MEDIAITE
A supporter of former President Donald Trump told ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz that Trump hugging the U.S. flag won him over as a “diehard” supporter — even despite Trump having slammed slain American soldiers as “suckers” and “losers.”
On Sunday’s edition of ABC’s This Week, Raddatz introduced a lengthy package of interviews with three Pennsylvania Trump supporters by telling viewers “This is not a fact-check on their beliefs. There’s no changing their minds, but more than 72 million Americans voted for Donald Trump in 2020, and it is important to understand why.”
One of those reasons is Trump’s flag-hugging displays — which withstood Raddatz’s cross-examination about Trump’s comments regarding wounded and slain veterans:
RADDATZ (voice over): A life-long Republican, Jim Vinup says Trump hasn’t let him down like other politicians he supported in the past.
JIM VINUP, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: When he came down the escalator, I thought, huh, this is crazy. You know, this guy, he’ll never get anywhere. Well, as things went on, I became a diehard Donald Trump fan. Donald Trump does what he says. The only reason he didn’t get a lot more done is because they gave him grief every minute of every day.
RADDATZ: So, here’s this guy coming down the escalator, a rich guy, married three times, pretty foul mouth. What was it, and what is it about him?
VINUP: Has he made mistakes? Oh, my goodness, yes. But I do believe that his heart’s in the right place for me. How many – how many presidents, how many politicians have come out on stage and hugged the American flag? That really means something to me.
RADDATZ: You’ve also heard though from former generals, from John Kelly, who was his chief of staff —
VINUP: Yes.
RADDATZ: — say he would never, ever vote for Donald Trump again –
VINUP: That’s right.
RADDATZ: — because of the way he treated veterans.
VINUP: But you’ve heard from other – you hear from other –
RADDATZ: Yes, but I – and you said that, and he hugged the American flag. But you’ve heard what he said through those people about the military, about wounded veterans, about Normandy. That doesn’t bother you?
VINUP: Yes, things — things he has said bother me. Am I giving him carte blanche, he can do anything he wants? No. No. Absolutely not. I mean I’ve said many times, geez, I wish he’d hadn’t said that.
But Kelly, I lost respect for Kelly. Mattis. I lost respect for Mattis. Milley. I lost respect for Milley. And these were people that he put his trust in. And you know what, they stabbed him in the back.
RADDATZ: You said something that interested me, which is, Donald Trump cares about me.
VINUP: Yes.
RADDATZ: What do you mean by that?
VINUP: Well, you know, the common man. I – I really think he has a heart for the common man. I really do…
