Congressman Bobby Scott and Virginia House Speaker Don Scott are among those on both sides of the aisle highlighting ex-president Donald Trump’s comments disparaging Congressional Medal of Honor winners.
Trump, kissing up to MAGA campaign megadonor Miriam Adelson, who in essence bought a Medal of Freedom from Trump during his presidency, awkwardly said during a campaign event last week that the Medal of Freedom is “actually, much better” than the Medal of Honor “because everyone (who) gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, that’s soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead,” whereas Adelson “gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman.”
“This is what a former president of the United States thinks about the service and the sacrifices that veterans and their families made in service for our freedom in this country is shameful,” Don Scott said during a Harris-Walz campaign stop at a barbershop in Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s really sad that Republicans are not denouncing him because they lack the courage to do it,” Scott said.
Congressman Scott noted that Trump “has been disparaging veterans for a long time. What he said about John McCain and many others, says more about him than the veterans he’s trying to disparage.”
It’s not just Democrats striking back at Trump over the comments, which he doubled down on in an interview with a Pennsylvania TV station over the weekend.
VFW National Commander Al Lipphardt labeled the comments “asinine,” and reminded Trump “that the 12 times he had the honor of awarding the Medal of Honor as president of the United States, those were heroes not of his own choosing.”
“He bestowed those medals on behalf of Congress, representing all Americans of a grateful nation. We hold the donation of their lives in service to our country in the highest esteem, and so should he,” Lipphardt said.
Also chiming in was retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff.
“No president, member of Congress, judge or political appointee – and certainly no recipient of the Presidential Medal – will ever be asked to give life or limb to protect the Constitution. The two awards cannot be compared in any way. Not even close,” Kelly said.
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Chris Graham
