Veterans condemn Trump for saying civilian award is much better than Medal of Honor

Former President Donald Trump is under fire from veterans and active military service members after he said that the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to civilians is better than the Medal of Honor awarded for military valor because the soldiers who are awarded the Medal of Honor have been injured or killed.

During an event on Aug. 15 at his Bedminster country club in New Jersey, Trump spoke about Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson, to whom he had presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018. Trump called the medal “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. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman.”

Veterans and military service members were quick to condemn Trump’s comments, saying that one cannot compare the two honors. There is no strict criteria for awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, whereas the Medal of Honor is given to a service member who “distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Medal of Freedom and what it symbolizes. I believe it’s important to recognize the contributions of civilians, and I appreciate the efforts of both past and current presidents in this regard. However, I feel that it’s not quite comparable to the Medal of Honor, as they are two very different awards with different criteria and significance,” retired U.S. Army Capt. Florent Groberg, one of 60 living Medal of Honor recipients, said in a message to the Pennsylvania Independent. 

Groberg was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2015 by former President Barack Obama for actions he took in Afghanistan in 2012 to save his fellow soldiers from a suicide bomber, which left him with a traumatic brain injury and permanently damaged part of his leg.

Dave Gunshore, 61, a retired Army specialist from Scranton, Pennsylvania, said he is enraged that Trump would compare the two medals.

“Just for him to have the nerve to equate giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a high- dollar donor and saying that’s better than giving it to men that gave their lives, suffered irreparable wounds and damage, it made me want to vomit, to be honest with you,” Gunshore said in an interview with the Pennsylvania Independent. “Every day, it’s like, I don’t think he could go any lower, but yet he manages to do so.”

Buddy Maxwell Jr., an Air Force veteran from Allentown, Pennsylvania, told the Pennsylvania Independent that he was offended by Trump’s comments. 

“It’s obvious, No. 1, he never served in the military to even feel that way,” Maxwell, who is now a truck driver and member of United Auto Workers Local 670, said. “And the second thing is, it’s hard to compare a citizen who does well for citizens, or do something for citizens of this country, versus an individual who will die for their country and for the rights of other countries. It’s hard to compare those two medals.”

Al Lipphardt, an Army veteran and the commander in chief of the organization Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in a statement published on its website: “These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty.

“When a candidate to serve as our military’s commander-in-chief so brazenly dismisses the valor and reverence symbolized by the Medal of Honor and those who have earned it, I must question whether they would discharge their responsibilities to our men and women in uniform with the seriousness and discernment necessary for such a powerful position. It is even more disappointing when these comments come from a man who already served in this noble office and should frankly already know better.”

A television reporter asked Trump on Aug. 18  if he wanted to clarify what he had meant, pointing out that “many veterans are upset about that.”

Trump responded: “When I say ‘better,’ I would rather, in a certain way, get it because people that get the Congressional Medal of Honor, which I’ve given to many, are often horribly wounded or dead. They’re often dead. They get it posthumously. When you get the Congressional Medal of Honor — I always consider that to be the ultimate, but it is a painful thing to get it. When you get the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it’s usually for other things, like you’ve achieved great success in sports or you’ve achieved great success someplace else.”

Gunshore responded to Trump’s second round of comments: “Pleasing his donors to him is more important than respecting our veterans that gave their lives or suffered tragic injuries defending their country and protecting their brothers and sisters. Because that’s pretty much what you get the Congressional Medal of Honor for, is protecting your brothers and sisters. You’re a hero.”