When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, according to four people with firsthand knowledge: Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” … 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.
Belleau Wood is a consequential battle in American history, and the ground on which it was fought is venerated by the Marine Corps. America and its allies stopped the German advance toward Paris there in the spring of 1918. But Trump, on that same trip, asked aides, “Who were the good guys in this war?” He also said that he didn’t understand why the United States would intervene on the side of the Allies.
On at least two occasions since becoming president, according to three sources with direct knowledge of his views, Trump referred to former President George H. W. Bush as a “loser” for being shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.
… When lashing out at critics, Trump often reaches for illogical and corrosive insults, and members of the Bush family have publicly opposed him. … Trump said his efforts to avoid contracting sexually transmitted diseases constituted his “personal Vietnam.”
The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades.
When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true … he did not believe it important to honor American war dead,
theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/
A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018 cemetery comments.
The Defense officials also confirmed to The AP reporting in The Atlantic that Trump on Memorial Day 2017 had gone with his chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
In 2015, shortly after launching his presidential candidacy, Trump publicly blasted McCain, saying “He’s not a war hero.” He added, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
The senior Marine Corps officer and The Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, also reported that Trump said he didn’t want to support the August 2018 funeral of Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated Navy veteran who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, because he was a “loser.” The Atlantic also reported that Trump was angered that flags were flown at half-staff for McCain, saying: “What the f- are we doing that for? Guy was a f-ing loser.”
No wonder Trump didn’t care when his “best friend” Putin put a bounty on our soldiers heads!
Veterans groups furious with White House over ‘disrespect’ following John McCain’s death
during a bombing raid over Hanoi, North Vietnam, a missile tore off his Skyhawk’s right wing, ejecting McCain and breaking his arms and right leg. He parachuted into Truc Bach Lake, where an angry mob dragged him to land and brutally beat him. Later, an interrogator told him, “your father is a big admiral – we’re going to take you to the hospital,”
A doctor haphazardly set McCain’s broken bones without anesthesia. He was placed in a body cast. His condition worsened quickly. Near death, he was taken on a stretcher to a cell with Air Force Col. George Everette “Bud” Day and Maj. Norris Overly. “Bud and Norris wouldn’t let me die,” McCain recalled in an emotional Senate floor tribute to Day, who died in 2013. “They bathed me, fed me, nursed me, encouraged me and ordered me back to life.”
As he recovered, he refused an interrogator’s offer to be released early, because military code dictated POWs be freed in order of their capture. He was probably one of the most seriously wounded. And he was again beaten and tortured.”
McCain was left with new injuries, broken bones and imprisonment that lasted four more years. He spent 2 1/2 years in solitary confinement, starting many mornings with a new beating. His injuries made it difficult to walk, caused by a severe limp that collapsed his body to one side. He learned honesty, honor, courage, bravery, and integrity.
WASHINGTON — Leadership from two prominent veterans groups on Monday blasted White House officials for “disrespect” in their response to the death of former Arizona Sen. John McCain,
At issue is a decision by the president and his staff not to keep flags flying at half-staff for this week, leading up to McCain’s funeral on Saturday. McCain, arguably the best-known veteran in America, died after a lengthy battle with brain cancer on Saturday, Aug. 25.
Flags at national buildings were lowered when McCain’s death was announced but raised just two days later on Monday morning, bucking a tradition of honoring well-known members of Congress for longer periods of time.
President Donald Trump also did not issue an official proclamation marking McCain’s passing, instead writing a tweet.
AMVETS officials said McCain — “a war hero, twice a presidential contender, and a national treasure who devoted his entire adult life to protecting and improving the American way of life” — deserved more.
“It’s outrageous that the White House would mark American hero John McCain’s death with a two-sentence tweet, making no mention of his heroic and inspiring life,” Joe Chenelly, AMVETS national executive director, said in a statement.
“By lowering flags for not one second more than the bare minimum required by law, despite a long-standing tradition of lowering flags until the funeral, the White House is openly showcasing its blatant disrespect for Senator McCain’s many decades of service and sacrifice to our country as well as the service of all his fellow veterans.”
“Mr. President, just this year, you released presidential proclamations noting the deaths of Barbara Bush and Billy Graham,” she said in a statement. “Sen. McCain was an American hero and cherished member of The American Legion. As I’m certain you are aware, he served five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam and retired from the U.S. Navy at the rank of Captain. He then served in the U.S. Congress for more than three decades.”
Trump did not apologize for those comments, even after numerous veterans groups called them insensitive and offensive.
militarytimes.com/veterans/2018/08/27/veterans-group-furious-with-white-house-over-disrespect-following-john-mccains-death/
There was a delay in lowering flags for McCain’s funeral, a fact that played out in public at the time.
The Atlantic also quoted multiple sources saying that the president refused to visit a cemetery for the dead in World War I in France, saying that the people who laid down their lives there were suckers. The president has denied this story using his usual broad language about a hoax, but Fox News and The Associated Press have quoted sources telling similar stories about a president who does not seem to understand why anybody would serve their country in that way.
Fox News and The Associated Press, have confirmed that The Atlantic story is true.
MAURA SULLIVAN a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq and was assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs and a senior Pentagon official:
… “what’s important and what we do know here and what we should be focused on is the president’s record on the military, which has been abysmal in terms of understanding fellow service members and, frankly, providing the leadership that troops respect.”
…”he being the president – totally transactional, … without, … honor, courage and integrity – the values that we as members of the military and veterans, … have lived by. And what we also know is, … the president has a history of lying as well as disparaging members of the military. I mean, just recently, he lied about his previous remarks, … regarding John McCain, an American hero and someone who sacrificed so much for our country. And I think that’s what, – that’s what we should be focused on.
npr.org/2020/09/07/910399183/fallout-follows-report-trump-called-americans-who-died-in-war-losers