This one hits a little close to home for me, as the grandchild of a career Air Force military officer, who received multiple medals for his service. If this had been my grandfather, I would have been LIVID at this ceremony.
Donald Trump summoned Melania from her gilded tower this week to go visit vets at Walter Reed Hospital, his first such visit. Hoping to have some good press to distract from all the "What has Trump achieved in his first 100 days?" articles being written, he arranged to bestow a Purple Heart on Army Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos, who was gravely wounded in Afghanistan, losing a leg in a bombing attack.
It's a little difficult to make out in the press pool footage, which didn't have appropriate mics on any of the participants, but Trump's plaudits are not the typical response to the sacrifice made by Sgt Barrientos. "When I heard about this, I wanted to do it myself," Trump said as he pinned the medal on the soldier's collar. “Congratulations … tremendous.”
Wait, what? Congratulations for getting your leg blown off? Congratulations for being so gravely injured in a war that Trump gets to give him a medal? Is that what's "tremendous"? The chance to be in a cheap photo op with Trump and Melania?
Trump also managed to kiss Barrientos' wife...twice. But not a single thank you or hand shake for the soldier.
Class act, that 45.
