9/4/20
In France in 2018, Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery because he didn't want the rain to mess up his hair. The cemetery houses the American remains from the Battle of Belleau Wood in WWI.
“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” Trump reportedly said on the trip. Trump referred to Marines killed during World War I as “suckers.”
The Atlantic's editor Jeffrey Goldberg published the news on Friday. Trump called it a "fake story" and "disgraceful," but at least three other news organizations confirmed the quotes as true, including the right-leaning Fox News.
Americans' reactions were swift and furious. "Who the heck does he think he is?" said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, whose son Beau won a Bronze Star in Iraq and died of brain cancer in 2015.
“[Beau] wasn’t a sucker,” Biden said. “The service men and women he served with, particularly those that did not come home, were not losers. If these statements are true, the president should humbly apologize to every Gold Star mother and father and every Blue Star family that he’s denigrated and insulted."
Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost both legs as a fighter pilot in Iraq, said “I am not shocked, but I am appalled,” in a press call arranged by the Biden campaign. "[Trump] doesn’t understand people’s bravery and courage because he’s never had any of his own.”
Howard Dean tweeted, "My brother was captured in Laos in September of 1974 and executed by the North Vietnamese on December 14, 1974. F**k you, Donald Trump." Dean is a former Vermont governor and onetime Democratic presidential candidate.
The impact of what politicians say, however, is nothing compared to the impact of Trump's comments on the military community, which is already leaning toward Biden because of Trump's misuse of the National Guard, among other reasons.
Besides, it's not Trump's first pratfall on the parade field. Trump once went to Arlington National Cemetery with then-chief of staff John Kelly. Standing beside the grave of Kelly's son, a Marine who fell in Afghanistan in 2010, Trump said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Trump's base, who tend to support both the military and the police, have shown a startling ability to ignore Trump's erratic behavior and remarks. Still, it's hard to imagine how they could sweep the latest report of Trumpian bungling under the rug. The fact that the story's sources are anonymous may be the latest way for Trump fans to focus on the smoke without seeing the fire.
Let's hope that they hear what Trump said.
Do you think they will? Will the Atlantic article cost Trump Military votes or other votes? Why do you think Trump does care about US Military servicepeople, including war dead?
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