President Donald Trump has come under fire in American public opinion for some of the statements he allegedly made about US military personnel who gave their lives for their country: Trump would have called them “losers” and “suckers”. The White House has denied the allegations, but Joe Biden, meanwhile, is trying to make money from the fuss.
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According to four witnesses to The Atlantic, Trump would have skipped a planned visit to an American war cemetery in Aisne-Marne, France, during a state visit to France in November 2018. “Why should I go there? There lie alone losersTrump is said to have said about US Marines who were killed defending Paris at the end of World War I. According to various anonymous sources from ‘The Atlantic’, Trump would also have described the dead Americans as’suckers’.
The American president would have called off the visit, also because he said he did not want “his hair would get tangled by the rain”. In 2018, Trump announced via Twitter that the visit could not take place because his helicopter could not take off due to bad weather, and that a visit by car was not allowed by the Secret Service.
Trump would also have wondered aloud during that same visit why the United States had fought alongside France and the United Kingdom in World War I, according to ‘The Atlantic’, and asked “Who were the good ones in the war? ”
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McCain and Kelly
The same article also describes how Trump called former Republican senator and presidential candidate John McCain a “loser.” McCain was shot down as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War and spent five years in captivity. In the past, Trump had said publicly that he “doesn’t like people who let themselves be imprisoned.”
Finally, Trump is also said to have gone badly out of the corner when, during a visit to Arlington National Military Cemetery in 2017, in the presence of his then Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, he wondered why his son, who died in 2010 in Afghanistan, had given its life for its country. “I do not get it. What could he gain from that? ”, Trump is said to have said.
“The idea that someone does something for someone else does not even occur to him”
Kelly was asked by ‘The Atlantic’ for a response, but remains silent for the time being. According to sources close to the former general, he first believed that Trump was making an attempt – albeit erroneously – to highlight the sacrifice of American soldiers, and only later realized “that Trump’s life choices without personal gain can imagine ”.
“The idea that someone is doing something for someone else does not even occur to him,” said a friend of Kelly’s. “He thinks anyone who does something without direct personal gain is an idiot. There is no money to be made serving your country. Trump cannot imagine other people’s pain either. That’s why you say something like that to the father of a dead soldier on Memorial Day (American holiday in honor of fallen soldiers, ed.) in the cemetery where it is buried. ”
“Fake news”
The White House strongly denies the allegations. The issue is particularly sensitive because Trump is posing as a president who is firmly behind the military. The White House is making frantic efforts to get the genie back in the bottle. A senior official told The Washington Post that action is being taken quickly to prevent the riot from becoming “a big issue” in the run-up to the presidential election in November.
For example, several top Trump administration officials stated that they “do not identify” in the article. And close associates of Trump say the president has “been showing for years that the welfare of the military is indeed important to him.” The White House spokeswoman also called the article “propaganda” stating “four cowardly anonymous sources that probably don’t even exist.”
Trump himself also maintains that the message is incorrect. “It’s a total lie. It’s fake news, ”said the president. “I would swear everything is wrong. It is a hoax. Just like Russia, Russia, Russia. ”
