On September 3rd a bombshell claim was made by the Atlantic in which journalist Jeffery Goldberg claimed that in the years following the pivotal inauguration of Donald Trump, President Trump was quoted as calling fallen soldiers and veterans “losers” and “suckers” on multiple inappropriate occasions.

The story came about after anonymous sources close to the President revealed that during his 2018 visit to Arlington, during the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood, where the American Marine Corps stopped the German advance in Paris, President Trump had cancelled the original plan to visit the Paris cemetery, noting that he feared his hair would become ruined due to the rain.

Instead, the President visited Arlington in Virginia, visiting the graves of fallen soldiers from World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, and other notable fights in the Middle East. During his visit, Trump asked his aides “Who were the good guys?” It was clear the President did not understand why America would be incentivized to step in to aid the Allies during the war, questioning the intervention with genuine ignorance on the situation that it had been for. 

Trump has a history of disrespecting veterans, as in 2015 his response to the late senator, John McCain- who had been a prisoner of war to the North Vietnamese for five years, was that “He’s not a war hero.” Trump added more after prompting, “I like people who weren’t captured.”

The President’s patriotism is hardly even skin deep, performative, and his actions during the election campaign of 2016 up until present show that his respect for veterans only shows when cameras are focused on him. When McCain passed in 2018, aids to Trump reported that he’d told them “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral.” The White House and other federal offices lowered their flags to half-mast out of respect for the fallen veteran, which infuriated Trump. “What the f*** are we doing that for? Guy was a f***ing loser.”

While Trump’s actions are insulting, he does not seem to hold back even when it comes to former President’s, either. Late President George H.W. Bush served as a Navy pilot in WW2 and was shot down by the Japanese. He escaped, though eight other men he was flying with were captured and killed by the Japanese soldiers. Trump spoke on the incident, calling Bush a “loser” for being shot down.

The last and most notable incident came when Trump was visiting Arlington on Memorial Day, 2017, with John Kelly, who at the time was the secretary of homeland security. Kelly’s son, Robert, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 at the age of 29. While looking over the man’s grave, Trump reportedly turned to Kelly and asked “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Kelly initially declined to comment on the matter, believing that the President had been making a ham-handed comment praising the selflessness of fallen veterans. Later on, Kelly realized the President was expressing genuine ignorance on non-transactional life choices.

The President has shown over the course of four years that he has a different view on the military than past Presidents. In past Presidents, many viewed the military as an extension of the Constitution. President Trump, however, seems to believe that the military function like other branches of the federal government, and is obligated to answer to his orders rather than those described by the Constitution. Senior officers and veterans, such as James Mattis spoke on the matter with great concern. “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”

President Trump denied speaking so harshly and mocking fallen veterans on September 4th in a tweet that called the story “made up fake news”. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/07/us-veterans-soldiers-divided-trump-war-dead-suckers-losers

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53979819

Photo Credit: (May 28, 2017 – Source: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)