Trump Rips Into U.S. Military Leaders But Insists Soldiers Love Him

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, reported last week that Trump refused to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery during a trip to France in 2018 because it is “filled with losers,” according to four sources described as having firsthand knowledge of the discussion; the Associated Press, CNN and Fox News later corroborated the story with administration sources.

The story touched off a PR firestorm for Trump, with the Biden campaign and independent groups putting out ads hitting him for the alleged comments and Biden himself offering a fiery excoriation and saying he believes it to be true based on Trump’s past statement that the late Sen. John McCain is “not a hero” because he was captured during the Vietnam War.

During his press conference on Monday, Trump doubled down on his criticism of McCain, saying he has “always been on the opposite side” and “never been a fan” of McCain because “he wanted endless wars and I didn’t.”

Trump offered similar criticism of top military generals and Pentagon officials, with whom he has often had a strained relationship, accusing them of wanting to “do nothing but fight wars” so “all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.”

Trump instead claimed to have the backing off rank-and-file soldiers because “we’re getting out of the endless wars” and “we defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate.”