JD Vance defends Donald Trump again. This time it’s about insulting veterans.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance once again spoke up to defend controversial statements performed by his companion, former president Donald Trump.
Speaking to the Milwaukee Police Association on Friday, Vance—who spent four years in the Marine Corps and served a tour of duty in Iraq in 2005 as a combat correspondent—tried to soften Trump’s recent comments have downplayed the importance of the Congressional Medal of Honor, which has been awarded for more than 150 years as the country’s highest award for valor in combat. Trump has compared it to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
At a campaign event on Thursday at his golf club in New Jersey, Trump called out ARRIVE Miriam Adelson in the crowd
Adelson, one prominent Republican donor and the casino tycoon has one estimated net worth of $32.3 billion, is awarded Adelson and her husband donated $90 million to Preserve America, a super PAC dedicated to electing Trump, during their failed 2020 campaign.
This time, she is expected to contribute even more.
“We gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump began. “It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but it’s a civilian version.” He then went on to say that the freedom award “is actually much better because everybody who gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been shot so many times—or they’re dead.”
“She understands that and she is a strong, beautiful woman,” Trump continued, noting that the two awards “are considered equal.”
The former president may have used the moment to make amends with Adelson after an aide to him reportedly sent her a series of angry text messages last month, according to ARRIVE New York Times.
“This is a man who loves our veterans and honors our veterans,” JD Vance said of Trump on Friday, claiming he had not seen the full speech. “I don’t think it’s a disservice to people who have received the military honors for him to praise and say a nice word about someone who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Vance continued. “Those are two different awards. And I think the president said some nice things about someone he likes and that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do.”
“The veteran community is very, very supportive of Donald Trump,” Vance said after referring to his meeting with veterans in Pennsylvania.
Veterans across the country have condemned Trump’s recent remarks and criticized Vance for supporting his running mate’s actions as a veteran.
Veterans of Foreign Wars—a nonprofit organization serving former active, guard, and reserve forces accused The language Trump used when discussing veterans—call The former president’s comments were “stupid.”
“When a candidate for commander in chief of our military so blatantly denies the courage and respect symbolized by the Medal of Honor and those who have earned it, I have to question whether they take their responsibility to our men and women in uniform with the seriousness and clarity required for such a position of power,” the organization said in a statement, adding that Trump “frankly should know better.”
In one interview with MSNBC Reid’s Joy, Iraq War veteran and co-founder by veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org Jon Soltz said of Vance: “I have complete respect for his service, but he is a cheat.”
