.jpeg?trim=39%2C0%2C40%2C0&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200%3A800&ssl=1 "Fox News’ Mark Levin defends Trump calling himself a ‘war hero’: ‘Let me educate the truly stupid’")
Shortly after Donald Trump brazenly declared himself a “conflict hero” on Tuesday – regardless of famously by no means serving within the navy – former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger derided the president’s remarks earlier than noting that “his individuals are going to discover a method to justify this.”
It didn’t take lengthy for Mark Levin to reply that problem.
“YES, TRUMP IS A WAR HERO,” the Fox Information host – who additionally serves on the president’s Homeland Safety Advisory Council – tweeted on Wednesday.
It was on Levin’s radio present the place the president delivered his self-declaration of heroism in battle, which was within the context of Trump and Levin – an outspoken supporter of Israel – lauding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Describing the Israeli chief as a “good man” who’s “in there combating,” Trump went on to reward Netanyahu as a “conflict hero” earlier than bestowing that title upon himself.
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“He’s a conflict hero, trigger we labored collectively, he’s a conflict hero,” Trump stated whereas chuckling. “I suppose I’m, too. No one cares, however I’m, too. You recognize, I despatched these planes.”
The president was referring to the United States joining Israel in its navy air marketing campaign towards Iran in June, which resulted in American bombers placing three vital nuclear enrichment amenities. All through the interview, the president grumbled that he hadn’t been given sufficient credit score for the airstrikes – which he’s repeatedly claimed “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities – or different foreign policy accomplishments.
“Let me educate the really silly within the grotesquely moronic media and their crackpot surrogates, since President Trump made the conflict hero feedback on my radio present final night,” Levin posted on X amid criticism of Trump’s claiming to be a conflict hero.
Levin, who privately advised Trump to take navy motion towards Iran and raged against MAGA critics of the airstrikes, went on to justify his place by citing previous presidents and their achievements as commander-in-chief.
“There are many presidents who’re conflict heroes who didn’t truly struggle in a conflict. Reagan defeated the Soviet Union,” the conservative pundit continued. “Warfare hero. FDR defeated the Axis powers. Warfare hero. Lincoln received the Civil Warfare. Warfare hero. Trump destroyed Iran’s nuclear amenities and every thing with them — which Bush 41 and 43, Clinton, Obama, and Biden stated they might forestall, however didn’t do. Trump stopped Iran’s nuclear menace to the US in its tracks. He gave the order. He’s the commander-in-chief. Warfare hero.”
Moreover, Levin additionally defended the president’s description of Netanyahu as a “conflict hero.” In contrast to Trump, who by no means served in uniform, Netanyahu was a soldier within the Israel Protection Forces who fought in each the Yom Kippur Warfare and the 1967-1970 Warfare of Attrition, and was injured a number of instances in fight.
“AND congratulations to President Trump for additionally recognizing Prime Minister Netanyahu as a conflict hero. He most actually is,” Levin blared on X. “Now, again to the quislings and Hamas/Iran mouthpieces within the media and their crackpot surrogates.”
The Worldwide Prison Courtroom, in the meantime, has accused Netanyahu of conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity in Gaza, issuing an arrest warrant for him and Israel’s former protection minister Yoav Gallant final November. Israel has slammed these allegations, and the US has backed Netanyahu by imposing sanctions on a number of of the court docket’s judges in retaliation.
As for Trump’s self-annointing himself as a conflict hero, Kinzinger – who served within the Air Nationwide Guard and flew missions in Iraq and Afghanistan – identified that the president declined the chance to don the uniform when he had the possibility.
“You may like what he’s performed. That’s high quality. I hope he will get a decision in Ukraine,” Kinzinger stated Tuesday evening throughout a CNN interview. “However to place himself on the identical stage of folks that have truly gone out and served this nation, not claimed bone spurs, is an offense to anyone who served.”
Kinzinger was referencing the a number of deferments that Trump acquired in the course of the Vietnam Warfare, one in every of which was for having “bone spurs” whereas the others had been for attending school.
“And albeit, you simply take any person that served, calling themselves a conflict hero, even that might be inappropriate. For a man that by no means served to say it, it’s nuts,” he added. “However any person, they’ll defend it, they’ll discover a means.”
Past that, early in Trump’s first marketing campaign for president, he infamously mocked the late Sen. John McCain’s service in the course of the Vietnam Warfare, which noticed the previous Navy pilot held captive and tortured for practically six years within the infamous jail camp often known as the “Hanoi Hilton.”
“He is not a hero,” Trump exclaimed in 2015, sparking intense backlash on the time. “He was a conflict hero as a result of he was captured. I like folks that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to let you know that.”
Throughout his first time period, Trump additionally got here underneath hearth after The Atlantic reported that in a 2018 journey to France, he scrapped plans to attend the commemoration for the one hundredth anniversary of World Warfare I on the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, fearing his hair could be mussed due to anticipated rain.
“Why ought to I’m going to that cemetery? It’s stuffed with losers,” Trump reportedly stated, including later that Marines who died in battle had been “suckers.” Whereas the president has repeatedly denied he stated that, calling it “disinformation” and “fake news,” his then-chief of employees John Kelly – a former commander of U.S. Southern Command who misplaced his son in Afghanistan – insisted Trump did make these remarks.
