Veterans Aren't 'Celebrating' Trump's Latest Arlington Claim: He Has 'No Soul'
Veterans fumed about Donald Trump on Thursday after the GOP presidential nominee referred to Gold Star families “celebrating” fallen service members during his controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week.
“This man has absolutely no soul, empathy, or understanding of human emotions,” wrote Fred Wellman, an Army combat veteran, adding that “you don’t ‘celebrate’ the anniversary” of your child’s death.
Trump’s comments were made in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, in which he reflected on his recent visit to the national cemetery to mark the third anniversary of a deadly 2021 attack on service members amid evacuations at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport.
“By the way, we lost 13 incredible soldiers. I got to know the families very well, spent a lot of time with them four days ago in Arlington cemetery,” Trump said.
“Three years ago. They were celebrating three years honoring their children.”
The vast majority of the service members killed in the attack were Marines, not “soldiers,” as Trump called them.
VoteVets, a progressive political committee that recently criticized the former president over his Arlington visit, similarly declared that “no one celebrates the date” when their loved one was killed and added that a former commander in chief “ought to know” Marines aren’t called soldiers.
“But when he thinks all of them are just suckers and losers, guess details don’t matter,” wrote the group on X, referring to reports that the former president once used those words to refer to Americans killed in World War I.
Trump says gold star families were “celebrating” in Arlington cemetery pic.twitter.com/P2kq0PiAzX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2024
