Former President Donald Trump on Thursday called the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians, “much better” than the Medal of Honor because the soldiers awarded the nation’s highest military decoration are often seriously wounded or dead.
A series of comments mock injured military personnel
Trump’s remarks follow a years-long series of comments in which he has appeared to mock, attack or express contempt for wounded, captured or killed soldiers, while portraying himself as the ultimate champion of the armed forces.
At a campaign rally at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, billed as a discussion on the fight against anti-Semitism, Trump recounted how he had awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson, the Israeli-American widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Miriam Adelson, who attended the event, is one of his biggest donors.
“It’s actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, so soldiers are either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit by bullets so many times or they’re dead,” Trump said, using a common misnomer for the military award. “She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman.”
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Standing in front of six American flags, Trump added that the honors were “equal.”
Brian Hughes, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, said Trump’s comments reflected “that it can be an emotionally difficult experience to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to veterans who were wounded or tragically killed defending our country, as he proudly did when he was commander in chief.”
But Trump’s comments drew swift criticism from Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans, who argued that he had demonstrated a pattern of disrespect toward military personnel that made him unfit for command.
“Donald Trump knows nothing about serving anyone or anything but himself,” said Sarafina Chitika, a spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, adding that his comments “should remind all Americans that we owe it to our soldiers, our country and our future to ensure that Donald Trump is never again our nation’s commander in chief.”
Trump’s comments also threaten to undermine efforts by his Republican allies to attack Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz of Minnesota over his military service. Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, who spent four years in the Marine Corps, has criticized Walz for leaving the Army National Guard to avoid deployment to Iraq and for exaggerating his service by falsely claiming he served in combat.
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Vance defends Trump
Vance defended Trump on Friday, telling reporters at a campaign rally in Milwaukee that the former president is a “guy who loves our veterans and honors them.” Although he acknowledged not hearing Trump’s full remarks, Vance called them compliments to Adelson that “in no way disparaged those who have received military honors.”
Trump, who never served in the military, has faced bipartisan criticism throughout his political career for his attitude toward service members and veterans. During his 2016 presidential campaign, he denigrated the accomplishments of Senator John McCain, a former naval aviator who was imprisoned for more than five years during the Vietnam War.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at the time, adding, “I like people who weren’t captured.” Many Republicans, many of whom were suspicious of Trump at the time, immediately rushed to McCain’s aid.
Trump also clashed with the family of Humayun Khan, a slain Muslim-American soldier, during his campaign after Khan’s father gave a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention denouncing Trump for denigrating the character of Muslims. Trump argued the family had “no right” to criticize him, and the dispute prompted leading Republicans to express solidarity with Khan’s family.
During his 2020 campaign, Trump was forced to defend his support for American troops after The Atlantic reported that he had secretly called American soldiers killed in combat “losers” and “suckers,” sparking a political firestorm.
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Democrats highlighted the reported comments as evidence of his disdain for those who serve in the military, and left-leaning veterans groups condemned him.
Trump’s comments about soldiers and veterans became an issue during the Republican primaries earlier this year after he suggested that the husband of one of his rivals, Nikki Haley, had accepted a tour of duty with the National Guard in Africa to escape her. The Haley campaign attacked Trump’s “anti-veteran sentiment” and distributed an open letter from dozens of veterans condemning his comments.
Trump met with Adelson on Thursday to reconcile with her after insulting her in text messages from an aide in late July. When he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, the White House recognized her work supporting “Jewish schools, Holocaust memorial organizations, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and Birthright Israel, among other causes.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, established by President John F. Kennedy, is intended to honor people who have made “a particularly meritorious contribution” to national security, world peace, or “cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” A president can bestow the award unilaterally.
The Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor in combat, is awarded to a soldier who has displayed “outstanding gallantry and intrepidity” “above and beyond the call of duty” and at the “risk of life,” according to the Department of Defense. Being wounded or killed is not a prerequisite to receiving the medal, which is awarded only after approval by the entire military chain of command.
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This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
By Michael Gold/Sarah Silbiger
circa 2024 The New York Times Company
