{"id":6702,"date":"2026-07-21T09:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=6702"},"modified":"2026-07-21T09:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:34:11","slug":"when-us-troops-die-trump-often-reaches-quickly-for-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=6702","title":{"rendered":"When US troops die, Trump often reaches quickly for politics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The Iran war has now seen the first US troop deaths since March, with the announcements that three service members have died in recent days.\n <\/p>\n

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\n And with their deaths came a reminder that President Donald Trump, who\u2019s set to attend another dignified transfer on Wednesday, really<\/em> struggles to speak empathetically about this issue.\n <\/p>\n

\n Indeed, the last few days have reinforced that Trump seems preoccupied with inserting the troops\u2019 deaths into a political calculation as his unpopular war nears its fifth month.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s happened repeatedly since the start of the war, but his most recent comments to the media over the weekend drove it home.\n <\/p>\n

\n Speaking to NewsNation, Trump offered something amounting to the kinds of comments expected from a president. He called the deaths \u201ca very sad thing\u201d while adding that they were \u201cin service to our country.\u201d He then repeated his goal that \u201cwe\u2019re never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But when speaking to the New York Post, he veered off course.\n <\/p>\n

\n After calling the deaths \u201ca shame,\u201d he went on. \u201cThey did it because they don\u2019t want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon,\u201d he said of the troops. \u201c\u2026 And it just shows you how bad (the Iranians) are.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n While the president restated his goal for the war in the former interview, he seemed to suggest that the slain troops actually endorsed<\/em> his war in the latter interview. He has not offered evidence of this. Troops are supposed to fight even if they don\u2019t believe in the cause.\n <\/p>\n

\n And Trump and his administration have previously stepped into some dicey territory on this subject.\n <\/p>\n

\n After a dignified transfer of service members in mid-March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that \u201cfamily after family\u201d at Dover Air Base in Delaware had urged him to press forward and win the war.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey said finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,\u201d Hegseth claimed.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the comments of at least one father of a dead soldier called that into question. Charles Simmons, the father of 28-year-old Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, told NBC News \u201cthat was not something we talked about.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n While Simmons had some kind words for Trump and Hegseth \u2014 and made clear he didn\u2019t speak for other families \u2014 he said he had not urged them to keep fighting the war.\n <\/p>\n

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\n \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t say anything along those lines,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Despite Simmons\u2019 comments, Trump went on to make much the same claim as Hegseth during an April 1 primetime address from the Oval Office. Trump said that \u201cevery single one of the people, their loved ones, said, \u2018Please, sir, please, finish the job.\u2019 Every one of them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And Trump\u2019s conduct surrounding these dignified transfers has also raised plenty of eyebrows.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the one earlier in March, he wore a baseball cap that is for sale on his business\u2019 website. And just days later, his political action committee used a photo of that dignified transfer in a fundraising email. It featured Trump saluting with a flag-draped transfer case, which holds the remains of a soldier, in the foreground.\n <\/p>\n

\n And going back to the earliest deaths in the Iran war, Trump and Hegseth also turned heads with their comments about them:\n <\/p>\n

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