Continuing its recent history of disparaging veterans like John McCain, John Kerry and Tim Walz, as well as wounded and slain soldiers and their families, the Republican party again spoke through its leader, Donald Trump, this week, to cast disrespect on recipients of the Medal of Honor. According to Wikipedia, “The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The President typically presents the Medal of Honor at a formal ceremony intended to represent the gratitude of the American people, with posthumous presentations made to the primary next of kin.”
To demonstrate how “grateful” Republicans feel about soldiers who endangered or gave their lives in service to the United States, Trump had this to say about the similarities between bestowing a medal on a campaign donor, and the nation’s highest military honor:
“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said, speaking about Sheldon Adelson. “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 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,” he went on.
“She gets it, and she’s a healthy beautiful woman. And they’re rated equal. But she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” [link]
This dishonorable language is particularly relevant to Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson, as the town recently memorialized a resident, Captain Paul Bucha, who was recognized with the Medal of Honor for heroic combat actions during the war in Vietnam, and who sadly passed at the age of 80.
Our town is known for being home to a disproportionately high number of Medal of Honor recipients.
It’s unclear whether Republicans will continue to follow Trump, but there is reason to believe they will. The latest insult to the military is in keeping with the Party’s recent history. Those old enough to remember 2004 will recall that the Republican party unapologetically favored draft-evader George W. Bush over decorated war hero John Kerry following the Republicans’ disgraceful campaign undermining Kerry’s bravery under fire. Those old enough to remember last week will recall when draft-evader Trump’s hand-picked vice-presidential candidate and veteran JD Vance (aka James Donald Bowman, aka James David Hamel, aka J. D. Hamel) shamefully disparaged the military service of 24-year National Guard veteran Tim Walz. And they’ll likely continue to gloss over Trump’s earlier remarks about John McCain (calling him a “loser” and the infamous “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”), his attacks on slain U.S. soldiers as “losers” and “suckers,” his denigration of Gold Star families, and his pathetic comments about the Purple Heart.
It appears that in its zeal to debase itself for Trump, the Republican Party will abandon every value it has ever claimed to hold.