Trump says soldiers love him even if Pentagon bosses don’t

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Donald Trump asserted on Monday that while the Pentagon doesn’t love him, he is still confident that the troops do.
• After attacking Democratic rival Joe Biden during his news conference on Labor Day, he went on to comment that the Pentagon’s top officials do nothing but fight wars just so they can accommodate the weapon makers. 
• In addition, the president maintained the Atlantic article that said he called the soldiers who died in battle “losers”, false and untrue.

President Donald Trump on Monday said that even though the Pentagon leaders aren’t his biggest fans, still, the U.S. troops largely support him.

Speaking at a Labor Day press conference at the White House North Portico, the commander in chief said the Pentagon top brass aren’t “in love with me”, asserting that all they wanted to do was fight wars to make the weapon manufacturers who make all the bombs and planes, happy.

“But we’re getting out of the endless wars,” he added. Trump also took credit for restoring the military stockpiles that he claimed were exhausted under President Obama.

The striking comments came after the president launched a lengthy tirade against Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, whom he accused of supporting “endless wars” and bad trade deals.

Furthermore, Trump also repeated his denials over the Atlantic report that claimed he made scathing remarks about the American troops, belittling them and calling them “losers” and “suckers” for losing their lives in combat.

“The story is a hoax,” Trump firmly claimed.

The article, the gist of which was corroborated by several news outlets, was attributed to unnamed senior officials in the military.

Trump’s relationship with the US military leadership has always been troubled. After initially appointing retired generals James Mattis as Defense Secretary and John Kelly as chief of staff, both were subsequently fired and ousted from their posts. Since then, both Mattis and Kelly have attacked the president on various issues such as foreign policy and using the military to end protests in the U.S.

Kelly, who was homeland security secretary at the time, was also present for crucial moments in the Atlantic report. He said that during a visit to the Arlington National Cemetery gravesite of his son who died in Afghanistan, Trump reportedly asked, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” referring to the dead American service members buried around them.

When questioned by a reporter on whether he asked Kelly to refute the story, Trump replied saying, “Who would say a thing like that? Only an animal would say a thing like that. There’s nobody that has more respect for, not only our military, but for people who gave their lives.”

Kelly has yet to publicly comment on the Atlantic article. 

Source: Yahoo! News