September 09, 2020

Duckworth Leads Senate Democrats in Introducing Resolution Honoring Our Troops and Condemning Trump’s Recent Comments

Senator delivered powerful remarks about our servicemembers before seeking to pass her resolution, which Senate Republicans objected to

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years, spoke on the Senate floor this evening as Senate Republicans objected to passing her Senate resolution to honor the service and sacrifice of our troops, Veterans and Gold Star families and condemn Trump’s disgraceful denigration of military service that has dishonored the office of the Presidency. Duckworth’s remarks follow reports that Donald Trump referred to injured and fallen soldiers as “losers” and suckers.” She was joined on the floor by 12 of her Senate Democratic colleagues. Video of the Senator’s speech is available here.

Key quotes:

  • “Perhaps my presence here is uncomfortable for him. After all, according to a number of reports, he thinks “nobody wants to see” Wounded Warriors like me who lost limbs fighting to keep other Americans safe. But unfortunately for him, I am here. And I’m here because the ethos of the United States military is the exact opposite of the selfish, craven, me-first mentality that Trump has shown every hour of every day of his life.”
  • “But he never would have been in Iraq that day, because Trump fundamentally cannot understand the notion of sacrificing for your nation. He can’t comprehend the true meaning of courage… the idea of fighting for something greater than yourself… greater than your bank account or your poll numbers. He doesn’t understand service… so he doesn’t understand America’s servicemembers… the heroes—most of them anonymous to all but their loved ones—who’ve allowed him to sleep soundly in his gold-plated Fifth Avenue tower throughout his privileged, gilded life.”
  • “So Trump may not want to see me here today. He may not like to see visible proof of my war wounds. But he will keep seeing me here… because it is my duty to honor the heroes who saved me by using my second chance… using every extra minute… every extra moment I have… to look out for our troops and Veterans from here in the Capitol. Taking advantage of every extra breath I get to breathe because unlike Donald Trump, our men and women in uniform know what courage… sacrifice… and service truly mean.”

Duckworth’s full remarks as delivered are below:

  • I’ve come to the floor today as a Senator… a Veteran… and, apparently according to Donald Trump, a “sucker” and a “loser.”
  • Perhaps my presence here is uncomfortable for him. After all, according to a number of reports, he thinks “nobody wants to see” Wounded Warriors like me who lost limbs fighting to keep other Americans safe.
  • But unfortunately for him, I am here.
  • And I’m here because the ethos of the United States military is the exact opposite of the selfish, craven, me-first mentality that Trump has shown every hour of every day of his life.
  • In the Army, part of our Soldier’s Creed was to never leave a fallen comrade behind.
  • And the only reason I’m speaking today… the only reason I’m breathing today… alive today… is because on November 12, 2004, after Iraqi insurgents fired an RPG through the Black Hawk I was co-piloting, my buddies embodied that creed.
  • They thought I was dead, and yet they risked their own safety to bring my body back home to my family... only realizing I was still breathing when they got me to the rescue aircraft… and then these heroes, wounded themselves, refused care until the medic had tended to me first.
  • If it had been Donald Trump in that dusty field with me, or in any other battlefield, our wounded like me never would have made it home at all.
  • But he never would have been in Iraq that day, because Trump fundamentally cannot understand the notion of sacrificing for your nation.
  • He can’t comprehend the true meaning of courage… the idea of fighting for something greater than yourself… greater than your bank account or your poll numbers.
  • He doesn’t understand service… so he doesn’t understand America’s servicemembers… the heroes—most of them anonymous to all but those who love them—who’ve allowed him to sleep soundly in his gold-plated Fifth Avenue tower throughout his privileged, gilded life.
  • Instead, Trump has reportedly called those who’ve died or been wounded in battle, quote, “suckers” and “losers,” while just today it was reported that he used the most demeaning of terms to refer to the military leaders he thinks of as “his”generals… echoing comments he’s made publicly time after time when he’s slandered war heroes like John McCain and Gold Star families like the Khans… acting, yet again, as if bleeding to defend your nation is something to be ashamed of rather than a badge of honor… too ignorant to understand that he’s the one who should be ashamed.
  • You know, I spent this weekend reflecting on the words of another Republican President, who in the midst of crisis reminded those sitting before him at Gettysburg the duty our nation has to those killed serving our country.
  • In that address that we all know so well, he declared that it is for “us the living” to dedicate ourselves to “the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced… that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.”
  • That cause was a new birth of freedom in this nation.
    • The bettering of our democracy.
    • Bringing our Union closer to perfection, even though we know we can never achieve it.
  • What Lincoln understood—and what Trump never will—is that to be contemptuous of American Warriors is to be disrespectful to the whole of the American people.
  • And when those lucky enough to serve in Congress… or in the White House… raise our right hands and swear to faithfully serve this nation in these ornate hallowed halls it is on us to keep faith with those who’ve raised their right hands and sworn to serve this nation in the most dangerous warzones imaginable.
  • There is an implicit contract between our country’s leaders and our Warriors:
    • They and their families have entrusted us with their care, their training and the decision to send them to war, and that responsibility is a grave one.
  • They will march to do our bidding on command.
  • They will cross the line of departure, and begin killing the enemy at our behest, with no regard for their personal safety or the toll on their mental health.
  • If our leaders regard our heroes as “suckers” or “losers,” what damage will be done to America’s sons and daughters who comprise the “terrible swift sword”?
  • I can tell you right now:
  • It endangers every one of them, and it endangers our nation’s safety.
  • If you care about nothing else… if you care nothing about basic decency or troop morale… it’s bad for troop readiness as well.
  • When a Warrior goes into combat, they need to know that their buddies to their left and right will follow that creed to never leave a fallen comrade behind…
    • That no matter what, no matter how, their buddies… their nation… will get them out of there, even if it’s just bringing their body home to rest at Arlington. 
  • It’s because our servicemembers uphold the values of the military—in the Army, those are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, integrity and personal courage—that they are willing to sacrifice everything for this country and that we have the greatest fighting force on the face of the Earth.
  • Donald Trump, by contrast, has shown active disdain for each of those values in his four years in office.
  • He’s shown the exact opposite of every one of those traits… displaying no sense of duty, a laughable sense of loyalty, integrity and courage—no, not to be seen—no respect for those in uniform and selfishness rather than selflessness at every turn.

 

  • But if Trump’s toxicity starts to break down those values within the military… if we start to question why we care about those who’ve been wounded or killed… if we start leaving folks behind… then people will begin to think twice about signing up to serve.
  • Families will reconsider supporting their loved ones’ decisions to enlist.
  • Those few, few Americans who were ready to take on that mission… that burden… will start to hesitate, because they won’t know if their own crew will risk their lives like mine did to carry their limp body back to safety.
  • But this Coward-in-Chief in the White House today is too ignorant in matters of both common decency and national security to get that.
  • And so he doesn’t deserve to be Commander-in-Chief of this military for another four minutes—let alone another four years.
  • So yes, I’m disappointed that my Republican colleagues will be objecting to passing my Senate Resolution honoring our troops, Veterans and Gold Star families and they will not be condemning Trump’s disgraceful behavior that denigrates military service and has dishonored the Office of the Presidency.
  • Does any Senator actually oppose affirming that part of what makes America not only great but good is the service of Americans who always place the mission first, never asking what’s in it for them?
  • Does any Member actually object to the Senate resolving to always respect the sacrifices and bravery of those who became prisoners of war or went missing in action?
  • I’m confident that no one here actually opposes the Senate declaring that we’ll always care for service-disabled Veterans who’ve borne the battle in defense of our nation—recognizing that wounds of war are earned by patriots who put America’s interests before their own. 
  • So what’s the problem?
  • If Senate Republicans actually agree with everything I just listed, why would they oppose my Resolution stating the same?
  • I know some may dismiss this Resolution out of hand, claiming it’s nothing more than a partisan jab at Donald Trump.
  • To those people, I’d simply ask that they not rewrite recent history and stop pretending that outrage over Trump’s disrespect of the military is a new concern—or one that originated with the Democratic Party.
  • After all, some of the very first public officials to speak out against it were Republican Senators who continue to serve in this very chamber today!
  • When then-candidate Trump claimed the late Senator John McCain was not a war hero because Trump “like[s] people who weren’t captured,” it was the Senator’s friend from South Carolina who wrote:
    • “If there was ever any doubt that [Trump] should not be our commander in chief, [this] should end all doubt…”
  • And again, it was the Senior Senator from Florida who said much of the same.
  • I can only say that it is shameful that no one on the other side of the aisle has stood up to condemn this President for the comments he has made, for the fact that he did not make his way to that cemetery, to honor the Veterans of Belleau Wood laying at rest in a foreign soil, who were there not just for us, but for our allies, for everyone that they may never even know.
  • So, today I am here, Mr. President, to ask unanimous consent. That the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate resolution 689, which was submitted earlier today. I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate….
  • All I can do is implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to reassert their independence, actually put principle before party and support this Resolution, which simply recognizes a basic reality:
    • Trump’s denigration of military service is even more disgraceful today than it was five years ago, as he is now—at least supposed to be—our troops’ Commander-in-Chief. 
  • You know, former Chief of Staff of the Army General Weyand once wrote that:
    • “The American Army really is a people’s Army in the sense that it belongs to the American people…  When the Army is committed, the American people are committed…  [The] Army is not so much an arm of the Executive Branch as it is an arm of the American people.”
  • He may’ve been talking about the Army, but the sentiment holds true for every military branch… every one of which belongs to the American people… is made up of their sons and daughters… mothers and fathers… sisters and brothers… all of whom have dedicated their lives to serving the nation they love on behalf of the people they love.
  • When Donald Trump mocks our troops, he’s mocking every American in every part of this country.
  • When he derides Wounded Warriors, he’s just providing further proof that to him, the word “sacrifice” is so foreign that it might as well be in another language.
  • When he makes fun of those who’ve fallen in battle, he reveals not only his ignorance of national security but his own personal cowardice and insecurities as well.
  • To him, service will never mean anything other than someone else serving him.
  • So Trump may not want to see me here today. He may not like to see visible proof of my war wounds.
  • But he will keep seeing me here… because it is my duty to honor the heroes who saved me by using my second chance… using every extra minute… every extra moment I have… to look out for our troops and Veterans from here in the Capitol.
    • I will take advantage of every extra breath I get to breathe because unlike Donald Trump, our men and women in uniform know what courage… sacrifice… and service truly mean.
  • With that, I note how grateful I am for my Democratic colleagues who are here with me today to show support for our troops, Veterans and Gold Star families… and now, I yield the floor.

 

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