Fresh on the heels of one of the most mind-numbing presidential debates in history, U.S. citizens are now wholeheartedly eager to adhere to fact-checkers and learn whether or not arguments made during last night’s showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden are true.
In the “third act” of the aforementioned debate, the topic of the U.S. military soldiers and veterans was brought up — including a moment where Biden referred to how Trump failed to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France back in 2018. During his tirade, President Biden condemned Trump for alleged comments about Trump referring to veterans as “losers” and “suckers.” The Republican candidate immediately fired back at Biden by insisting that the quote was “made-up” and came from a lowly magazine.
In the aftermath of the heated exchange between the two candidates, voters are now interested in learning whether or not Trump truly made those comments about veterans years ago — or if Biden was simply trying to stir the political pot.
So, did Trump actually say this about veterans?
According to Trump, the remarks originally reported by The Atlantic back in 2020 were completely false. However, John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, confirmed back in 2023 that Trump indeed referred to dead U.S. soldiers as “suckers.” In addition, Kelly insisted that Trump refused to visit the cemetery in France due to the grounds being “filled with losers.”
If indeed true, these remarks would be perfectly in line with Trump, who is indeed a draft-dodger himself, and once criticized and mocked Senator John McCain for being a prisoner of war.
So, despite his own former chief of staff reporting the comments, along with the published article by The Atlantic, Trump continues to insist that the quote is completely untrue and that he never made an ill comment about veterans. Then again, with how many lies he deliberately told during the debate, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised if he did.