Sen. Tammy Duckworth has strong words for Donald Trump. She called the former president “despicable” after he disparaged the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military award for valor. Last week, Trump said that service member recipients of the medal are “either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”
Trump also said the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian award, is “actually much better” than the Medal of Honor. Trump then boasted that he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to his billionaire donor, Miriam Adelson. “She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman,” Trump said, contrasting her to wounded service members. The Veterans of Foreign Wars has condemned his statements.
Duckworth, an Iraq veteran and Purple Heart recipient whose legs were amputated after her helicopter was attacked by an RPG, said that Trump’s attacks on soldiers are a stark contrast to Vice President Kamala Harris‘ position and that of her veteran running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“Do they want a five-time draft dodger who denigrates military men and women and our veterans and calls us suckers and losers, who doesn’t want to have his picture taken with amputee veterans of various conflicts, to be the next commander in chief or are you going to have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who care deeply about veterans?” Duckworth said, adding that Walz has been on the forefront of getting aid to veterans on “many issues… especially burn pits.”
“Donald Trump is despicable,” Duckworth continued. “He doesn’t deserve to be commander in chief. And certainly those remarks are consistent with where he’s always been. He thinks that we’re suckers and losers and, frankly, he’s not fit to be commander in chief.”
Duckworth also defended Walz, who served in the National Guard for 24 years. Republicans have attacked Walz and falsely accused him of “stolen valor.”
“Frankly, it’s despicable what Republicans are doing, the same party that thinks that Donald Trump, who dodged a draft five times, who thinks veterans are suckers and losers, that’s who they think is better than someone who served 24 years in uniform, protecting and defending us every single day,” Duckworth said. “I don’t have a single problem with Tim Walz. I think he’s, in fact, somebody that I think will be very good for America to have in the Situation Room, with his vast military experience.”
In addition to attacking those who serve, Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, are notoriously entangled with the leadership of Project 2025. Many of Project 2025’s policies, such as disbanding federal agencies and significantly cutting the federal workforce, promise to be catastrophic for veterans.
Trump’s attacks on veterans are nothing new. During the 2016 campaign, Trump attacked Gold Star families like Khizr and Ghazala Khan, parents of slain Army Capt. Humayun Khan. He also denigrated then-senator John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five years, saying, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
