President Donald Trump, who refused to serve in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, is coming under condemnation for denigrating U.S. soldiers who died in war as "losers" and "suckers" who gave-up their lives for nothing.
Trump's longstanding disdain for soldiers is documented and well-known. His insulting attacks on the late senator John McCain, a war hero from the Vietnam War, was the first public revelation of the contempt Trump holds for soldiers killed or wounded in battle, and for soldiers in general.
Reigniting the controversy over Trump's bias against patriots serving in the U.S. military is a story published Thursday in The Atlantic written by Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine's editor-in-chief.
Carrying the title, "Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are 'Losers' and 'Suckers'," the scathing exposé said Trump has a history of repeatedly disparaging U.S. soldiers, including those killed-in-action fighting America's foes. He also once asked wounded veterans be kept out of military parades because the sight of these crippled men wouldn't reflect well on Trump.
The most damning condemnation of Trump in Goldberg's story was the account of Trump's visit to France in November 2018 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Trump was supposed to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris along with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel to honor American soldiers who fell in battle. Trump didn't show-up despite Macron and Merkel making it to the ceremony.
Trump claimed his no-show was because "the helicopter couldn't fly" and that the Secret Service wouldn't drive him to the cemetery. Neither excuse was true, wrote Goldberg.
Goldberg said Trump refused to visit the cemetery "because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day."
Citing senior Trump administration staff members he interviewed, Goldberg wrote Trump as saying, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." In another conversation on the same trip, Trump insulted the more than 1,800 U.S. Marines who lost their lives at the blood Battle of Belleau Wood as "suckers" for getting killed.
The furor ignited by Trump's horrific comments is inflaming the U.S. military and politicians on both sides. The condemnation is especially severe among American veterans. Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton posted a video where he excoriated Trump for his remarks. The video has since gone viral, racking-up two million views.
VoteVets, America's largest political action committee supporting liberal veterans running for office, condemned Trump's statements as "especially egregious" coming from the commander-in-chief.
Will Goodwin, an Army veteran and VoteVets director of government relations said Trump doesn't respect our men and women in uniform. Neither does Trump respect veterans nor their families. He said Trump has abused our military and has put American men and women in uniform in harm's way for his own political gain.
The pro-Trump Fox News later confirmed the accuracy of the statements reported by The Atlantic and later by other major U.S. media outlets.
After talking to White House sources, Fox News' national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported two former senior Trump administration officials confirmed Goldberg's reporting Trump disparaged veterans and didn't want to honor American war dead at the Aisne-Marne Cemetery.
Griffin also revealed one senior administration adviser as saying that when Trump spoke about the Vietnam War, he said it was a stupid war and that "Anyone who went was a sucker."
