Speaking at a campaign event at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday, former President Donald Trump talked about bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, onto Miriam Adelson, a Republican megadonor who was married to the late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
Invoking her late husband, also a major Republican contributor, Trump recalled Sheldon Adelson's pride as his wife received the award in 2018.
“I have to say, Miriam, I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said. “It’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version. It’s actually much better because everyone who gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.” (The medal is often mistakenly referred to as the “Congressional Medal of Honor.”)
“She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman,” Trump continued, to applause. “They’re rated equal.”
Trump’s comments drew backlash from Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, as well as from veterans.
“Donald Trump knows nothing about service to anyone or anything but himself,” said Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika. "For him to insult Medal of Honor recipients, just as he has previously attacked Gold Star families, mocked prisoners of war, and referred to those who lost their lives in service to our country as ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ should remind all Americans that we owe it to our service members, our country, and our future to make sure Donald Trump is never our nation’s commander in chief again.”
(Trump has roundly denied reporting that said he disparaged Americans killed in war, but his former chief of staff John Kelly disputes the ex-president’s denial.)
There are several differences between the two awards.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, established in 1963 by then-President John F. Kennedy, can be awarded “to any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution” to the country’s national security or national interests, world peace, or “cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” It is given at the discretion of the president.
President Joe Biden’s recent honorees, range from political figures like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former presidential candidates John Kerry, Michael Bloomberg and Al Gore to daytime talk show host Phil Donahue and Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky. Biden himself received the award in 2017 as then-President Barack Obama was leaving office.
In addition to Adelson, Trump gave the award to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in 2020, about a year before his death, as well as athletes like Mariano Rivera, Jerry West, Tiger Woods and Roger Staubach. He also gave the award posthumously to Babe Ruth, Elvis Presley and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
More than 600 people have been awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Medal of Honor, on the other hand, dates back to the 1860s and is awarded specifically to members of the United States Armed Forces for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.” It’s the oldest continuously awarded combat decoration in U.S. history and is the country’s highest military honor.
The process by which the president awards the Medal of Honor — which is done so on behalf of Congress — is different. Members of the military go through a recommendation process, which typically includes documentation, witnesses and other evidence, and goes through the military chain of command before making it to the president.
In July, President Biden presented the award posthumously to Privates Philip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson, two Civil War soldiers who infiltrated the Confederacy and hijacked a train in Georgia for a sabotage mission. They were both captured, tried and convicted by the Confederacy and were executed. Last year, Biden presented the award to Army Captain Larry L. Taylor, who risked his life to save four members of a reconnaissance team that were surrounded by enemy soldiers.
Trump also presented the Medal of Honor during his tenure in the White House, including to Army Sgt. Maj. Thomas "Patrick" Payne, who liberated 70 hostages from an ISIS prison in Iraq in 2015.
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a U.S. Navy Captain who served in the Gulf War-turned-astronaut, condemned Trump's remarks, writing on social media: "When the Medal of Honor is awarded posthumously, it's often to Americans who have thrown themselves on grenades or braved enemy fire — heroes who have paid the ultimate price to save others. Trump calls them 'suckers and losers.' He has no idea how to put others before himself."
California Rep. Ted Lieu, an outspoken Trump critic who served in the U.S. Air Force in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, attaining the rank of Colonel, called the ex-president a “national embarrassment.”
“The Presidential Medal of Freedom award you gave to your donor is not better than the Congressional Medal of Honor given to military heroes,” he wrote on social media.
Amy McGrath, the first woman to fly a combat mission for the U.S. Marine Corps who ran for U.S. Senate in Kentucky in 2020, questioned how Ohio Sen. JD Vance, himself a Marine Corps veteran, can “stand next to a man who is so incapable of understanding what it means to be Commander in Chief?”
“No, the Medal of Honor is not the equivalent of the medal Trump gave to Rush Limbaugh and [Ohio Rep.] Jim Jordan,” she wrote on social media. “No, they are not ‘rated equal.’ Not even close. Every single member of the military knows the significance of the MEDAL OF HONOR. Every single Commander in Chief in the history of America knows the significance of this medal…except Donald Trump.”
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the highly decorated Iraq War veteran who reported the phone call that led to Trump’s first impeachment, called Trump’s comments a “dishonor,” adding: “He deserves nothing but disdain and disqualifies himself from public office.”
When asked about Trump's remarks and the backlash at an event on Friday, Vance rebuffed the assertion that his comments were insulting to veterans.
"I don't think him complementing and saying a nice word about a person who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom is in anyway denigrating those who receive military honors," Vance said. "They are two different awards and I think the president was saying some nice things about a person he liked, and that's a totally reasonable thing to do."