Trump’s Pattern of Calling American War Veterans 'Losers' and 'Suckers'

When President Trump skipped a visit to a WWI cemetery outside Paris in 2018, the White House blamed the weather — claiming a helicopter couldn't fly and that driving wasn't feasible. But apparently, neither explanation was true. Four sources with firsthand knowledge of the decision said Trump refused to go because he was worried the rain would mess up his hair — and because he simply didn't think honoring the dead was worth his time. That morning, he reportedly told senior staff, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." On the same trip, he referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who died at Belleau Wood — a pivotal WWI battle still venerated by the Marine Corps — as "suckers" for getting killed.

CNN confirmed that a former senior administration official corroborated the reporting. The Associated Press, the Washington Post, and Fox News also independently verified parts of the story. The White House denied the report.

A Pattern of Contempt for Veterans

This pattern didn't start in France. In 2015, while still a candidate, Trump publicly attacked Senator John McCain's military service, dismissing his five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam: "He's not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured." He also attacked the parents of Army Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq in 2004, after Khan's father criticized Trump at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

When McCain died in August 2018, Trump reportedly told senior staff, "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," and became furious when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. Sources told The Atlantic he called the late senator "a fucking loser." Trump was not invited to the funeral.

The same contempt has reportedly extended beyond McCain. According to multiple sources, Trump called former President George H.W. Bush — who was a Navy pilot shot down by the Japanese in World War II — a "loser" on at least two occasions, because he was shot down. Trump has also struggled to understand why pilots downed in combat are honored, or why former prisoners of war are treated with respect.

"What Was in It for Them?" — A Visit to Arlington

One of the more striking accounts comes from Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 2017, where Trump was set to pay respects alongside then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, whose son Robert — a Marine first lieutenant — was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 at age 29. According to sources with knowledge of the visit, while standing at Robert Kelly's grave, Trump turned to the grieving father and said, "I don't get it. What was in it for them?"

A retired four-star general and close friend of Kelly's told The Atlantic: "He can't fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself. He just thinks that anyone who does anything when there's no direct personal gain to be had is a sucker."

After a White House briefing by then-Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joe Dunford, Trump reportedly turned to aides and said: "That guy is smart. Why did he join the military?"

That same thinking could explain another reported incident during a 2018 White House planning meeting for a military parade. Trump reportedly asked that wounded veterans, specifically amputees, be kept out of public view, saying "Nobody wants to see that."

Trump, who received a medical deferment from the Vietnam-era draft for alleged bone spurs, has claimed he received the remains of fallen service members "many, many" times. But in fact, he visited Dover Air Force Base — where the military receives the remains of fallen troops — only four times during his presidency. Families of service members also disputed his claim that he had called "virtually all" of them to offer condolences.

The Military Pushes Back

In June 2020, retired Marine General and former Defense Secretary James Mattis publicly broke his silence, issuing a blistering statement after Trump ordered law enforcement to forcibly clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so he could walk to a nearby church for a photo op. "When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution," Mattis wrote. "Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens."