An article dropped this week from The Atlantic alleging that President Donald Trump had referred to American service members killed in action as “suckers” and “losers.” Now, Fox News has apparently confirmed key parts of the story, although Trump has already claimed, falsely, that it had been “refuted,” which implies some kind of solid defense for the president that simply does not exist. In reality, a former Trump admin official apparently told Fox National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin that the president called the Vietnam War “a stupid war,” adding that “anyone who went was a sucker.”
The former official, who is anonymous for now, apparently also heard the president denigrate American veterans in general — apparently Trump asked “what’s in it for them.” The ex-official described the remarks as representative of “a character flaw of the President” who “could not understand why someone would die for their country.” Apparently, Trump even singled out wounded veterans for mockery — according to the same source, Trump called wounded veterans “not a good look” when planning for a military parade in D.C. that never ended up actually happening.
Check out some of the reporting below:
The source for Fox’s Jennifer Griffin also confirmed that Trump was angry about the decision to lower flags to half-mast at federal buildings following the death of John McCain, who Trump had frequently publicly antagonized when the public figure was still alive.
The source also stated the following about a trip that Trump took to France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, which was in 2018:
‘The President was not in a good mood. Macron had said something that made him mad about American reliability and the need perhaps for a European army. He questioned why he had to go to two cemeteries. ‘Why do I have to do two?’ His staff explained he could cancel, l but he was warned, ‘They (the press) are going to kill you for this’.” He (The President) was mad as a hornet when they did.’
Trump cancelled a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in France during his time in the country on the occasion of the World War I anniversary. Check out some more of the Fox reporting below:
