The national commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars on Friday denounced former President Donald Trump's comments that appeared to demean Medal of Honor recipients.
"On Thursday, former President Donald Trump spoke at an event where he made some flippant remarks about the Medal of Honor and the heroes who have received it," Al Lipphardt said in a statement. "These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes 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," Lipphardt said. "It is even more disappointing when these comments come from a man who already served in this noble office and should frankly already know better."
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Trump who is notorious for making controversial statements about war heroes, including mocking the late Sen. John McCain's torture in a POW camp and allegedly calling Marines who fell in World War I "losers and suckers," made the new remarks at an event honoring Miriam Adelson, the wife of deceased GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson.
“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor," said Trump. "But civilian version, it’s 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. 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.”
His comments provoked immediate outrage among a number of veterans, who saw it as dismissing the sacrifice made by war heroes.
