{"id":78655,"date":"2024-08-20T18:38:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T18:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/08\/20\/trump-clarifies-medal-of-honor-comments-calls-it-the-ultimate-honor\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:58:19","slug":"trump-clarifies-medal-of-honor-comments-calls-it-the-ultimate-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2024\/08\/20\/trump-clarifies-medal-of-honor-comments-calls-it-the-ultimate-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump clarifies Medal of Honor comments, calls it the \u2018ultimate\u2019 honor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this weekend worked to clarify his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2024\/08\/16\/trump-belittles-medal-of-honor-award-in-campaign-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\">controversial remarks on the Medal of Honor<\/a> from last week, calling the military award \u201cthe ultimate\u201d honor America can bestow while noting the bodily sacrifices of troops who earn it, and how \u201cit is a painful thing to get.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump received criticism from veterans groups and Democratic leaders after his original remarks last Thursday at a campaign event in New Jersey, where he compared <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/12\/08\/three-soldiers-to-be-awarded-medals-of-honor\/\" target=\"_blank\">the nation\u2019s highest military honor<\/a> to the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s the equivalent of the congressional Medal of Honor,\u201d Trump said of the civilian Medal of Freedom. \u201cBut the civilian version, it\u2019s actually much better because everyone that gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they\u2019re soldiers. They\u2019re either in very bad shape because they\u2019ve been hit so many times by bullets or they\u2019re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2024\/08\/16\/trump-belittles-medal-of-honor-award-in-campaign-speech\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24229014237515.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump belittles Medal of Honor award in campaign speech<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">\u201cThey\u2019re either in very bad shape because they\u2019ve been hit so many times by bullets or they\u2019re dead,\u201d Trump said of Medal of Honor recipients.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pahomepage.com\/video\/andy-mehalshicks-exclusive-1-on-1-with-former-president-trump\/9962467\/\" target=\"_blank\">During an interview with WBRE<\/a> in Pennsylvania days later, Trump said his \u201cbetter\u201d comment was misconstrued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I say better, I would rather, in a certain way, get it, because people, they get the congressional Medal of Honor, which I\u2019ve given to many, are often horribly wounded or dead,\u201d he said \u201cThey\u2019re often dead. They get it posthumously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd when you get the [military] medal, 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\u2019s usually for other things, like you\u2019ve achieved great success in sports, or you\u2019ve achieved great success someplace else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Defense Department rules, the Medal of Honor is awarded to servicemembers who distinguish themselves \u201cthrough conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded at the commander-in-chief\u2019s discretion to \u201cindividuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his time in office, Trump presented nine Medals of Honor for battlefield bravery, two posthumously. He awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom 24 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, former Trump chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly told CNN that the two medals have \u201cno equivalency of any kind\u201d and criticized Trump for his previous comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from the Veterans of Foreign Wars in a statement called Trump\u2019s comments \u201casinine\u201d and said they \u201cnot only diminish the significance of our nation\u2019s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterize the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speakers at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night also criticized Trump for the comments, calling them just the latest in a long line of disrespectful remarks by the former commander in chief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former president caused controversy with remarks last week saying a civilian medal was a better honor than the military award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,7,23,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-78655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-home","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FRNRUBWMUVF7DMGJFK6Z7QVXOE","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2024\/08\/20\/trump-clarifies-medal-of-honor-comments-calls-it-the-ultimate-honor\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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