Trump purportedly made disparaging remarks about fallen US military service members.
Where the Reason Originated:
The Atlantic – Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’
Reason Additional Information:
Military Times (via AP) – Report: Trump disparaged US war dead as ‘losers,’ ‘suckers’
Additional resources found in the Facts/What We’ve Found section.
What we know about the Reason:
The article from The Atlantic sites multiple sources close to Trump, that state he made two different comments on the same trip to Europe. The first comment is purported to have been stated to senior staff members, prior to a scheduled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, in 2018, which he cancelled. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
The second comment as referenced by the article in The Atlantic, “In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.”
Jeffrey Goldberg also writes, “The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic.”
The Facts and/or What We’ve Found So Far:
No video, or audio, recordings exist of Trump ever disparaging service members, dead or alive.
Out of all the sources sited in 2020, we could only find one source with anything to offer, all other sources remain anonymous and/or second hand accounts. That source is General John Kelley, former White House Chief of Staff, in an exclusive statement to CNN. Here is the statement.
In the statement, he states, “A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.” A couple of things stand out to me here. First, that he doesn’t specifically say that Trump said these words on either of the instances that were published by The Atlantic, why didn’t he? Second, he states that Trump refused to visit their graves in France. There is a paper trail of why Trump didn’t visit that site and witnesses have stated that the decision was made by John Kelly himself. Third, that the date in the CNN URL is 10/2/23 and the updated date of the article, and the date on most of the articles that follow suit, are 10/3/23. This date coincides with the date that John Kelly published his book, according to Amazon. Seems like a great opportunity to publicize a new book, considering that Kelly had over 3 years to come forward since The Atlantic published it’s article and two years before that to publicly state any comments made by Trump. It took him 5 years to say anything and it happened to be on the day his book is released.
Several people that were around Trump, during the times that he would have called service members suckers and losers, have provided statements that he did not make any such remarks. Here are a few of those statements:
“I don’t know who the sources are. I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather. Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?” – Zach Fuentes, former deputy to Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly Quote Source
“The Atlantic story on @realDonaldTrump is total BS. I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion – this never happened. I have sat in the room when our President called family members after their sons were killed in action and it was heart-wrenching… These were some of the moments I witnessed the President show his heart and demonstrate how much he respects the selfless and courageous men and women of our military. I am disgusted by this false attack.” – Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Former White House Press Secretary Quote Source
“These are disgusting, grotesque, reprehensible lies. I was there in Paris and the President never said those things. In fact, he would never even think such vile thoughts because I know from firsthand knowledge that President Trump absolutely loves, respects, and reveres the brave men and women of the United States military. He always has and always will. These weak, pathetic, cowardly background ‘sources’ do not have the courage or decency to put their names to these false accusations because they know how completely ludicrous they are. It’s sickening that they would hide in the shadows to knowingly try and hurt the morale of our great military simply for an attack on a political opponent.” – J. Hogan Gidley, Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Quote Source
See the following publication for a list of 19 such statements, including one by John Bolton, Former National Security Advisor, whom was fired by former President Trump. Publication Source
