On Thursday, former President Donald Trump stood in front of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, and said he would gladly award himself the country’s highest military honor.
Trump later remarked that the story would be picked up by ‘fake news’ outlets, but then laughed and clarified that he was not joking.
The former president has never served in the armed forces. In the late 1960s he received a medical exemption from Vietnam service after a diagnosis of bone spurs, a decision that has been described by a former podiatrist’s family as a favor to Trump’s father, Fred Trump, who owned the office where the doctor worked.
He has frequently complained that he has not been awarded honors that he believes he deserves. In the Oval Office last week he said, ‘I ended eight wars. Did I get the Nobel Prize? No,’ and referenced the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, who presented her medal to him after he captured Nicolás Maduro.
While visiting the museum, Trump signed legislation that authorizes a new monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to honor Medal of Honor recipients. The monument will bear the name of Hershel “Woody” Williams, the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, who died in 2022.
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