dismissed 109 service member’s traumatic brain injuries as “headaches”?

In the aftermath of Trump’s drone strike on a senior Iranian official, Iran launched a missile barrage at Iraqi military bases housing US soldiers. There were no deaths suffered in the attack.

Trump said afterward that there were no casualties. Within a month, the Department of Defense reported that a total of 109 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Trump downplayed the injuries, saying, describing them as “headaches.”

In Trump’s complete remarks, he discounted the severity of TBIs based on comparison to other injuries:

“I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it’s not very serious. Not very serious. They told me about it numerous days later, you’ll have to ask the Department of Defense. No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen. I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war, in fact many cases, put those bombs, put there by Soleimani, who’s no longer with us. I consider them to be really bad injuries. No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries, no.”

Traumatic brain injuries are forms of brain damage resulting from sudden blows to the head. They have become an increasingly common form of injury among service members since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in part due to the prevalence of IEDs. Its symptoms can range from mild to having a permanent and devastating effect. There have been over 400,000 confirmed cases among US service members since 2000.

Center for Disease Control – Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

The Washington Post – Trump’s no-injuries claim about Iran keeps looking worse
Business Insider – Trump reportedly downplayed the seriousness of military brain injuries again by saying he’s seen worse
Military Times – 109 US troops diagnosed with TBI after Iran missile barrage says Pentagon in latest update
Military.com – Traumatic Brain Injury Overview
Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center – DoD Worldwide Numbers for TBI
Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

said “I always felt I was in the military”?

Trump told his biographer that he “always felt that I was in the military” because of his time at New York Military Academy, a boarding school he had been sent to in his youth. He explained that he’d received “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.”

While Trump received five draft deferments for Vietnam, he still explained that, “I felt that I was in the military in the true sense because I dealt with those people.” He has also told the same biographer that his temperament had not much changed since he was in the first grade.

The New York Times – Donald Trump Likens His Schooling to Military Service in Book
Business Insider – Donald Trump: ‘I always felt that I was in the military’ by attending a military school
Snopes – Donald Trump Compared Prep School to Military Service?

said, “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart, this was much easier,” after being gifted one by a veteran?

Trump made the remark after being gifted the medal by a veteran wounded in Iraq.

The comment shed doubt on whether Trump knew what a Purple Heart was awarded for, as few wish to be injured or killed while serving in order to receive the medal.

U.S. Military Purple Heart medal. (U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Dennis Sloan)
A Purple Heart medal. Sarah Blansett / Military.com

Trump received five draft deferments, and called dodging STDs his own personal Vietnam.

Military Times – A retired soldier gave Donald Trump his Purple Heart. Here’s why
The Washington Post – It’s legal for Donald Trump to accept a Purple Heart. How he handled it is up for debate.
Politico – Trump: ‘I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier’
Business Insider – Trump to vet who gave him his medal: ‘I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier’

didn’t know about Pearl Harbor?

According to the book A Very Stable Genius, during a private tour of the Pearl Harbor memorial, Trump asked his Chief of Staff John Kelly, “Hey, John, what’s this all about? What’s this a tour of?”

The authors explain that Trump didn’t grasp the site’s significance, as he’d “heard the phrase ‘Pearl Harbor’ and appeared to understand that he was visiting the scene of a historic battle…he did not seem to know much else.”

In a tweet the same day of his visit, Trump repeated a common misquote of Franklin Roosevelt’s description of the Pearl Harbor attack, “a date that will live in infamy.”

His wife Melania also wrongly placed the date of the Pearl Harbor attacks in a deleted tweet.

Deleted tweet / The Washington Post

A year prior, Trump attacked Obama for not bringing up Pearl Harbor during an official visit to Japan.

The Washington Post – ‘A Very Stable Genius’ portrays Trump as erratic, ‘at times dangerously uninformed
The Washington Post – Melania Trump tweets, then quickly deletes, wrong Pearl Harbor date
Business Insider – ‘What’s this a tour of?’: Trump barely understood the significance of an iconic Pearl Harbor memorial during a private tour, new book says
The Week – Trump reportedly doesn’t know what happened at Pearl Harbor
Politico – White House misremembers historical details on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

said the military would commit war crimes on his order?

During a Republican primary debate, Trump said that the military would follow his orders, even if the orders were criminal.

His remarks were,

“They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me, believe me. Let me just tell you, if you look at the Middle East, they’re chopping off heads, chopping off the heads of Christians, and anyone else who happens to be in the way, they’re drowning people in steel cages, and he, he now, we’re talking about waterboarding…They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding? I said it’s fine, and if we want to go stronger, I’ll go stronger, too. Because, frankly, that’s the way I feel.

 

Can you imagine, can you imagine, these people, these animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking, and seeing that we’re having a hard problem with waterboarding. We should go for waterboarding, and we should go tougher than waterboarding. That’s what I think, and, and, I’m a leader. I’m a leader. I’ve always been a leader. I’ve never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, they’re gonna do it. That’s what leadership is all about.

Trump has also said he would reimpose torture techniques, threatened to target enemy cultural sites, and pardoned US soldiers convicted of war crimes.

Politico – Trump: Military ‘won’t refuse’ my orders
Time – President Trump’s Illegal Military Orders
The Week – Donald Trump doubles down on torture, war crimes

ended joint defense exercises between the US and South Korea at North Korea’s request?

In a major concession to North Korea, Trump said that he would be ending the “provocative” defensive joint exercises with South Korea. He also said that US soldiers stationed in South Korea should be withdrawn “at some point.” It was unclear what concessions and assurances North Korea offered in return. In response, Congress passed budget legislation prohibiting the reduction of US forces in South Korea below 22,000.

The move came after a summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore, which featured an awkward moment where Trump saluted a North Korean officer. Trump had said he didn’t need to prepare or take notes for the historic meeting.

Trump gave his assurances that if he was wrong about trusting Kim Jong Un, he’d “find some kind of excuse.”

The New York Times – Pentagon and Seoul Surprised by Trump Pledge to Halt Military Exercises
Reuters – Trump surprises with pledge to end military exercises in South Korea
ABC News – Trump’s pledge to stop ‘war games’ with South Korea throws critical exercises into question
Time – ‘Think of It From a Real Estate Perspective’: The Most Memorable Quotes From the Trump-Kim Summit Press Conference
The Hill – Bipartisan House group introduces bills to stall Syria, South Korea troop withdrawals
WIkipedia – 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit

said that his tweets are sufficient notice to Congress for military strikes?

After a senior Iranian official was killed by drone strike, Congressional members balked at how the White House had failed to brief them on the attack. Trump said via tweet that no notice is required (in direct contradiction with the 1973 War Powers Act), but that his Twitter posts would serve as notice to Congress.

He has similarly failed to brief Congress for strikes, including when he told Russia and Turkey of an impending attack on an ISIS leader before anyone in Congress.

Business Insider – Trump claims his ‘Media Posts’ on Twitter now count as official notification to Congress about any plans to attack Iran
Stars and Stripes – Trump claims his tweets are sufficient notice to Congress that US might strike Iran

got five draft deferments during Vietnam?

Trump received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War. Four were for college, but a fifth was for bone spurs on his foot that allegedly made him ineligible to serve. There had been no medical history of spurs during medical examinations prior, and Trump claimed that they later healed on their own.

Despite having not served, Trump has called dodging STDs his “personal Vietnam,” said John McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured, and has attacked Gold Star families.

Business Insider – Donald Trump avoided the military draft 5 times, but it wasn’t uncommon for young men from influential families to do so during the Vietnam War
Military Times – Trump made up injury to dodge Vietnam service, his former lawyer testifies
USA Today – Podiatrist’s daughters say bone spur diagnosis that helped Trump avoid Vietnam draft was ‘favor’

said that he would impose torture techniques “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding?”

During a Republican primary debate, Trump said,

In the Middle East we have people chopping the heads off Christians, We have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before as a group, we have never seen before…

I would bring back waterboarding. And I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.

In another instance, Trump said that the US should “take out” the families of terrorists.

The Hill – Trump calls for ‘hell of a lot worse than waterboarding’
Chicago Tribune – GOP debate: Trump calls for a lot worse than waterboarding against terrorists
The Wall Street Journal – Trump Reaffirms Support for ‘Worse Than Waterboarding’

said he would “take out” the families of terrorists?

During a Fox News interview, Trump said that the problem with the US’ handling of the war against ISIS was that “we’re fighting a very politically correct war,” and so “the other thing is with the terrorists, you have to take out their families.”

Any intentional killing of civilian non-combatants is a war crime, though Trump previously asserted that the military wouldn’t refuse any orders from him.

Trump has also said he would reimpose torture techniques, threatened to target enemy cultural sites, and pardoned US soldiers convicted of war crimes.

Time – Donald Trump Says He’d ‘Take Out’ Terrorists’ Families
The Hill – Trump on terrorists: You have to take out their families
Politifact – Geneva Conventions bar Donald Trump’s idea of killing terrorists’ families, as Rand Paul says

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