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‘Headaches’: Trump Under Fire for ‘Trivializing’ US Soldiers’ Traumatic Brain Injuries

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Donald Trump is once again facing criticism for downplaying the potentially life-threatening traumatic brain injuries sustained by over 100 U.S. soldiers during Iran’s 2020 ballistic missile attacks on two Iraqi bases. He dismissed the injuries—then and now—as mere “headaches,” minimizing the seriousness of the assault which he chose not to respond to during his final year as Commander-in-Chief.

The issue arose during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, told his Republican opponent, U.S. Senator JD Vance, “it was Donald Trump who… we had a coalition of nations that had boxed Iran’s nuclear program in in the inability to advance it. Donald Trump pulled that program and put nothing else in its place.”

Walz was referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly referred to as President Barack Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal, a nuclear arms pact which Trump did pull out of, claiming he would construct a better deal, but never did.

“So Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership,” Walz continued. “And when Iran shot down an American aircraft in international airspace, Donald Trump tweeted, because that’s the standard diplomacy of Donald Trump. And when Iranian missiles did fall near U.S. troops and they received traumatic brain injuries, Donald Trump wrote it off as ‘headaches.’ Look, our allies understand that Donald Trump is fickle. He will go to whoever has the most flattery or where it makes sense to him. Steady leadership like you witnessed today, like you witnessed in April. Both Iranian attacks were repelled. Our coalition is strong, and we need the steady leadership that Kamala Harris is providing.”

READ MORE: Trump Walks Away Muttering ‘Take a Look’ When Asked to Prove Aid Denial for Helene Victims

On January 7, 2020, immediately after Iran bombed the airbases housing U.S. troops, Trump declared “All is well!” and insisted no one had been injured. He has repeatedly made that claim despite all evidence to the contrary.

Just two weeks later when asked about it by a reporter, Trump held his ground, refusing to acknowledge the injuries.

“I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things but I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious,” Trump said in that January 2020 exchange, repeating, “not very serious.”

“You don’t think that a potential traumatic brain injury is very serious?” the reporter, stunned, asked.

“Um, they told me about it numerous days later – you’d have to ask the Dept. of Defense,” Trump replied. “No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen.”

But they were serious, and the number of soldiers with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) jumped from 11 to over 100.

Under Trump, the U.S. Military, contrary, some say, to procedure, refused to grant all of those eligible Purple Hearts.

“The person I was prior to a traumatic brain injury, he’s gone,” Platoon Sergeant Daine Kvasager told CBS News in November of 2021. “There’s parts that remain. The pieces are all still there, just — yeah, he’s not coming back.”

CBS reported, “Kvasager was part of a skeleton crew left to defend the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on January 8, 2020. Days earlier, the U.S. had killed the powerful Iranian General Quasem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds military force and the man behind deadly attacks on American bases — but the ballistic missile attack in response would be the biggest against American forces in history.”

“The soldiers CBS spoke with said after the attack, there was pressure to downplay the growing injuries to avoid a further escalation with Iran and avoid undercutting former President Trump.”

Donald Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the world was at “peace” during his entire administration.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump continued to repeat his lie that the soldiers who suffered TBIs just had mere headaches.

READ MORE: Trump Walks Away Muttering ‘Take a Look’ When Asked to Prove Aid Denial for Helene Victims

“What does ‘injured’ mean? Injured means because they had a headache because the bombs never hit the fort,” Trump told a reporter (video below) who asked him if he regretted not being tougher and nottaking action against Iran after that attack.

“So just so you understand, there was nobody ever tougher on Iraq,” Trump said, misspeaking when he was talking about Iran. “They had no money with me, they would have made any deal with me. I would have had a deal made within, literally, I would have had a deal made within one week after the election. they were dying to make a deal.”

“None of those very accurate missiles hit our fort,” Trump added, as Military.com reported. “They all hit outside. And there was nobody hurt, other than the sound was loud. And some people said that hurt, and I accept that.”

Just hours after Donald Trump made these remarks, his White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin remarked: “I was Pentagon spox during the Al Assad attack. DOD advised the Trump WH to not claim there were no injuries since initial assessments are often wrong. He went forward & said ‘all is well.’ We later learned 100+ US troops had traumatic brain injuries.”

Military.com on Wednesday also reported, “the service members who suffered the brain injuries have described crippling symptoms, including memory loss, partial vision loss and chronic migraines.”

“There is also a growing body of evidence that TBI is linked to an increased risk of suicide, as reported on extensively by Military.com, as well as other devastating symptoms such as hallucinations and seizures,{ the news site noted. “Nearly 80 service members received Purple Hearts for injuries suffered in the al-Asad attack. For many, the recognition did not come until after Trump left office.”

Veteran Jared Ryan Sears, who writes The Pragmatic Humanist, noted: “Trump is still repeating the headache line when our servicemembers suffered severe head trauma. This is how little Trump cares about our military. He dismisses injuries that happened on his watch because of his strike, and he never did anything to Iran for that attack.”

National security attorney Brad Moss, responding to the video below, wrote: “Here is the Republican nominee trivializing traumatic brain injuries to military personnel who were subjected to missiles attacks from Iran in 2020.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Biggest Whopper of the Night’: Vance’s ‘Heap of Lies’ on Abortion Was ‘Jaw-Dropping’

 

 

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Democrats Demand Noem Testify After Handcuffing of US Senator Padilla

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June 12, 2025

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Outraged and demanding accountability, House Democrats are calling on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before Congress after her protective detail tackled and handcuffed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) during a press conference—despite video (below) showing Padilla clearly identifying himself by name, which the Department of Homeland Security now publicly denies.

Politico’s Nicholas Wu reported that California House Democrats are “standing together” on the Capitol steps “in protest” of Senator Padilla’s detention.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Wu reported, said: “we are going to demand is that Kristi Noem come before Congress and testify about what occurred today. Because if it can happen to Alex, it can happen to any of those senators.”

READ MORE: ‘Not Today Hegseth’: Dem Slams Defense Secretary as ‘Unfit to Lead’ in Fiery Exchange

U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said on the House steps that he didn’t expect Padilla to be the last lawmaker “accosted by federal law enforcement,” according to Courthouse News’ Benjamin S. Weiss.

“This is what aspiring dictators do,” Swalwell said, as he called on Secretary Noem to testify before Congress “as soon as possible.”

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) called the takedown and detention of Senator Padilla “despicable.”

Senator Padilla “is the elected representative of 40 million Americans. This Administration is detaining citizens in broad daylight and terrifying our communities, all while refusing to answer questions. I will be calling on Secretary Noem to testify in the House Oversight Committee immediately to explain why she thinks this is acceptable.”

“We aren’t going to be intimidated,” the California Democratic delegation also said on the Capitol steps, NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reported, adding that U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) called on Noem to “resign.”

Factual details about what transpired were reported by The Associated Press.

READ MORE: ‘Changes Are Coming!’: Trump Appears Stunned to Learn Farms Rely on Undocumented Workers

“Video shows a Secret Service agent on Noem’s security detail grabbing Padilla,” according to the AP, “by his jacket and shoving him from the room as he tried to interrupt Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles.”

“I’m Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Senator Padilla shouted.

“The shocking scene of a U.S. senator being aggressively removed from a Cabinet secretary’s news conference prompted immediate outrage from his Democratic colleagues,” the AP also reported. “Images and video of the scuffle ricocheted through the halls of Congress, where stunned lawmakers demanded an immediate investigation and characterized the episode as another in a line of mounting threats to democracy by President Donald Trump’s administration.”

Politico also reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ”every single person who was involved in manhandling Senator Padilla should be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Mouthpiece for the Kremlin’: Rubio Scorched for ‘Russia Day’ Congratulations

 

Images via Reuters

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‘Not Today Hegseth’: Dem Slams Defense Secretary as ‘Unfit to Lead’ in Fiery Exchange

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June 12, 2025

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth faced sharp criticism during Thursday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing after he declined to clearly state that Pentagon service members and civilian employees are not required to be supporters of President Donald Trump.

“Do you think political allegiance to Trump is a requirement for serving our nation, either in uniform or a civilian in the Department?” asked U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA).

“I’m incredibly proud as are millions of Americans—” the Secretary began to say.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” interjected Congressman Carbajal. “Not today, Hegseth.”

READ MORE: ‘Changes Are Coming!’: Trump Appears Stunned to Learn Farms Rely on Undocumented Workers

“Yes or no,” he demanded.

“Congressman,” the Secretary replied, “you know what a silly question that is.”

“But silly enough. A very straightforward answer, yes or no,” the California Democrat insisted.

“We all support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Hegseth declared.

“You know what? I’m not gonna waste my time anymore,” Carbajal announced. “You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions. You’re an embarrassment to this country, you’re unfit to lead, and there’s been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation.”

“You should just get the h— out and let somebody competently lead this department,” he continued.

Earlier, Congressman Carbajal chastised Hegseth for “refusing to take responsibility” for his actions.

READ MORE: ‘Mouthpiece for the Kremlin’: Rubio Scorched for ‘Russia Day’ Congratulations

“I didn’t think you were qualified before your confirmation, and you have done nothing to inspire confidence and your ability to lead competently,” Carbajal told Hegseth, who had been refusing to answer “yes” or “no” to several of his questions.

“You broke the law in sharing classified information,” he claimed, “and in doing so, endangered the lives of our service members that you are responsible for. Your inability to hold yourself accountable makes you incapable to lead, to lead,” he stressed. “This alone makes you unfit to be the Secretary of Defense.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘The Generals Stay Silent’: Experts Alarmed as Trump Politicizes Army at Fort Bragg Rally

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‘Changes Are Coming!’: Trump Appears Stunned to Learn Farms Rely on Undocumented Workers

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June 12, 2025

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President Donald Trump acknowledged on Thursday that his aggressive and controversial immigration policies are stripping undocumented immigrants from the farming and agriculture workforce. Now, he declares, “Changes are coming!”

Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, reportedly at the direction of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have been specifically targeting farms to detain and deport undocumented workers.

“The border is no longer the focus,” Reason reported Wednesday. “Now, the administration seemingly believes that the [immigration] crisis extends to nail salons, hardware stores, farms, and restaurants across the country, where undocumented immigrants who are peacefully exchanging labor for dollars are being targeted.”

The Trump administration “is ramping up immigration raids across the country, and farm workers are no longer being spared. Almost half of the more than 850,000 crop workers in the US are undocumented, the Department of Agriculture estimates,” according to Bloomberg News.

READ MORE: ‘Mouthpiece for the Kremlin’: Rubio Scorched for ‘Russia Day’ Congratulations

One raid at an Omaha, Nebraska, meat plant reportedly netted 70 detentions this week, and now the facility is operating with just one-third of its staff, Bloomberg reported.

President Trump may be hearing some of the many stories.

In a cryptic message on Thursday, he wrote: “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

He did not provide any details.

Critics mocked Trump.

“The president of the United States is seemingly unaware that his administration recently ordered ICE to round up and deport immigrants who haven’t committed crimes … like those who work in tourism and agriculture,” observed MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies.

“Breaking News,” snarked Spencer Hakimian, a hedge fund chief investment officer. “The guy that spent the first 70 years of his life in construction, hospitality, and entertainment, accidentally finds out that our entire labor force runs off of illegal immigration. Oops!”

READ MORE: ‘The Generals Stay Silent’: Experts Alarmed as Trump Politicizes Army at Fort Bragg Rally

“Turns out,” California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote, “chasing hard working people through ranches and farms and snatching women and children off the streets is not good policy.”

But The New Republic’s Greg Sargent took a wider view.

“Trump just admitted that his mass deportations are bad for farmers and the economy, and crucially, also admitted that workers who are getting deported are ‘almost impossible to replace.’ That’s a massive repudiation of MAGA ideology,” Sargent wrote.

“It’s an enormous admission, both that his deportation policies are terrible *and* that he knows they’re awful politics for him,” he added.

“Every prominent Democrat in the country should jump on this immediately,” Sargent urged. “Enough b——- cowering on this issue. Get on this! Trump just handed you a massive weapon. Use it!”

READ MORE: Pride Month Purge: Pentagon Chief Defends Renaming USNS Harvey Milk and Trans Ban

 

Image via Reuters

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