Tammy Duckworth Destroys Donald Trump For Joking About Military Service

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq War veteran who lost both of her legs in combat, on Tuesday skewered GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump for joking about how he “always wanted” a Purple Heart, one of the military’s highest honors.

At an event on Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee told the crowd that he “always wanted” to receive a Purple Heart, awarded to military service members who were wounded or killed in combat.

“This was much easier,” Trump said, when a veteran at the event gave him a copy of his Purple Heart.

In response, Duckworth tweeted a picture of her own Purple Heart and said there was “nothing easy about it.”

Trump has never served in the military and received five deferments during the Vietnam War, including one for bone spurs in his heels. He has repeatedly promised to help veterans if elected president, while simultaneously denigrating them and their families. He also lied about donating money to veterans’ groups.

Another Purple Heart recipient, Sean Barney, a Democratic congressional candidate in Delaware, posted a powerful statement on Tuesday calling Trump’s remarks “flippant and repugnant.”

“As someone who fought for our country in Iraq, was injured, and was awarded a Purple Heart, I can tell you, no one should ever ‘want’ to get a Purple Heart,” the Iraq War veteran wrote.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.