American veterans are pushing back after President Donald Trump reportedly dismissed U.S. troops killed in action as “losers” and “suckers.”
One retired Army officer is calling him out publicly over the comments.
“You’re no patriot,” retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton said in a video posted online.
His voice rising with emotion, Eaton held up the war-tattered dog tag of his father, Col. Norman Dale Eaton, who was killed in action during Vietnam in 1969.
“This dog tag was recovered at the crash site,” he said. “My father was a patriot.”
Then, Eaton delivered a powerful defense of his father and others who’ve served in the armed forces, especially those who were killed in the line of duty.
“So, Mr. Trump, come 3 November, we’re all voting for a real patriot: Joe Biden,” Eaton said, then urged others to do the same. “Our country’s honor depends on it.”
See his full comments below:
Eaton is an adviser to the progressive group VoteVets, which has taken out ads attacking Trump on a number of issues related to the military, including Trump’s treatment of the troops.
A new report in The Atlantic detailed a pattern of disrespect toward the military by Trump, including comments to staff in 2018 when he canceled a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, a World War I graveyard in Belleau, France. Publicly, Trump blamed the weather. But the magazine said he told aides, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
During that same trip, Trump called the war dead “suckers” for getting killed. He has denied the report in The Atlantic, but it was also confirmed by The Associated Press.