Despite a barrage of criticism from all sides, Donald Trump has doubled down on his controversial recent comments that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is superior to the Congressional Medal of Honor.
At a campaign event Thursday, the former president told the crowd that the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, was “far better” than the nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
His shocking logic was that soldiers receiving the latter were “either in very bad shape, having been shot multiple times, or already dead.”
Trump’s comments were widely condemned by many, including his former chief of staff John Kelly, Purple Heart recipient Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), and the Veterans Administration.
Andy Mehalcic, a local reporter who visited Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, said “a lot of veterans were upset” and gave the former president a chance to “clarify” his medal remarks.
Trump was given the softball to minimize the damage and praise the soldiers who died for their country, but instead decided to do more.
“The people who get the Congressional Medal of Honor — and I’ve given it to a lot of people — are often very worried or dead,” Trump said. “They’re often dead. They get it posthumously. It’s the best thing for me to get the Congressional Medal of Honor, but it’s painful to get it.”
“When you get the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it’s usually for something else that you’ve accomplished, either a lot in sports or a lot of success somewhere else,” he added.
You can check the exchange below.
Many people have been unimpressed with Trump’s recent response to the scandal.
