Donald Trump speaks to reporters after landing at the Andrews, Maryland, base on Thursday night.Evan Vucci / AP
Outraged and trying to make himself heard under the noise of Air Force One's engines after returning from a campaign rally on Thursday night, the president of the United States vehemently denied a report published by
The Atlantic
magazine.
in which he claimed that Donald Trump had referred to the US soldiers killed in combat as "losers" and "idiots."
With less than 60 days before the presidential elections on November 3 that could take the White House from him - according to the polls - Trump is immersed in a controversy that could cost him the vote of an important establishment of which he has always defined himself as a defender: the military.
The information provided by
The Atlantic
ensures that in 2018 Trump refused to visit a cemetery in which American soldiers who fought in World War I were buried in France because the persistent rain that day would spoil his hairstyle and also did not consider it necessary to honor those killed in war.
The Associated Press agency has confirmed
Atlantic's
account
, which attributes its sources to "four people who knew first-hand the discussion that took place that day," although it does not provide any names.
The narrative of what happened draws a president brutally insulting the more than 116,000 US servicemen who died in the Great War.
As a reason for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, Trump had a conversation with some of his closest collaborators in which he discussed the need to visit the French cemetery.
“Why should I go to that cemetery?
It is full of losers, "said the president, according to
The Atlantic.
On that same trip, the commander-in-chief - described as a "coward-in-chief" by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, seriously injured when she was a fighter pilot in Iraq - referred to the US
Marines
killed in action at Belleau Wood as "idiots." ”For being killed.
"What animal could say such a thing?"
"If there really are people who have said that, they are human scum and liars," Trump said when Air Force One landed and the press was waiting for him to hear his version of events.
"I am willing to swear on whatever it is that I have never made such a comment about our fallen heroes," the president continued.
Trump continued to defend himself by ensuring that no one respected the soldiers more than he.
The president concluded his remarks by asking: "What animal could say such a thing?"
This is not the first time that Trump has shown contempt for those he does not consider heroes.
His well-known animosity for Republican Senator John McCain became public and apparent after his death from cancer in 2018 when, according to
The Atlantic
, Trump told his White House team that he was not planning to contribute "to the funeral of a loser."
There the insult did not end.
Always according to the same publication, Trump was furious when he saw the flags waving at half mast.
"Why the hell are we doing this?
The guy was a fucking loser. "
McCain, a former war hero, son and grandson of admirals, made it clear before his death from brain cancer that he did not want the president to be invited to the ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral.
During his campaign as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the White House, Trump had already expressed his antipathy for the five-time senator from Arizona very clearly.
“He is not a war hero;
It is only because he was captured: I prefer those who have not been captured ”.
McCain, a decorated aviator, spent five years in captivity and torture in Vietnam.
The Democratic campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden has immediately mobilized with a series of harsh communications and strong criticism of the president.
Candidate Biden himself has expressed doubts about the president's ability to lead the country.
"The president of the United States should be presidential," declared Biden, who made it known that he did not intend to go "down the drain" as Trump did.
"The president's job is to serve as an example," Biden concluded.
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