UPDATE:
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is the largest and oldest war veterans organization in the U.S. tracing its roots back to 1899 when veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) founded local organizations to secure rights and benefits for their service.
Today, its membership stands at more than 1.4 million.
Among its core values:
• Promote patriotism
• Honor military service
Consistent with those values the VFW has admonished Trump’s remarks on the Medal of Honor.
Parts of the message from Al Lipphardt, VFW National Commander:
These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterize the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty.
When a candidate to serve as our military’s commander-in-chief so brazenly dismisses the valor and reverence symbolized by the Medal of Honor and those who have earned it, I must question whether they would discharge their responsibilities to our men and women in uniform with the seriousness and discernment necessary for such a powerful position.
For the full message, please click HERE.
Original Post:
The man who has already heaped insult upon insult upon our service men and service women, including upon those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, just could not help himself again.
Yesterday, at a campaign event at his New Jersey golf club, Trump recalled presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson — wife of billionaire Sheldon Adelson and “an ardent supporter of Trump –” in November 2018.
The medal was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and has been awarded by presidents since then.
It is intended to recognize civilians who have made exemplary contributions to the “interests of the United States,” “world peace” or other cultural or “significant public or private endeavors.”
During the event, Trump characterized the award as “the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.”
Before mentioning the rest of his – at best – inaccurate comments, let us briefly discuss the Medal of Honor.
The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor the United States can bestow. It is awarded to a member of the military who has distinguished “himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
The Medal of Honor was first established in 1863. Since then, 3519 military heroes have been awarded the Medal, 618 posthumously. Thousands more were wounded – some very seriously – while performing their acts of conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity.
Well-deserving as the Medal of Freedom recipients may be, I do not believe any of them have been injured or killed while performing the acts that earned them the medals.
Yet Trump not only declared the Medal of Freedom “equivalent” to the Medal of Honor, but he also had to degrade the nation’s highest military honor for valor in combat. He continued, “[the Presidential Medal of Freedom is] actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”
Tell that to the memory and legacy of Medal of Honor recipient Tech. 5th Grade Joe Pinder Jr. who, on 6 June 1944, during the Normandy invasion:
…landed on the coast 100 yards offshore under devastating enemy machine-gun and artillery fire which caused severe casualties among the boatload…Only a few yards from his craft he was hit by enemy fire and was gravely wounded [but] never stopped…Refusing to take cover afforded, or to accept medical attention for his wounds…on three occasions went into the fire-swept surf to salvage communication equipment…On the third trip he was again hit, suffering machine-gun bullet wounds in the legs. Still this valiant soldier would not stop for rest or medical attention. Remaining exposed to heavy enemy fire, growing steadily weaker, he aided in establishing the vital radio communications on the beach. While so engaged this dauntless soldier was hit for the third time and killed.
Belittling the Medal and its recipients one more time, the man who has not served a day in the military concluded, referring to Adelson, “She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she got it for — and that’s through committees and everything else.”
In “Trump Sneers at Veterans. Again,” William Kristol and Andrew Egger ask in exasperation “What can one say?” and answer their own question: “One can say—again—that Trump is a vulgar, thoughtless, and awful man.”
They then list some of the other instances in which “Trump has denigrated military service.”
In “On ‘Stolen Valor’ and Contempt for Valor,” we have our own list of shame which reveals that this is not the first time that Trump has belittled, denigrated the Medal of Honor:
Speaking to a crowd of conservative student activists two years ago, Trump said “As president, I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor, but they wouldn’t let me do it…they said that would be inappropriate.”
Perhaps the vilest example occurred many years ago, when — as his adorers will claim — “he was just a youngster.”
Discussing the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) on a 1997 Howard Stern show, Trump claimed that “…more people were killed by women in this act than killed in Vietnam…”
When Stern praised Trump for being “braver than any Vietnam vet because you’re out there screwing a lot of women,” the “hero” replied, “Getting the Congressional Medal of Honor, in actuality.”
But that was not all.
Trump and Stern continued to compare avoiding STDs to serving in Vietnam and thus came the most disgusting, grotesque example of “stolen honor” this author has ever seen or heard.
“I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world. It is a dangerous world out there — it’s scary, like Vietnam. Sort of like the Vietnam era. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier.” Trump said.
Perhaps VoteVets, a veterans’ PAC, said it best: “Donald Trump hates Veterans and their sacrifice, because he looks so small in comparison to them.”
