Trump Said John McCain Wasn’t A War Hero. But Guess What He Said About John Kerry.

When Republican candidate Donald Trump lampooned Sen. John McCain’s wartime valor early in the campaign season, we all assumed that the real estate mogul was oblivious to the sacrifices our veterans make their country. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit in July. “He’s a war hero ’cause he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK?.”

After all, Trump was too busy galavanting through nightclubs and adding notches to his belt as men like McCain were struggling to stay alive in Vietnamese POW camps. As The Daily Wire reported, “In 1997, Donald Trump, who showed his personal courage by dodging the draft in 1960’s, had the gall to compare his heroism by sleeping with multiple women to the heroism shown by the brave men and women who served the United States in Vietnam.”

Well, we were wrong about Trump. He noticed the courage of at least one former serviceman…John Kerry!

In a 2004 interview with CNBC, Trump went out of his way to praise then-Sen. Kerry — a man that was the Democratic presidential nominee running against Republican incumbent President George W. Bush at the time. Kerry is “absolutely terrific,” pontificated Trump. He’s “a real hero as opposed to a false war hero.”

Trump in 2004 to CNBC saying John Kerry is “absolutely terrific” & “a real war hero as opposed to a false war hero.” pic.twitter.com/UgQemgTynr

— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) May 23, 2016

The real estate was relentless in his praise, showering one compliment after another on his buddy John Kerry.

“I know John Kerry. He’s a friend of mine and he’s somebody that I know very well,” Trump exulted, adding:

I think he’s just a terrific guy. He’s a solid citizen. He’s a great war hero.

According to Trump, John McCain is presumably a “false” war hero, whereas John Kerry is a “true” war hero.

The fact is, McCain’s story of heroism is well-established. No rational mind can deny McCain’s valor. He is a war hero, no ifs ands or buts.

“I think he’s just a terrific guy. He’s a solid citizen. He’s a great war hero.”

Donald Trump on John Kerry, not John McCain

How about Kerry? Well, the story is a little bit more complicated here. Many veterans’ groups have contested Kerry’s own characterization of his military service. Even hyper-leftist New York Times’ columnist Nicholas Kristof admitted that “Mr. Kerry has stretched the truth here and there.”

On the campaign trail, Trump likes to say that he admires “strength.” The problem is he can’t seem to properly identify what actual strength is, even when it’s sitting right in front of him wounded in a POW camp.