Trump denies calling soldiers slain in WWI ‘losers’ in furious rant

Former President Donald Trump fumed a report he called soldiers who were killed during World War I ‘suckers and losers’ is not true and decried those promoting it as ‘sick people’ in a rant as President Biden visited France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Trump demanded that an ad that features him reportedly mocking dead soldiers be taken down. He has long denied the report.

The ex-president was furious during a rally speech in Las Vegas on Sunday when he brought up the accusations which have long followed him again. ‘He said I stood over graves of soldiers and I said “these people are suckers and losers,” the dead soldiers from World War I,’ Trump said.

He claimed the entire episode was made up and that the Biden campaign featured the report in an ad despite knowing it was ‘phony.’ ‘They know it’s false. These are sick people,’ Trump said. The former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee appeared to be referring to a video posted by President Biden’s X account on Friday.

It was posted while he was visiting France for ceremonies commemorating D-Day. The video features a quote attributed to Trump: ‘Why should I go to [Aisne-Marnie American] cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’ It also contains audio of Trump disparaging late Senator John McCain claiming he’s a war hero ‘because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.’

The claim that Trump called fallen soldiers ‘suckers and losers’ comes from an article in The Atlantic in 2020. It said when Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he told senior staff members the morning of the scheduled visit ‘why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’

During that same trip, Trump reportedly had a separate conversation where he referred to the 1,800 marines slain at Belleau Wood ‘suckers’ for getting killed. Aisne-Marne American Cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 soldiers, many of whom were killed fighting in the area in the summer of 1918. In the post with the video, Biden wrote ‘Donald Trump doesn’t know a damn thing about service to his country.’

‘Unless you’re a psycho, or a crazy person or a very stupid person, who would say that anyway?’ Trump railed about the ‘suckers and losers’ report during his Las Vegas rally. He said the story was made up ‘out of thin air.’ He complained the story ‘just never goes away’ and he had to mention it even though he ‘doesn’t like mentioning it.’

When the 2018 trip to the cemetery was canceled at the last minute, the official reason given was because of the rain. The Atlantic reported Trump rejected the visit because he ‘feared his hair would become disheveled.’ As Trump was slamming Biden at his rally in sweltering Las Vegas on Sunday, Biden was visiting the very cemetery Trump did not go to in 2018 to pay respects to slain Marines. When asked why he paid a visit there, Biden appeared to make a dig at Trump, but did not go after him directly by name.

‘The idea that I come to Normandy and not make the short trip here to pay tribute?’ Biden said. ‘And it’s the same story, think about it. America showed up. America showed up to stop the Germans. America showed up to make sure that they did not prevail,’ he continued. When asked about his criticism specifically about Trump not visiting the cemetery, Biden responded ‘any other questions?’

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