“It is even more disappointing when these comments come from a man who already served in this noble office and frankly should already know better”
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the country’s largest veterans advocacy group, condemned Donald Trump in a new statement after comments the former president made earlier this week comparing the Congressional Medal of Honor to the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
At an event meant to center on fighting antisemitism Thursday at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, Trump talked about awarding a civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018 to megadonor Miriam Adelson, noting how its equivalent to the Congressional Medal of Honor — the highest military honor given for valor in combat — but even better, because that’s given to soldiers “in very bad shape … or they’re dead.”
“I watched Sheldon [Adelson] sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said. “That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.”
“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,” Trump added. “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.”
The VFW, unsurprisingly, took umbrage Trump’s remarks, with the organization’s National Commander Al Lipphardt saying in a statement (via The Hill), “These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterized the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty.”
As the Hill notes, this isn’t the first time Trump’s remarks on the military has drawn consternation from the VFW: In 2020, Trump downplayed the traumatic head injuries suffered by 34 service members in Iranian airstrikes as “headaches,” with the VFW demanding an apology for that comment.
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“When a candidate to serve as commander-in-chief so brazenly dismisses the valor and reverence symbolized by the Medal of Honor, I question whether they would discharge their responsibilities with the seriousness and discernment necessary,” Lipphardt added in his statement.
“It is even more disappointing when these comments come from a man who already served in this noble office and frankly should already know better.”