Biden passionately rebukes Trump, says his son Beau 'wasn't a sucker' for serving in Iraq

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is strongly rebuking President Trump and calling for him to apologize for "disgusting" remarks the president allegedly made about U.S. troops.

Biden during an event on Friday responded to a report in The Atlantic that Trump privately described U.S. troops killed in battle as "losers" and "suckers" when he canceled a visit to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in 2018. The former vice president, whose late son, Beau Biden, served in Iraq, slammed the "deplorable" alleged comments and called for Trump to "humbly apologize" if the report is accurate.

"When my son volunteered and joined the United States military as the attorney general and went to Iraq for a year, won the bronze star and other commendations, he wasn't a sucker," Biden said, per Axios. "The service men and women he served with, particularly those who did not come home, were not losers."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

Biden continued to passionately rip into Trump for the reported remarks and ask, "Who the heck does he think he is?" He added, "I'm always cautioned not to lose my temper. This may be as close as I've come in this campaign." While taking questions from reporters, the Democratic presidential nominee called Trump's alleged comments "sick" and said his "anger" over them "is real."

Trump has denied making the remarks, although subsequent reports have emerged corroborating aspects of The Atlantic's article and adding that he has made other similar comments privately. In 2015, Trump publicly said that then Senator John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, is "not a war hero" and that "I like people who weren't captured." Brendan Morrow