an increased US troop presence in Poland. Credit: Shawn Thew / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
Didn’t Obama give Joe Biden the medal of freedom? You know, that video where Biden is all teary eyed because he knows the significance of it?
Both awards obviously have significance and mean a great deal to the honorees and their families. Making a distinction between the two and saying the civilian honor is better because the civilian wasn’t wounded in battle is…….well, its gross and despicable, but its Trump, so are we surprised?
That was so sweet. I believe Obama got him there under false pretenses then when Biden figured it out, he had to turn away because he teared up.
And yet there are still people who will vote for this tool and his partner-in-stupid JD. They are making it easier and easier to argue with their devoted fans.
I don’t get it. I don’t.
He’s a terrible person. He has no moral compass. He says terrible things. He doesn’t like any people beyond other rich while people.
And I hate when people say they prefer his policy or position. He has none. He’s telling you what you want to hear. He’s taking advantage of you.
How do you vote for him?
He’s a sociopath, but even sociopaths usually know how to hide their pathology when necessary. Trump wears his sociopathy as a badge of honor. I too am baffled that anyone would ever think of voting for this hot mess. I have concluded it’s the racism. It’s so overwhelming that you just don’t care about anything else.
I don’t get it either. I just don’t. And yet I’m surrounded by people who put their kids in Trump and Maga clothes. This guy is awful and they cry about human trafficking and yet they put their kids in clothes with his name on it. A sexual abuser who denigrates the military. I don’t get it.
I’m guessing that he hates what he can’t be. Men and women that serve with honor and put their lives at risk are a mirror to his own rot and cowardice over serving. He would love the honor and glory of being a real Commander in Chief, but knows deep down he’s less than nothing. He despises them for being what he can’t be. The man is utter filth.
I don’t see what normal people see in him, either. I have to assume they like that he gives them a permission structure for their racism. Because there’s nothing about his actions, words, or demeanor that any decent person would admire.
I have a brother and sister who will vote for him again because of the Repubs anti abortion stance and that is the only reason.
There are military families who will vote for this tool. Make it make sense
Also weird his biggest praise for her is her appearance is better than people who are wounded? This man has serious issues recognising women as multi-dimensional people.
Women can only ever be sex objects to him. It’s why he’s so focused on their looks and figures. And it helps explain why switching candidates to an attractive Black woman has made him even more nuts than usual which I didn’t think was possible.
Make it make sense that any woman would vote for the pervert.
CJ, there are a LOT of military families who hate him, have never, will never vote for him. We remember every moment of disrespect. It’s not just military he’s disrespected, it’s also federal government employees, especially state department, cia, and Judicial. And the sh*t he’s pulled in the neighborhoods around his Northern Virginia golf course. There is a reason Virginia became purple. The Northern Virginia suburbs full of all the active and retired military and government workers (many also risk their lives), are sick of him and the Republicans.
and they’ll vote for him claiming to be Patriots and that those who don’t vote for him are “anti-American”. The GOP beats their chests about how THEY support our military and claim the libs don’t all while the GOP routinely votes against support for our military, military families and veterans whereas the democrats vote to support the troops. Sadly, the troops often vote for the Republicans that screw them over
And they claim to support law enforcement, but also support the capitol rioters who assaulted and killed law enforcement officers.
And yet there are still veterans and active duty military who will vote for him. Who hang their Trump flags and wear their maga hats…
When you’re that deep in the cult, you ignore everything else except what you want to be true. MAGA is a cult and so many believe fervently in it.
There are VETERANS voting for him. Like WTAF?
This is like a really crappy version of The Producers.
Any other politician who said that would be called out on it.
Obama got called out for saluting with a cup of coffee in his hand AND this man has said way worse and crickets. The hypocrisy is deafening.
Don’t forget the awful phone call he had with a military widow whose husband was killed in Niger. Wasn’t Trump sent to military school? Is that the reason hates the military and veterans?
@Amy Bee – that’s right! They said he became an excellent cadet while there. Instead of it translating to respect for the military is seemed to morph into resentment.
IIRC he almost got kicked out of military school for violently assaulting another cadet but I could be wrong – he was known for being a bully at least.
I do not understand how Trump gets a free pass from *anyone* with a connection to the military. He makes a mockery of their service and values, yet there is some weird halo effect from previous Republican support of the military that permits his utter disdain for the military to go undetected. Or something.
There are quite some veterans who are calling him out in strong terms too.
Was good to see
Today, John Kelly said, in part:
“The Medal of Honor is earned, not won, by incredibly brave actions on the battlefield under fire typically by very young men who ***joined when others did not*** to defend their country.”
LOVE THAT BURN! 🔥🧯🔥🚒
I am beginning to think Trump is trying to sabotage his own campaign for POTUS.
…yes – and then he’ll claim it was stolen, and incite another insurrection.
He’ll definitely try another coup, but since he won’t be able to refuse to send the National Guard, his plan seems to be to get state and local Repub election officials to refuse to certify votes in swing states and swing counties so the electoral college vote can’t take account of Dem votes.
I assume Harris and Walz, and the Dem state election operations, are prepared and ready to deal with this 🤞🏽
thats what we thought last time, and all we got was four years of Trump policies and an insurrection.
I live in one of the landing places during Operation Market Garden(A Bridge Too Far) and we know how to honour the hero’s, those who survived but also those who died.
It’s appalling that this guy was a president once and may be so again.
I’ll bet there are big plans to commemorate the 80th anniversary of this horrific battle next month. The monument to the British Airborne and the cemetery (both in or near Arnhem I believe) are beautiful and very moving. The sacrifices of these heroes must never be forgotten.
Much respect to all the allied forces who fought there and sometimes gave their lives to free the northern part of the Netherlands.
Would also like to mention the Polish who fought there, as they are sometimes forgotten. There is a monument to them.
There are two museums, one near the bridge in Arnhem and the other in nearby Oosterbeek, related to Market Garden.
There’s also a cemetry where the fallen rest.
Since this is an American website: much love and respect to the veterans and their families of your country who fought to free and protect our people.
<3
I love A Bridge Too Far! I just rewatched the History Buffs episode on ABTF the other day. It’s second only to Waterloo in historical accuracy.
Dump is vain, stupid, vapid and ugly. He brings nothing but chaos and destruction and the electorate is the line that stops him.
Harris-Walz 2024!
How in the hell can anyone even consider this ahole. Again. How can you twist your mind enough to think he is good for this country. He’s not worthy of cleaning a latrine. Keep our military out of your mouth.
For the life of me, I will NEVER understand how people can support this fascist, convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, twice-impeached malignant narcissist parading around more concerned with his own ego than the welfare of our country or anything else for that matter. Every day he gives us another reason to despise him, yet the MAGA-brainwashed idiots in this country put this maniac up on some pedestal like he is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
I long for the day when he is just a memory in our collective consciousness. Sigh…
Harris/Walz 💙
I have a cousin who is career Navy and he worships Trump despite all the disparaging remarks he’s made about the military. He denies that Trump has said any of this. It doesn’t matter what comes out of Trump’s tiny mouth – his cult followers are delusional.
How is it that he brainwashed so many so thoroughly? It’s scary, because he has absolutely ZERO redeeming qualities.
Because he spouts the same hatred that they do and that’s all they want. Nothing else matters. For example, my cousin hates women, LGBTQ+ folks, and anyone who is not a white cis gender corn fed born in America man. One of my other cousins posted a photo of a car carrying a rainbow flag and he commented “Guess they’re not true Americans.” Huh??? WTF does that even mean? Hence: the delusion of these individuals.
No, Mr. Trump, not everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is the highest honor a combat veteran can receive and there are only 60 living recipients at this time. It is awarded for: Conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest award that can be given to a civilian, and Biden wept when presented it by President Obama in a surprise ceremony. Trump gave it to people like Rush Limbaugh and Devin Nunes.
Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush frickin’ Limbaugh, tarnishing it immeasurably. If anyone else made a comment like this, their career would be in the sewer. It’s so sick.
Trump also tried to give it to Bill Belichick — the super-creepy Patriots coach who is dating someone nearly 50 years younger.
Yes, he tainted the Medal of Freedom (like everything he touches) by giving it to a number of very unworthy people.
This military family has never and will never vote for that POS. The entire time he was in the White House, I never once drove into DC, except to put flags on the graves in Arlington. No Commander in Chief should be talking about his troops like this.
I’m retired Navy, disabled out after my service during Desert Shield/Storm. I despise Trump and the way he talks about the military. However, my father, who was a marine that served during Korea, loves him. And even though he has Alzheimer’s, I’m quite certain my Trump-loving family members will have him vote in November despite his limited capacity.
I hope one day in the annuals of future history textbooks, he and his ilk will be shown as the Nazis they are.
He does not have one redeeming quality. None. He is vile inside and out. I could never understand why anyone would consider voting for him never mind “worship” him but it really is just “he hates who I hate”. And that’s it. That’s why they love him. He gives them permission to be open in their hatred and bigotry.
🤮
“She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal,” WHO SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THIS? He’s such a creepy orange fascist racist weirdo.
He stood in Arlington and told Mark Kelly “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” He genuinely sees nothing worthy of respect in military service. He thinks that the military is mainly a welfare program for poor people without other options. Those are the “losers.” The people who join because they believe in duty and service are the “suckers.” That’s his worldview.
Listening to Gold Star father Kzhir Khan’s speech addressed to Trump at the democratic national convention in 2016 still gives me chills.
“You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”