Speaking to veterans today, Donald Trump yet again insulted the military. This time, Trump dismissed veterans who die by suicide as people who are not "strong" and "can't handle it."
Donald Trump, who avoided the Vietnam War with five deferments from the military draft, has a history of disrespecting our military.
Last summer, Trump said Sen. John McCain was "not a war hero" because he was captured and tortured as a prisoner of war. "I like people that weren't captured," Trump said.
This summer, Donald Trump slammed the family of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star after being killed in Iraq in 2004. Trump told the Muslim-American family of the slain hero that he, too, "made a lot of sacrifices," despite never having served in the military.
Trump's latest insult came today while he was speaking in Virginia at an event hosted by the Retired American Warriors PAC. At the event, Trump was asked about military suicides. In response (which you can view in the video above at the 45-minute mark in the video above), Trump rambled in his usual fashion. He then said,
While Trump generally seems sympathetic to the stress of veterans, voters likely won't appreciate his description of military suicides as happening to people who lack the mental strength to "handle" it. The comments come at a time when veterans are taking their own lives at an alarming rate, and veterans who call the government's suicide hotline are getting busy signals and voicemails.
People reacted to Trump's comments on Twitter:
View all of Trump's comments from the event in the video above.