Trump Ripped For Dismissing Troops’ Injuries While In Office

Former President Donald Trump received a bevy of criticism after he dismissed, yet again, the traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. troops as a result of Iranian missile attacks on their base as “headaches.”

Trump made the remarks during a campaign stop in Milwaukee on Tuesday after he was asked by a reporter, “Do you believe you should’ve been tougher on Iran after they had launched ballistic missiles in 2020 on US forces leaving more than 100 soldiers injured?”

“So first of all, injured. What does injured mean? Injured means — you mean because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort,” replied a clearly annoyed Trump.

“So just so you understand, there was nobody ever tougher on Iraq,” Trump said, seeming to confuse Iraq with Iran. “None of those very accurate missiles hit our fort. They all hit outside. There was nobody hurt, other than the sound was loud. Some people said that hurt, and I accept that,” he added.

The Pentagon publicly confirmed that over 100 U.S. troops sustained serious injuries following the Iranian missile attack at the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq in January 2020, which was in response to Trump ordering the killing of Revolutionary Guard leader Qassem Soleimani a few days prior.

“Nearly 80 troops received Purple Hearts for injuries related to the attack, most connected to traumatic brain injury. An inspector general report released in November 2021 hinted the number of injuries may have been even higher, because military officials did not properly document all of the troops’ health issues,” reported the Military Times of the injuries.

Trump also initially downplayed the injuries during a press conference in late January 2020. “No, I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious,” Trump said when asked about the injuries.

“You don’t consider a potential traumatic brain injury serious?” CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang followed up.

“They told me about it numerous days later, you’d have to ask Department of Defense, no, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen. I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops,” Trump replied.

CNN Pentagon reporter Haley Britzky replied on X to a clip of Trump’s latest comments and noted, “Dozens of US service members received the Purple Heart because of the missile attack in 2020. One soldier told CBS he had constant headaches and memory loss as a result of the TBI: ‘The person I was prior to a traumatic brain injury, he’s gone.’”

Below are some additional reactions to Trump’s latest comment:

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