Donald Trump compares himself to Medal of Honor recipients by saying he's 'financially brave'
Donald Trump admitted he might not be as brave as war heroes who have won the Medal of Honor — but he insists he's still "brave in other ways." "I'm brave — I'm financially brave. Big deal, right? These are real brave," he said during a rally Thursday night in North Carolina, gesturing to the Medal of Honor recipients sitting behind him onstage. Trump said he "wouldn't have done what they did."
This wasn't the first time Trump has compared his bravery and selflessness to that of war heroes. After Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim-American soldier who died in Iraq, said during a speech at the Democratic National Convention that Trump has "sacrificed nothing" for his country, Trump fired back by saying he'd "made a lot of sacrifices."
"I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've done, I've had tremendous success," Trump said in response to Khan. Later, at a rally in August, Trump marveled after a man presented him with a copy of his Purple Heart. "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart," he said. "This was much easier."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Watch Trump describe the "other ways" he's brave below. Becca Stanek
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Political cartoons for November 23Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a Thanksgiving horn of plenty, the naughty list, and more
-
How will climate change affect the UK?The Explainer Met Office projections show the UK getting substantially warmer and wetter – with more extreme weather events
-
Crossword: November 23, 2025The daily crossword from The Week
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country