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.
And with their deaths came a reminder that President Donald Trump, who’s set to attend another dignified transfer on Wednesday, really struggles to speak empathetically about this issue.
Indeed, the last few days have reinforced that Trump seems preoccupied with inserting the troops’ deaths into a political calculation as his unpopular war nears its fifth month.
It’s happened repeatedly since the start of the war, but his most recent comments to the media over the weekend drove it home.
Speaking to NewsNation, Trump offered something amounting to the kinds of comments expected from a president. He called the deaths “a very sad thing” while adding that they were “in service to our country.” He then repeated his goal that “we’re never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
