In a rambling attempt to compliment a billionaire donor, Donald Trump invoked the physical appearance of Medal of Honor recipients as “either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.” Speaking at a fundraiser, Trump appeared to be passing a compliment to Miriam Adelson, a major Trump donor whose wealth has been pegged at over $20 billion. He said that Adelson, 78, comes across as “a healthy beautiful woman” and looked “actually much better” than injured troops who receive the nation’s highest valor award.
The disjointed comments are difficult to parse precisely and can be viewed here:
Trump made the comments Thursday at a fundraiser for Jewish supporters held at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The event was not associated with the Medal of Honor or a military audience, though a Holocaust survivor was reportedly in attendence. Trump brought up the topic of the Medal of Honor by comparing the military award to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he gave Adelson in 2018. He called the Medal of Freedom “the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version.”
That statement is grossly false in two ways: the Medal’s name does not include “Congressional,” and it is neither equivalent to nor a “version” of the civilian award.
Not ‘Congressional’ Medal of Honor
The correct name of the military award is the “Medal of Honor,” a name set forth in both military regulations and federal law. Congress has no role in awarding the medal, which is nominated by a military member’s chain of command, investigated by Pentagon officials and approved and bestowed by the president. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which by law oversees the medal’s legacy, makes clear on its website that the word “Congressional” refers only to the society, and not to the medal.
“The name of the Medal is simply ‘Medal of Honor,’” the group’s website says in its FAQ section. “The word ‘Congressional’ is sometimes mistakenly used because the Medal was created by Congress; however, the Medal is purely a military award. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society was chartered by Congress, which is why the word ‘Congressional’ precedes the Society’s name.”
As president, Trump presented the medal several times at the White House, where he routinely used the wrong name. According to White House transcripts, Trump referred to the Medal as “Congressional” five times at the award ceremony for Air Force combat controller John Chapman, twice in the ceremony for Navy SEAL Britt Slabinsky and twice in the ceremony honoring Army Sgt. Major Thomas Payne.
Exhaustive review process
In terms of requirements, rarity and rigor of its selection process, the Medal of Honor — the military’s highest valor award — is not “equivalent” to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which has no practical requirements other than, essentially, a president must like you. Though its official requirements are for “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” Trump awarded them mostly to sports stars and a few prominent Republicans, including Adelson.
The Medal of Honor, on the other hand, is the highest valor award given to military members who face exceptionally grave danger in direct combat action. Historically, about half of all Medal of Honor recipients have been killed in the act of earning it.
Beyond the fundamental requirement of facing dire combat against an enemy, every nomination for the award undergoes an exhaustive review by Pentagon officials. Witness statements, physical evidence from the scenes of battle and even medical records of nominees and others they fought with are compiled and reviewed to present a final recommendation to the Secretary of Defense and then the president. Far more remarkably brave combat actions nominated for the Medal are rejected than approved.
In the case of Kyle Carpenter, a Marine awarded the Medal in 2014 for the unimpeachably brave but fairly uncontroversial act of throwing himself on a grenade to save his fellow Marines, investigators compiled a 252-page report that included evidence collected in a visit to the scene of the fight before submitting it for final approval. In all, the process took four years.
Army Sgt. Alwyn Cashe died pulling seven comrades from a burning Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Iraq in 2005. It took his fellow soldiers until 2021 to get him the Medal of Honor, lobbying first through his chain of command and then through politicians.
Even more complicated was the case of Chapman, who initially was thought to have died in the opening minutes of a mountaintop gunfight during Operation Anaconda in March 2002. But several troops involved in the fight believed Chapman had fought much longer, even making radio calls. After re-opening the case a decade after his death, Air Force officials worked for 30 months to collect enough evidence to approve his award. Officials collected witness statements, video from gunships and drones overhead, analyzed satellite data for elevation and terrain to confirm lines of radio communication, and even considered the words of Taliban fighters picked up by U.S. units. Using sophisticated video analysis, investigators confirmed that surveillance video captured the commando fighting to the death alone, often hand-to-hand, on the Afghan mountaintop.
The Medal’s exhaustive review process frequently results in awards years or decades after the action for which it is given. Since 2023, President Biden has approved Medals of Honor for two Civil War soldiers who were part of a commando raid that stole a confederate train and caused havoc across Georgia and Tennessee, Vietnam helicopter pilot Larry Taylor, who saved a Special Forces patrol, and Green Beret officer Paris Davis, who held off an enemy battalion in Vietnam through sheer combat savagery.
Trump also awarded several long-in-coming Medals of Honor, including one to 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner for action in World War II and to Vietnam Army medic James McCloughan.
A longtime donor
Adelson was a medical doctor but is best known in politics for the $133 million she and her husband donated to Trump’s 2016 campaign and associated political groups, a number she is reported to be likely to at least approach in 2024.
Adelson was married to Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021. Sheldon Adelson was a long-time investor and developer of casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, opening the Sands, the Venetian, and the Palazzo casinos along with several others in Macau and Singapore. The couple married in 1991, and Miriam Adelson took over the Sands portfolio after her husband’s death.
Both Miriam and Sheldon Adelson have long supported conservative causes and Republican candidates, with support of Israel at the center of their political ambitions.
Trump gave Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, the first of his presidency. He awarded 24 medals in all, mostly to athletes and Republican political figures. He gave the award to radio host Rush Limbaugh and made posthumous awards to both Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley.
Of Trump’s 24 medals, Adelson’s was one of only 3 given to women (the other two went to golfers).