Donald Trump couldn’t resist praising himself at a Purple Heart Day ceremony, reminding the crowd that the minor injuries he suffered during last year’s assassination attempt weren’t “easy” for him either.
The president hosted nearly 100 people awarded the Purple Heart at a ceremony in the White House on Thursday. The medal is awarded to service members who are wounded or killed in action against an enemy.
Three of the attendees handed Trump their own medals after a gunman tried to kill the then presidential candidate at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
The White House claimed that Donald Trump return some of the Purple Heart medals he has received back to their true recipients. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Trump referenced the three service members by name during a speech Thursday, before going off script and saying, “It wasn’t that easy for me either.”
“Last year, after an assassin tried to take my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, Thomas generously mailed me one of his Purple Hearts. Many of the other veterans showed me the same unbelievable gesture of kindness, including three-time Purple Heart recipient John Ford and Gerald Enter Jr., who also came along with us and did us a great, great favor,” Trump said.
“Gerald, John and Thomas, I want to thank you very much. What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts,” he added. “I guess in a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me, either, when you think of it. But you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it all very much.”
Trump received a minor injury to his ear when a gunman opened fire during the rally. Days later, he arrived at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee sporting a large ear bandage, which multiple MAGA loyalists soon copied in a display of support for him. A bullet intended for Trump killed 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was seated behind Trump at the rally.
Trump, who famously dodged the Vietnam draft thanks to a bone spur diagnosis, has been handed Purple Hearts by actual veterans on multiple occasions. In October 2024, a Vietnam vet presented him with one on stage in North Carolina during a town hall with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. A retired lieutenant colonel also gave him one at a Virginia rally in 2016.
Donald Trump studies the Purple Heart given to him during a campaign event at Ashburn, Virginia in 2016. Eric Thayer/Reuters
Trump can add his Purple Hearts to the other medals he has been awarded recently without doing anything to deserve them.
On Tuesday, Trump was handed a complete set of official Olympic medals at a White House event marking the launch of a 2028 Los Angeles Olympics task force. This is despite Trump’s role in L.A. being awarded the competition being largely ceremonial.
He’s also been gifted the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and a winner’s medal from FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, even though he exactly had zero involvement in Chelsea’s victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the soccer final. The president even placed himself front-and-center in Chelsea’s trophy lift celebration, much to the confusion of the players.