The president had long scorned soldiers in private, much as he had expressed disdain for John McCain’s combat service. “Anyone who went to that war was a sucker,” Trump had once said about Vietnam, as Kelly recounted it to colleagues. “I don’t know why you guys think these guys who get killed or wounded are heroes. They’re losers.” When Trump at one point accompanied Kelly to visit his son’s grave in Arlington Memorial Cemetery, the president said he could not understand why anyone would give up his life in a war. Kelly told colleagues that Trump seemed genuinely perplexed at the notion of
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