A CNN anchor forcefully pushed back Friday as she unsuccessfully tried to get a Florida Republican congressman and military veteran to retract his statement that President Joe Biden sees the troops as "disposable."
Brian Mast, who served in Afghanistan as an explosive ordinance disposal technician and lost his legs in 2010 when an IED detonated, joined Kaitlan Collins on "The Source."
Mast began the discussion defending former President Donald Trump's comment that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is better than the Medal of Honor because the latter is often given to people who were wounded or killed.
"What [former] President Trump said was insightful," said Mast. "There's nobody that goes and seeks to win a Medal of Honor. There's no service member that goes out there and says, "I'm going to get that Medal of Honor,' because it's something that you earn because of the valor that you show under the most deadly combat circumstances. Nobody wants that just like nobody wants a Purple Heart."
When the conversation later steered to Trump's comments denigrating military service — such as his comments about the late Sen. John McCain and John Kelly — Mast accused Biden of "squandering" the service of troops in the Middle East.
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"They squandered the service of every veteran that served in Afghanistan because of that withdrawal, because they failed to talk about the failures that exist there," he said.
When Collins pushed back, and said she wasn't sure that was a "fair" statement, Mast doubled down.
"I think it's fair — they see us as disposable," he said. "When President Biden goes out onto a tarmac, checks his watch ... they're seeing us as disposable individuals."
As Mast continued his tirade, accusing the Biden administration of trying to strip veterans who use the Department of Veterans Affairs of their community care, Collins tried to interject.
"But congressman we — I have to stop you," she said. "I think you can disagree with them on policy. Disagree with them on the Afghanistan exit, we've had plenty of Republicans who have. But to say that President Biden doesn't appreciate military service given his son, I think, you would agree that's an unfair comment."
Not to be deterred, Mast disagreed.
"I wouldn't say that at all," he said.
"To say that he takes it for granted is not fair," she replied.
"You're talking words of [former] President Trump versus literal actions from the Biden administration," said Mast.
Collins tried again: "His son served in the military, congressman."
"His son did serve in the military," Mast acknowledged, "but he's treating the rest of us like we are disposable. And we are not."
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