President Donald Trump’s indifference towards U.S. soldiers killed in a war he started is not sitting well with some Americans.
Trump, 79, addressed the nation on Sunday and said that “there will likely be more” U.S. military personnel killed in the war with Iran that he started on Saturday, saying “that’s the way it is.”
U.S. Central Command shared on Sunday morning that three American servicemembers had died and five more were seriously wounded as a result of the American and Israeli joint military operation in Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury” by the Defense Department.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called out the president’s insensitivity to the valor of military service by comparing his comments to those of past Republican presidents.
“‘We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.’ — Lincoln. ‘These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent.’ — Reagan,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “‘That’s the way it is.’ — Trump.”
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Purple Heart recipient, also took to X to slam the president for his comments.
“‘That’s the way it is,’ says the five-time draft dodger to our military families who fear their loved one in uniform could be next,” Duckworth wrote, noting Trump’s five draft deferments during the Vietnam War. “What a disgrace.”
Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, a combat veteran who served two tours in Iraq, was particularly embarrassed by the president’s lack of empathy for American military servicemembers who died for their country.
“For the president to not answer those questions, to have nothing to say to those family members, is pathetic. It’s pathetic,” Ryan, 43, told anchor Kaitlan Collins on Sunday night. “And it’s because he doesn’t have answers. There’s not a plan here, or if there is, he’s not sharing it with the American people.”
“This certainly rhymes with past ill-conceived, half-baked regime change wars that sound good until they start, and then all of a sudden, no one knows what the heck is going on, and it’s young American men and women that pay the price,” he added. “And that p—es me off.”
CNN White House correspondent Kristen Holmes also reported that the president refused to acknowledge reporters’ questions about whether he had a message for the families of the fallen servicemembers after he arrived back at the White House Sunday night.
However, Holmes said Trump did comment positively on the new statues added to the White House Rose Garden patio.
The president told The New York Times on Sunday that he plans to sustain the assault on Iran for “four to five weeks,” saying that it “won’t be difficult” for the U.S. and Israel to keep up the intensity of the offensive even as the risk for more American casualties grows.
“Three is three too many as far as I’m concerned,” Trump told the newspaper. “If you look at projections, they do projections, it, you know, it could be quite a bit higher than that.”
“We expect casualties,” he added.
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment.
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