Trump claims Pentagon chiefs aren't 'in love' with him, but 'the soldiers are'
During a press conference at the White House on Monday afternoon, President Trump again denied multiple reports that he privately called U.S. troops who were killed in combat "losers" and "suckers," declaring, "only an animal would say a thing like that."
Trump went on to tell reporters that his relationship with troops is completely different from his relationship with top military brass. "I'm not saying the military is in love with me, the soldiers are," he said. Last week, a Military Times poll found that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads Trump by 6 percentage points among active-duty troops. At this time in 2016, Trump had a 20-point lead over Hillary Clinton among active service members.
Trump said he believes the "top people in the Pentagon" probably aren't big fans "because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs, who make the planes, and make everything else stay happy." He continued: "Some people don't like to come home, some people like to continue to spend money. One cold-hearted globalist betrayal after another, that's what it was."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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