Trump and Vance take aim at the military

In today’s fractured political world, there are few areas of agreement remaining. Here’s one: genuine gratitude and respect for those Americans who serve our country in the military. That’s one thing almost all Republicans and Democrats agree on. Everyone, it seems, except Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). 

Trump, who famously ducked military service in Vietnam by having a family doctor friend diagnose him with “bone spurs,” has a history of belittling members of the military. It started in July 2015 with his shocking attack on then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a genuine war hero. “He’s not a war hero, he’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you.”  

Six months into his presidency, according to authors Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig in their book “A Very Stable Genius,” Trump held a private briefing at the Pentagon with America’s top generals. After listening to their update on America’s military strength, Trump stunned the assembled brass by thundering: “I wouldn’t want to go to war with you people. You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.” 

In 2018, on a trip to France, Trump was scheduled to visit the Aisne-Marne Cemetery just outside of Paris, burial ground for hundreds of American soldiers killed in World War I. That morning, amid reports of bad weather, he refused to go because, as reported by Jeffrey Goldberg for Atlantic magazine, “he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain.” One military official told Goldberg that Trump also told staff: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” 

Trump’s military bashing goes on. He can’t help himself. Just last week, at a campaign fundraiser, he praised Las Vegas casino-owner Miriam Adelson, who has pledged more than $90 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign, and talked about how proud he was, as president, to award her with the Medal of Freedom in the presence of her late husband, Sheldon Adelson. But he couldn’t stop there. Trump went on to insist that the presidential Medal of Freedom was better than the congressional Medal of Honor — the highest military award given for heroism in battle — 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 did not explain why laying down one’s life on the battlefield was somehow less noble than writing a big check to his political campaign. But that’s just the latest example of his smearing members of the military, even those who made the ultimate sacrifice. 

And now his VP nominee, Vance, is getting into the act, daily attacking Minnesota Gov. and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz because, Vance falsely claims, he quit the Army National Guard to avoid combat duty in Iraq. The truth is, Walz retired from the Guard — after serving 24 years — in 2005, to run for Congress (which is another form of public service). Walz’s unit wasn’t deployed to Iraq until 2006.  

Vance also slams Walz for never having served in combat. That’s true, but neither did Vance. His four years (not 24) in the Marines were spent as a journalist, writing articles and sending photographs to military publications. 

Continuing efforts by Trump and Vance to swift-boat today’s troops or veterans is unpatriotic. There’s only one phrase for anybody, man or woman, Republican or Democrat, who put on the uniform to serve our country: “Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”   

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”