Trump: dead, wounded US soldiers were "suckers" and "losers" (multiply confirmed)

Trump's contempt for the U.S. military and military service was laid out clearly on November 4, 1997, when he told Howard Stern (see video) that avoiding STDs in the 1980s "is my personal Vietnam . . . I feel like a great and very brave soldier." This denigration of US soldiers by Trump continued in recent years as he denounced the Gold star parents of a slain U.S. soldier,¹ berated John McCain's time as a prisoner of war ("I like people who weren't captured"),² and sneered at the absence on the campaign trail with Nikki Haley of her husband, an Army officer who was serving in Africa.³

Yet even more shocking was an expose published in The Atlantic on September 3, 2020, which reported multiple instances in which during a visit to France in November 2018, Trump referred to soldiers as "losers" and "suckers".⁴

On November 10, 2018, during the France trip, Trump bemoaned a potential visit to the Aisne-Marne American cemetery that day, saying, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers."⁵ The cemetery is home to the Americans who died in the World War I Battle of Belleau Woods. In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who died in the battle as "suckers" for getting killed.⁶

Trump once again exhibited his disdain for wounded or killed US soldiers at an event in New Jersey on August 15, 2024. Trump said that the Medal of Honor, generally considered the most distinguished honor for service to the US, was overrated because its recipients were "either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets, or they're dead."⁷ In contrast, Trump said that the Presidential Medal of Freedom that he gave in 2018 to GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, was worth more, because "she's a healthy, beautiful woman."⁸

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief, Al Lipphardt, offered this blistering response to Trump's comment: "These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation's highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty."⁹

Key incidents in The Atlantic's reports of Trump's November 18, 2018, remarks about US soldiers being "losers" and "suckers" were corroborated by a Trump cabinet official, John Kelly.¹⁰ Kelly was a four-star general who was commander of United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) and served as Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security and then White House Chief of Staff during the period 2017-2018.¹¹

General Kelly also confirmed the report in The Atlantic that Trump turned to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery and said, "I don't get it. What was in it for them?"¹² Trump further demonstrated his contempt for US soldiers, useful to him only as useful fodder for his aggrandizement, and his contempt for law enforcement as well in another incident seven years later in August 2024 at Section 60 of the Arlington National Cemetery: see the article What did a 34-count felon call a federal official trying to enforce the law at Arlington Cemetery?

During the June 27, 2024, debate with President Joe Biden, referring to Trump's contemptuous remarks about US soldiers, Trump said "we have 19 people that said it was never said by me."¹³ That was patently vacuous since only a handful of people who were present during Trump's remarks could make such a tenable claim. One potentially credible counter to these reports was offered by John Bolton, who went with Trump on his 2018 trip to France, but Bolton did not attend all of Trump's meetings at that time.¹⁴

Jennifer Griffin, a Fox News reporter, validated other central occurrences in these reports, prompting an unsuccessful attempt by Trump to have Fox News fire her.¹⁵

Other high-ranking generals, including Mark Milley, H.R. McMaster, and James Mattis, who served, respectively, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, national security advisor, and Secretary of Defense under Trump, all expressed concern at Trump's attempts to use the military to subvert the constitution and resisted his pressure to do so.¹⁶ (See the description of Trump as "a fascist to the core" by Trump's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.) These positions and actions frustrated Trump, who on September 22, 2023, suggested that America's top general, Mark Milley, deserved to be put to death.¹⁷

In a book published in August 2024, McMaster, a highly decorated soldier who has a doctorate in history, added more details about Trump's dangerous and erratic record as president.¹⁸ He wrote that Trump would say outlandish things like, "Why don't we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?" McMaster wrote that two others in Trump's cabinet, Rex Tillerson and James Mattis, viewed Trump as "dangerous." As for Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, Master wrote: Trump's "ego and love of self . . . drove him to abandon his oath to 'support and defend the Constitution,' a president's highest obligation." McMaster added, "The attack on the US Capitol stained our image, and it will take a long-term effort to restore what Donald Trump, his enablers, and those they encouraged took from us that day."¹⁹

Trump's expressed contempt for the US military didn't limit his eagerness to bask in its symbols of patriotism. In a rally in Ashburn, Virginia on August 2, 2016, one of his supporters in the audience gave Trump his Purple Heart medal. Trump then remarked: "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier."²⁰

1. The New York Times, "Donald Trump Criticizes Muslim Family of Slain U.S. Soldier, Drawing Ire," July 30, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/us/politics/donald-trump-khizr-khan-wife-ghazala.html.
2. NBC News, "Trump lashes out at McCain seven months after senator's death," March 16, 2019, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-lashes-out-mccain-seven-months-after-senator-s-death-n984081.
3. The Atlantic, "Trump's Contempt for Military Service," February 13, 2024, https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/02/trumps-contempt-for-military-service/677446.
4. The Atlantic, "Trump: Americans Who Died at War Are 'Losers' and 'Suckers,'" September 3, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/.
5. The Atlantic, September 3, 2020, op. cit.
6. The Atlantic, September 3, 2020, op. cit.
7. The Hill, "Trump's Medal of Honor comments mark latest veteran controversy," August 16, 2024, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4831770-trump-medal-of-honor-controversy/.
8. Ibid.
9. Newsweek, "Donald Trump's Veteran Problems Keep Growing," August 31, 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-veteran-problems-keep-growing-1947021.
10. CNN, "Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump," October 2, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/02/politics/john-kelly-donald-trump-us-service-members-veterans/index.html.
11. The New York Times, "Reince Priebus Is Ousted Amid Stormy Days for White House," July 28, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/us/politics/reince-priebus-white-house-trump.html.
12. CNN, October 2, 2023, op. cit.
13. CNN, "Biden-Trump debate transcript," June 27, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/read-biden-trump-debate-rush-transcript/index.html.
14. The New York Times, "Trump Faces Uproar Over Reported Remarks Disparaging Fallen Soldiers," November 4, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/us/politics/trump-veterans-losers.html.
15. The Washington Post, "Jennifer Griffin Defended by Fox News Colleagues After Trump Twitter Attack Over Her Confirmation of Atlantic Reporting," September 5, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/09/05/jennifer-griffin-defended-by-fox-news-colleagues-after-trump-twitter-attack-over-her-confirmation-atlantic-reporting/.
16. The Atlantic, "THE PATRIOT: How General Mark Milley protected the Constitution from Donald Trump," September 21, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/general-mark-milley-trump-coup/675375; The Atlantic, "James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution," June 3, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/.
17. The Atlantic, "Trump Floats the Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley," September 25, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/trump-milley-execution-incitement-violence/675435.
18. CNN, "Gen. McMaster's blistering account of the Trump White House," August 25, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/25/politics/mcmaster-trump-book-account/index.html.
19. Ibid.
20. The Daily Beast, "Trump: 'I Always Wanted to Get the Purple Heart,'" August 2, 2016, https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/08/02/trump-gets-purple-heart-from-fan-says-this-was-much-easier; The Washington Post, "Donald Trump Says He Always Wanted to Get the Purple Heart," August 2, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/02/donald-trump-says-he-always-wanted-to-get-the-purple-heart/.