Donald Trump has long been reported to hold some resentment against veterans and members of the military, and former Republican Rick Wilson has a theory about why.
Wilson, who recently suggested Trump is tanking his own campaign, appeared on MSNBC to discuss Trump's most recent scandal involving the military and veterans, this time those who have received the highest honor they can get.
“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor," said Trump at a political event. "But civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman."
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When asked about the comments, Wilson, the co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said, "I recall when he attacked John McCain. I recall when the stories broke about Trump calling veterans suckers and losers."
"There is an endless pattern of Donald Trump's utter contempt for our military. There is an endless pattern of Trump's hideous degree of just spleen and hatred for them, because he thinks they are desperate to be in the military because of their socioeconomic circumstances," Wilson added. "He thinks it is like a welfare program that they should be ashamed of."
He continued:
"Donald Trump's relationship to the U.S. military has long been one where he thinks that his bluster makes him a leader. He joked about one time, always wanting to get the purple heart. It's pretty easy, Donald. You could have gotten the purple heart if you had not been a draft dodger during the Vietnam war where 58,000 American men sacrificed their lives. Donald Trump spent his time during the Vietnam war, as he racked around later, chasing women around New York. This is a guy who is beyond contemptuous."
