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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
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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
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
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
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
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
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

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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

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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

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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. 
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