The backlash was swift and intense after President Donald Trump stunningly tried to minimize the deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers in his unapproved war on Iran, saying he gets “a kick” out of it when journalists and political commentators criticize him over it.
After departing Air Force One on Wednesday, May 20, the president stopped to take questions from reporters, where he referred to a two-and-a-half-hour operation in Venezuela to capture dictator Nicolás Maduro as one of “two wars” and boasted that he only “lost 13 people” in Iran.
@factpostnews)
While that’s shocking on so many levels, what makes it even more astounding is Trump spent years criticizing former President Joe Biden after 13 service members were killed in the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Trump himself precipitated by signing the Doha Agreement with the Taliban, committing the U.S. to a quick departure by May 1, 2021, shortly after Biden took office.
Biden was able to delay the withdrawal by several months, but he was not able to cancel it.
Trump then attacked Biden relentlessly over the 13 deaths, calling it “the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history” of the country among many other vicious comments.
Fast-forward to Wednesday after 13 troops died in March in a surprise war Trump started on Feb. 28 without any warning, congressional approval, or allied assistance, and the president casually dismissed the deaths.
“You lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in these various wars. In two wars, Venezuela, where we lost nobody, and here we lost 13 people,” Trump bragged to reporters.
“Now, 13 people is 13 too much, but we lost 13 people,” the president explained. “In other words, you lost hundreds of thousands of people. So people don’t like it when you say, ‘Oh, do you know you’ve lost 13?’ We lost in two major wars. We took over Venezuela. We essentially took over Iran, and we’ve lost so far 13 people; some other somebody else would have lost 100,000 people.
“OK? But I get a kick when I look at somebody on television,” Trump amazingly stated before mocking critics, “‘He’s lost 13 people.’”
“I lost 13 people. They lost 13 people leaving an airport,” the president added again, comparing the losses of military lives as if the ones lost under him don’t matter.
Social media erupted in outrage and fury over Trump minimizing the lives of U.S. military members.
“So now 13 dead soldiers is no big deal?” X user Kel Varnsen incredulously wondered, clearly alluding to Trump’s incessant attacks on Biden when 13 were killed in Afghanistan.
“’I get a kick.’ Thirteen families buried someone,” another X user chimed in.
Even lawmakers weighed in. Virginia Rep. Eugen Vindman blasted the president above a clip of Trump’s casually dismissive remarks.
“Thirteen funerals. Thirteen families forever changed. Thirteen American service members who gave everything in service to this country. The American people deserve leadership that meets that sacrifice with the gravity and respect it demands — not remarks like these from the President of the United States,” Vindman remarked.
Another had a direct message for the president.
“Mr. Orange, every life holds equal value. Would you be willing to send your own son to die, and then observe how you would endure such a loss? Your argument suggests that because you lost sixteen people while they lost one hundred thousand, the outcome is somehow justified,” X user esi pointed out; they weren’t finished.
“If he can’t even be decent about losing 13 lives…why should we believe he spent millions to save 1 soilder? It’s all fake…and he’s a disgusting selfish heartless pig.”
“He gets a kick out of it, huh? ‘Lost’ means they are never coming back, they are dead, still have grieving families and children lost their parents. They were not just disposable soldiers and they are irreplaceable to their families,” another X user sadly noted.
Trump’s war on Tehran has cost the lives of 13 service members so far, including six killed during an Iranian drone attack on a lightly protected U.S. outpost in Kuwait shortly after Trump launched the war and another six killed when a refueling aircraft went down.
Hundreds more Americans have been injured in the conflict, which Trump launched alongside Israel without a clear objective or endgame. Even now, a fragile ceasefire is barely holding as Congress again considers limiting Trump’s war powers in Iran.
