Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has once again spoken out in defense of the controversial statements of his running mate, former President Donald Trump. Donald Trump.
Speaking to the Milwaukee Police Association on Friday, Vance—who spent four years in the Marine Corps and served a tour of duty in Iraq in 2005 as a war correspondent—tried to downplay Trump’s recent comments, downplaying the importance of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The award, which has been in existence for more than 150 years, is the country’s highest award for valor in combat. Trump compared it to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
At a campaign event on Thursday at his golf club in New Jersey, Trump called for Miriam Adelson in the crowd
Adelson, a prominent Republican donor and casino magnate with an estimated net worth of $32.3 billion, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump in 2018. During her failed 2020 bid, Adelson and her husband donated $90 million to Preserve America, a super PAC dedicated to electing Trump.
This time, she is expected to contribute even more.
“We gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump began. “It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but it’s a civilian version.” He then went on to say that the freedom award “is actually much better because everybody who gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been shot so many times—or they’re dead.”
“She understands that and she is a strong, beautiful woman,” Trump continued, noting that the two awards “are considered equal.”
The former president may have used the moment to make amends with Adelson after he reportedly sent her a series of angry text messages last month, according to New York Times.
“This is a man who loves our veterans and honors our veterans,” JD Vance said of Trump on Friday, claiming he had not seen the full speech. “I don’t think it’s a disservice to people who have received the military honors for him to praise and say a nice word about someone who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Vance continued. “Those are two different awards. And I think the president said some nice things about someone he likes and that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do.”
“The veteran community is very, very supportive of Donald Trump,” Vance said after referring to his meeting with veterans in Pennsylvania.
Veterans across the country have condemned Trump’s recent remarks and criticized Vance for supporting his running mate’s actions as a veteran.
Veterans of Foreign Wars—a nonprofit that serves active duty, guard, and reserve forces, which has previously condemned the language Trump used when discussing veterans—called the former president’s comments “stupid.”
“When a candidate for commander in chief of our military so blatantly denies the courage and respect symbolized by the Medal of Honor and those who have earned it, I have to question whether they take their responsibility to our men and women in uniform with the seriousness and clarity required for such a position of power,” the organization said in a statement, adding that Trump “frankly should know better.”
In an interview with MSNBC Reid’s JoyIraq War veteran and co-founder of veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org Jon Soltz said of Vance: “I have complete respect for his service, but he is a cheat.”
