Our most recent book is Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Less than 48 hours after Biden's withdrawal, Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. And in just a few weeks, the race has changed. Trump thought the age issue would be his greatest asset. Now that he is facing an opponent 18 years younger and increasingly showing his 78 years, it has become one of his greatest weaknesses.
Just as Republican oppo researchers were attacking Tim Walz's accounts of his military service, Trump again disrespected veterans. Travis Gettys at Raw Story:
Donald Trump sparked an outcry from military veterans and many others by proclaiming that the civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom as "better" than the Medal of Honor for military valor.
The Republican presidential nominee praised Miriam Adelson, the widow of the late GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, during a speech Thursday evening at his New Jersey golf resort, where he recalled awarding her the civilian honor after the couple had poured millions of dollars into his first campaign.
“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom," Trump said. "That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor."
The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor bestowed for valor in combat, and it's often mistakenly called, as Trump did, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
"But civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers," Trump continued. "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, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she got it for — and that’s through committees and everything else.”
This might have ended the Trump campaign. A lot of national-level Republican veterans I worked with to help pass the PACT Act are pissed off tonight. The group chat is wild. https://t.co/qWEawaKqrV
— Travis Akers (@travisakers) August 16, 2024
Trump: When we gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom… It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor— it’s actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many… pic.twitter.com/a766KxAC2e
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 16, 2024
OMG! Read this statement from the VFW on Trump’s disgusting comments about veterans and service members last night. This is fantastic. Every American needs to see this. pic.twitter.com/F7rBjGbow2
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) August 17, 2024
