When asked about his response to an Iranian missile attack when he was president, Trump noted that no one was injured, except for having “headaches.”
Of course, the reality is that there were injuries. As the NYT reported at the time, 34 Troops Have Brain Injuries From Iranian Missile Strike, Pentagon Says.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump dismissed concussion symptoms felt by the troops as “not very serious,” even as the Pentagon acknowledged that a number of American service members were being studied for possible traumatic brain injury caused by the attack.
“I heard they had headaches,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland. “I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries I have seen.”
This is utterly dismissive about the health of US troops. It is certainly not the most egregious example, but it is yet another one for the list.
And for the record–I am glad that there was no escalation after those attacks. But is it really too much for Trump to show some compassion for members of the armed services?
He repeated the headache line again yesterday (see Rupar and Berlatsky: Trump’s decompensation was the big debate day story h/t to charontwo for the link).
Side note: in watching the video of Trump’s remarks, I noted the following. The grift is unending on the far right these days. It is quite the business model: free programming of Trump rambling with ads in the corner. I wonder how many “Contagion Emergency Kits” they sold while Trump dismissed concussions as “headaches”?
Update: A more detailed story of the aftermath of that attack from a 2021 CBS piece: These U.S. soldiers were injured by Iranian ballistic missiles. They’ve been denied the Purple Heart award.
