Trump laments that American soldiers no longer 'fight to win'

(Image credit: Screenshot/MSNBC)

published 27 February 2017

President Donald Trump slammed the American military Monday, complaining the U.S. doesn't "fight to win."

"Win. We have to win. We have to start winning wars again," Trump said. "I have to say, when I was young, in high school and college, everybody used to say that we never lost a war. 'We never lost a war.' You remember."

"And now we never win a war," Trump added. "We never win. And we don't fight to win."

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Trump added that the war in the Middle East has gone "nowhere. Actually, if you think about it, we're less than nowhere."

"Soldiers serving [abroad] and at home right now heard this," pointed out MTV News' Jamil Smith.

President Trump attended a military academy, but never served in the armed forces. He received a total of five draft deferments in the Vietnam War, including one for bone spurs in his heels, The New York Times reports. Trump has been previously criticized for being insensitive to the sacrifices made by service members and their families for the country: "You have sacrificed nothing and no one," said Khizr Khan, the father of an American soldier killed in Iraq, at the Democratic National Convention last year.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.