Trump Mocks 100 U.S. Troops Injured by Iran Strike on His Watch: ‘They Had a Headache’
Donald Trump once again showed his disdain for United States military personnel during a campaign event in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
When taking questions from reporters during the event, a journalist asked Trump if he thought Israel should retaliate against Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attacks against the nation. The reporter also asked if Trump believed he should have been “tougher on Iran” during his presidency “after they had launched ballistic missiles in 2020 on U.S. forces in Iraq,” which left “more than 100 U.S. soldiers injured.”
The Republican candidate bristled at the idea of taking accountability for the tragic event, and instead mocked U.S. troops. “What does injured mean?” he retorted. “Injured means, you mean, because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort.”
“There was nobody ever tougher on Iraq,” Trump continued, confusing Iraq for Iran. “When you say not tough, they had no money. They had no money for Hamas. They had no money for Hezbollah. And when we hit them, they hit us. And they called us, and they said, ‘We’re going to shoot at your fort, but we’re not going to hit it.’”
The former president proceeded to insult the journalist, while downplaying the injuries sustained by troops. “If you were a truthful reporter, which you’re not, you would tell the following: None of those very accurate missiles hit our fort,” he said. “They all hit outside, and there was nobody hurt other than the sound was loud and some people said that hurt, and I accept that.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared to reference Trump’s comments later on Tuesday night during the vice presidential debate. “When Iranian missiles did fall near U.S. troops and they received traumatic brain injuries, Donald Trump wrote it off as headaches,” he said.
In 2020, the Defense Department confirmed that 109 U.S. service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries after Iran attacked the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq. At the time, Trump appeared to dismiss the severity of the injuries and said, “I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious.”
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday follow his long history of insulting U.S. military. In August, Trump drew backlash from veterans groups when he said the Presidential Medal of Freedom is better than the Congressional Medal of Honor because the former doesn’t involve sacrifice. The 2024 candidate later doubled down on those comments.
Later that month, when visiting Arlington National Cemetery, Trump treated the burial grounds as a political campaign opportunity despite federal laws expressly barring such behavior. Trump and his campaign staff received widespread criticism “verbal and physical altercation” that reportedly took place during a wreath-laying ceremony when Trump’s staffers tried to enter an area reserved for recently deceased service members. The Army confirmed that someone from Trump’s team “abruptly pushed” a cemetery staffer.
The Republican hopeful attempted to blame the incident on the Gold Star families, not his campaign, who distributed images and videos of him at Arlington National Cemetery.
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