Donald Trump told a crowd of veterans on Wednesday that he wanted to award himself the Medal of Honor.
According to the president, the only reason he didn’t move forward with it is that his advisers told him he didn’t qualify to receive such an award.
“Nothing like the Medal of Honor. I wanted one, but they told me I don’t qualify,” Trump told the crowd at the AMVETS convention in Kentucky. “I said, ‘Can I give it to myself anyway?'”
He added, “They said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.'”
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Video:
During his speech to a veterans group in Kentucky, Trump — seemingly joking but who can be sure — talks about giving himself the Medal of Honor. I’m surprised his bone spurs didn’t flare up while doing so. pic.twitter.com/4dPxlSlUl7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 21, 2019
President Bone Spurs is the last person who should be honored
Trump’s apparent joke on Wednesday about receiving the Medal of Honor may have triggered laughter from those in the room, but this isn’t the first time he has expressed a desire to receive military awards he hasn’t earned.
During a campaign rally in 2016, one of Trump’s supporters gave him a Purple Heart medal, and his response was as tasteless as always: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.”
In 1998, Trump compared his sex life to serving in Vietnam and joked that he should be getting the Congressional Medal of Honor.
All of this goes without mentioning the fact that Trump received a phony bone spur diagnosis in 1968 so he wouldn’t have to serve in Vietnam. As The New York Times reported last year, that diagnosis was basically given as a favor to Trump’s father.
Donald Trump isn’t even qualified to hold the door for a veteran, much less receive the highest award a military member can receive.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
