Trump bites back with his own video tribute to troops

Donald Trump has unveiled a new campaign video paying tribute to the U.S. military, in what he insisted were his ‘real words’ – unlike, he has insisted, quotes disparaging the troops reported in the Atlantic.

The new video, tweeted by the president on Wednesday evening, features a montage of scenes showing Trump thanking and commemorating military figures.

Entitled ‘Valor’, the video scrolls through clips of Trump paying his respects at a military ceremony and presenting medals to elderly veterans. Active duty troops are filmed in soft-focus, while families embrace their military relative. 

All is accompanied by a stirring soundtrack, and Trump’s words praising the armed forces.

‘The dignity, daring and devotion of the American military is unrivaled anywhere in the world,’ he says.

He praised ‘the eternal bonds of loyalty to our fallen heroes’, which he says Americans are reminded of every time they sing the National Anthem. 

‘We remember the young Americans who never got the chance to grow old, but whose legacy will outlive us all,’ he continues, praising Americans who gave their lives to carry the flag across seas and deserts.

‘We stand with you today, and all days to come – remembering, grieving,’ he says.

‘They were angels, sent from above, and they are now rejoined with God in the glorious kingdom of Heaven.’ 

To the footage of a child waving the Stars and Stripes, as fireworks explode on the horizon, he vows: ‘American freedom will never, ever die.’

‘God bless America,’ he concludes, as a fly past cruises overhead.

The president was evidently delighted with his team’s work. 

‘These are my real words about our GREAT HEROES, not made up lies by the enemy. THANK YOU and God Bless You All!’ he tweeted. 

The White House has been on the counter-attack ever since the publication of the highly damaging Atlantic article on September 3.

The report credits four separate military sources, and claims that Trump cancelled a visit to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in November 2018 because he was worried his hair would be disheveled by the rain.

In a conversation with senior staff before the planned visit, Trump reportedly asked aides: ‘Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’

During the same trip, the president allegedly later referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives in the Battle of Belleau Wood in France as ‘suckers’ for getting killed. 

On Wednesday, the White House’s problems mounted with leaked excerpts of Bob Woodward’s new book, in which Trump is further accused of denigrating the armed forces.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis once heard Trump disparaging top military brass, as he and other national security professionals had deep-seated concerns about the president, according to the book. 

Mattis heard Trump say in a meeting, ‘my f***ing generals are a bunch of pussies,’ because the military leaders cared more about alliances than trade deals, the book gave as the president’s reasoning. 

Mattis, who quit the administration in December 2018 after Trump decided to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, talked to Woodward and called Trump ‘dangerous,’ ‘unfit’ and said he had ‘no moral compass,’ according to excerpts obtained by CNN. 

He said he quit ‘when I was basically directed to do something that I thought went beyond stupid to felony stupid.’   

Mattis also believed Trump’s actions on the global stage gave adversaries a playbook on ‘how to destroy America.’  

After he left the administration, he and Dan Coats, the former director of national intelligence, discussed whether they should take ‘collective action’ and come out publicly against Trump. 

Coats ‘continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin had something on Trump,’ Woodward wrote. 

‘How else to explain the president’s behavior? Coats could see no other explanation,’ the famed Watergate journalist continued. 

Coats and his staff members had ‘examined the intelligence as carefully as possible’ and the DNI still had questions about Trump and Putin’s relationship. ‘

‘Coats saw how extraordinary it was for the president’s top intelligence official to harbor such deep suspicions about the president’s relationship with Putin,’ Woodward said. ‘But he could not shake them.’   

CNN and then The Washington Post posted excerpts Wednesday.