POLITICS
09/03/2020 08:32 pm ET
Updated 26 minutes ago
Trump Reportedly Referred To American War Dead As āLosersā And āSuckersā
The presidentās controversial remarks from 2018 were confirmed by multiple outlets, including Fox News.

By
Dominique Mosbergen
President
Donald Trump, who has been
criticized in the past for making disparaging remarks about veterans and military families, reportedly referred to American service members who died in World War I as ālosersā and āsuckersā in conversations with his staff.
The Atlanticās Jeffrey Goldberg, citing multiple anonymous sources who had firsthand knowledge of the conversations, reported Thursday on the presidentās comments.
According to Goldberg, Trump uttered the belittling remarks about the American war dead while in France in 2018.
During that trip, the president
nixed a planned visit to the
Aisne-Marne American Cemetery ā a World War I cemetery in Belleau, France, near the site of the
Battle of Belleau Wood. Trump blamed rain for the cancellation at the time.
Goldberg said, however, that Trump had actually ārejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead.ā
Goldberg added:
In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, āWhy should I go to that cemetery? Itās filled with losers.ā In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as āsuckersā for getting killed.
Goldberg said later in the article that Trump had also referred separately to John McCain, the late senator and war veteran, as a ā******* loser.ā
Trump has previously been criticized for denigrating McCain, who was held for 5½ years as a
prisoner of war in Vietnam.
āHeās not a war hero,ā Trump
said in 2015 of McCain. āI like people who werenāt captured.ā
Associated Press reporter James LaPorta later corroborated Goldbergās article, saying a senior Defense Department official had confirmed the information.