Here’s what he said:

“That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version.

It’s actually much better, because everyone who gets the congressional Medal of Honor, that’s 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. And they’re rated equal.”

How did his audience react to this? They cheered and applauded.

The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest military award in the United States. The current criteria were established in 1963 during the Vietnam War. The president presents the medal on behalf of Congress. Presidents do not choose the recipients.

To receive the medal, a U.S. service member must meet the following criteria:

Distinction: The act must involve “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” at the “risk of life.”

Above and Beyond: The act must be “above and beyond the call of duty.”

Circumstances: The act of valor must occur in one of the following circumstances:

a. While fighting an enemy of the United States;

b. While involved in military operations with an opposing foreign force; or,

c. While serving with friendly foreign forces in an armed conflict where the United  States is not involved.

Confirmation: The act of valor must be confirmed by at least two eyewitnesses.

The first person ever to win the Congressional Medal of Honor was Jacob Parrott, a Union soldier during the Civil War for his “above and beyond bravery” at Vicksburg.

American feminist, suffragist, spy, prisoner of war, and surgeon Dr. Mary Walker remains the only woman and one of only two civilians¹ ever to receive the Medal of Honor, which she was awarded for her extraordinary service during the Civil War.

Donald Trump’s callous and cruel remarks about Congressional Medal of Honor recipients were beneath and beyond. This man who sought and received four deferments and was excused from military service during the Vietnam period because a physician friend of his father’s diagnosed him with bone spurs (which don’t seem to have impacted his golf game), over and over again insults men and women who fought, and in many cases died, for their country.

As reported in The Atlantic in 2020, his former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, who rose from enlisted ranks to become a four-star general, said that during a visit to France in 2018 for the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, Trump called Marines who died at Belleau Wood “suckers” and fallen soldiers at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery “losers.”²

I am reminded of what Joseph Welsh said to Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy on 9 June 1954: “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

Since the Medal of Honor was first created, it has been awarded 3,538 times. Thirty-eight recipients have won it more than once. It has been awarded posthumously to 681 recipients.

According to Donald Trump, every one of them were “losers.”

Meanwhile

The Democratic National Convention opens today.

On Saturday, Democratic National Convention organizers released these night-by-night themes and speaker details:

• Monday, “For the People”: Biden and Dr. Jill Biden speak, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and a welcome from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
• Tuesday, “A Bold Vision for America’s Future”: Former President Obama plus Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, with a welcome from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
• Wednesday, “A Fight for Our Freedoms”: V.P. nominee Tim Walz delivers his acceptance speech, preceded by former President Bill Clinton, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (per CNN).
• Thursday, “For Our Future”: Vice President Harris accepts the convention’s nomination for president.

Other speakers include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

I can promise you one thing about the Democratic National Convention. You won’t see any beefed up, former professional wrestlers tearing open their shirts to reveal extremist T-shirts beneath.

We take small blessings where we can find them.

__________________

¹ The other civilian awarded the Medal of Honor was Charles Lindbergh, who, while a reserve member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, received his Medal of Honor as a civilian pilot.

² Here is Kelly’s complete 2020 written statement to CNN about Trump’s views regarding fallen or captured soldiers:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”