Trump denies calling soldiers killed in World War I ‘losers’ in angry tirade
Advertisement
Former President Donald Trump denounced a report that he called soldiers killed during World War I “suckers and losers” as untrue, and denounced those who promoted it as “sick people” in a tirade when President Biden visited France to mark D. Day’s 80th birthday. Trump demanded that an ad allegedly mocking dead soldiers be removed. He denied the report for a long time.
The ex-president was furious at a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday as he brought up the accusations that have long followed him. “He said I was standing at the graves of soldiers and I said, ‘These people are suckers and losers,’ the dead soldiers from World War I,” Trump said.
He claimed the entire episode was fabricated and that the Biden campaign ran the report in an ad despite knowing it was “fake.” ‘They know it’s not true. These are sick people,” Trump said. The former president and presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee appeared to reference a video posted to President Biden’s X account on Friday.
It was installed while he was visiting France for ceremonies commemorating D-Day. The video includes a quote attributed to Trump: “Why would I go to the (Aisne-Marnie American) cemetery? It’s full of losers.’ It also includes audio of Trump disparaging the late Senator John McCain and claiming he is a war hero “because he was captured.” I like people who haven’t been captured.’
The claim that Trump called fallen soldiers “suckers and losers” comes from a 2020 article in The Atlantic. When Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he told senior staffers on the morning of the planned visit ‘Why would I go to that cemetery? It’s full of losers.’
During that same trip, Trump reportedly had a separate conversation in which he referred to the 1,800 Marines killed at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for having been killed. The Aisne-Marne American Cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 soldiers, many of whom died fighting in the area in the summer of 1918. In the post accompanying the video, Biden wrote: “Donald Trump knows nothing about serving his country.”
“Unless you’re a psychopath, or a crazy person, or a really stupid person, who would even say that?” Trump denounced the ‘Suckers and Losers’ report during his rally in Las Vegas. He said the story was made up “out of thin air.” He complained that the story “never goes away” and that he had to tell it even though he “didn’t like telling it.”
When the trip to the cemetery was canceled at the last minute in 2018, the official reason given was rain. The Atlantic reported that Trump turned down the visit because he “feared it would mess up his hair.” While Trump targeted Biden during his rally in sweltering Las Vegas on Sunday, Biden visited the very cemetery where Trump did not go in 2018 to pay tribute to slain Marines. When asked why he was visiting there, Biden appeared to take a dig at Trump but did not immediately go after him by name.
“The idea of me coming to Normandy and not making the short trip here to pay tribute?” Biden said. “And it’s the same story, think about it. America showed up. America showed up to stop the Germans. America showed up to make sure they didn’t get the upper hand,” he continued. When asked about his criticism specifically of Trump not visiting the cemetery, Biden replied “any other questions?”
