Coronavirus
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me say at the outset how proud I am to serve with my colleague, Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. Her sacrifice for America is nothing short of amazing. Her life's story, her commitment to the men and women in uniform whom she served with and to the veterans and others, is now well established, not just in my State but across this Nation.
Only a small minority of Americans have had the privilege and honor of serving in the military. Many, like myself, count themselves as those who respect the military and understand that they deserve that respect for their willingness to volunteer to serve and even to die for this Nation. What Senator Duckworth has done with her life is a clear indication of the spirit of the fighting women and men who keep this Nation democratic and safe.
I am really disappointed. What a great moment it would have been in the history of the Senate if we had Republican support, as well as Democratic support, for the Duckworth resolution. I am sorry the Senator from Georgia objected. She took exception to The Atlantic magazine article, the one that said the President called those who died in war ``losers'' and ``suckers,'' but even that article has been accepted by FOX News as being a valid comment made by the President and reported.
Even if you take The Atlantic magazine and set it aside, there is ample evidence of this President's attitude toward our military. We all heard Donald Trump say publicly, when he was running for President in 2015, about our friend and colleague, the late John McCain: ``He's not a war hero. . . . I like people who weren't captured.'' John McCain spent more than 5 years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Vietnam, and this President, Donald Trump, dismisses him as no war hero. John McCain suffered for his Nation. He deserves the respect of everyone, let alone the President.
We also saw Donald Trump publicly attack a Gold Star family in 2016, the parents of the late Humayun Khan, an Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004.
We have heard President Trump dismiss traumatic brain injury faced by servicemembers and veterans as just ``headaches.''
We have seen his silence in the face of reports that Russia offered bounties to kill American servicemembers in Afghanistan.
We have witnessed his use of military officials for photo ops or as his own personal security forces.
Recall the scene in ``A Very Stable Genius'' by Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig in which Trump called the service chiefs ``a bunch of dopes and babies'' and barked: ``You're all losers. You don't know how to win anymore.'' President Trump repeated those claims again in a news conference just this week.
These are just a few examples of not fake news but real news about this President's attitude toward the American fighting men and women. It is no surprise that he would say vile things privately if he would say these things publicly.
Instead of respecting our troops, President Trump ridicules them. Instead of bowing his head in humility, he barks insults and obscenities. No President in our history--none that I can even imagine--has been so juvenile, so abusive, and so cynical in speaking of our fallen heroes. What do we hear from Republican officeholders about these sickening comments? Very little, if anything, in objection. Their silence is deafening.
I want to close by thanking my colleague, Senator Duckworth, for bringing this matter to the floor of the Senate. Every Member of the Senate--man, woman, Democrat, Republican--we all carry the flag and proudly march in parades and give those inspirational speeches on Memorial Day about the men and women who have served our Nation, but where are the voices in the Senate today to speak out against the outrages of this President?
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