President Donald Trump called US soldiers injured or killed in battle ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’ according by a new report that the White House is calling ‘patently false’.
The report, published by the Atlantic Thursday, claims that Trump cancelled a visit to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in November 2018 because he was worried his hair would be disheveled by the rain.
In a conversation with senior staff before the planned visit, Trump reportedly asked aides: ‘Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’
During the same trip, the president allegedly later referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives in the Battle of Belleau Wood in France as ‘suckers’ for getting killed.
Trump emphatically denied the Atlantic report Thursday night, calling it ‘a disgraceful situation’ by a ‘terrible magazine.’
‘It’s a total lie. It’s fake news. It’s a disgrace, and frankly it’s a disgrace to your profession,’ Trump said.
However, 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.
President Donald Trump talks with reporters at Andrews Air Force Base after attending a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pa., Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base
Trump vehemently denied the claims, which were first reported in the Atlantic , that he referred to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery (above) in France in 2018 as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’
The president’s alleged comments are in stark contrast to Trump’s public persona as a self-proclaimed champion of the military and its veterans.
A source described to have first-hand knowledge of the president’s views said Trump ‘doesn’t see the heroism in fighting’. Other sources said Trump is deeply anxious about dying or being disfigured, and that fear manifests itself as disgust for those who have suffered.
The day of the planned visit, Nov. 10, 2018, was also the 243rd birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.
The Battle of Belleau Wood, which lasted 20 days in June 1918 and ended with German forces soundly defeated, was a defining moment in World War I for the Marine Corps.
But Trump, on the same trip, reportedly 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, the Atlantic reported.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Trump claimed that he wanted to go to the cemetery in France but was unable to because of heavy rainfall in Paris, and that the U.S. Secret Service would not allow him to motorcade there.
The White House blamed the cancellation on severe weather at the time.
Trump said he’s be ‘willing to swear on anything’ that he never said anything derogatory ‘about our fallen heroes.’
‘There is nobody that respects them more. No animal — nobody — what animal would say such a thing?’
Trump also doubled down on the White House’s explanation for his failure to show.
‘The helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn’t fly, because it was raining as hard as I’d ever seen. And on top of that it was very, very foggy,’ Trump said on Thursday.
He added that staffers tried to arrange a motorcade, but that it would have meant going through busy parts of Paris.
‘The Secret Service told me, you can’t do it. I said I have to do it. They said you can’t do it,’ Trump said.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, also decried the report, saying ‘It’s sad the depths that people will go to during a lead-up to a presidential campaign to try to smear somebody.’
Trump was meant to join John Kelly in paying his respects to Kelly’s son’s grave and comfort the families of other fallen service members in Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day, 2017 (above). However, Trump reportedly turned to Kelly and said: ‘I don’t get it. What’s in it for them?’
Tombs are pictured at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, on November 10, 2018
In another account, detailed by the Atlantic, the president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, a source said.
The president allegedly said that those who served in the Vietnam War were also ‘losers’ because they failed to dodge the draft. Trump received a medical deferment from Vietnam over alleged bone spurs,
In a conversation with then-Chief of Staff John Kelly, Trump reportedly complained bitterly that he didn’t understand why John McCain, who was imprisoned and tortured during Vietnam, was so revered.
‘Isn’t he kind of a loser?’ Trump asked, according to the four sources.
Trump has previously derided McCain’s legacy as a war hero publicly. On the 2016 presidential campaign trail in Iowa, Trump said: ‘He’s not a war hero. I like people who weren’t captured.’
At the same event, Trump said ‘I don’t like losers’ referencing McCain losing the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama.
‘I supported him. He lost. He let us down. But, you know, he lost. So I have never liked him as much after that, because I don’t like losers,’ he said.
The senior Marine Corps officer and the Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, further reported that Trump said he didn’t want to support the August 2018 funeral of Republican Sen. John McCain.
The Atlantic reported that Trump was also 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.’
Trump acknowledged Thursday he was ‘never a fan’ of McCain and disagreed with him, but said he still respected him and approved everything to do with his ‘first-class triple-A funeral’ without hesitation because ‘I felt he deserved it.’
The magazine said Trump also referred to former President George H.W. Bush as a ‘loser’ because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.
In a conversation with then-Chief of Staff John Kelly (seen above), Trump reportedly complained bitterly that he didn’t understand why John McCain, who was imprisoned and tortured during Vietnam, was so revered
Trump has previously derided McCain’s legacy as a war hero publicly. On the 2016 presidential campaign trail in Iowa, Trump said: ‘He’s not a war hero. I like people who weren’t captured.’
The Atlantic also details another exchange between Trump and Kelly on Memorial Day, 2017, at the graveside of Kelly’s son, Robert, who died at 29 years old in Afghanistan in 2010.
Trump was meant to join Kelly in paying his respects to Robert’s grave and comfort the families of other fallen service members.
However, Trump reportedly turned to Kelly and said: ‘I don’t get it. What’s in it for them?’
One of Kelly’s friends, who is a four-star general, told the Atlantic: ‘[Trump] can’t fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself. He just thinks that anyone who does anything when there’s no direct personal gain to be had is a sucker. There’s no money in serving the nation.
‘Trump can’t imagine anyone else’s pain. That’s why he would say this to the father of a fallen marine on Memorial Day in the cemetery where he’s buried,’ the source continued.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday, ‘If the revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the President of the United States.’
‘Duty, honor, country — those are the values that drive our service members,’ he said in a statement Thursday night, adding that if he is elected president, ‘I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice — always.’ Biden’s son Beau served in Iraq in 2008-09.