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Claim analyzed
Politics“Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about "suckers and losers."”
Submitted by Gentle Jaguar 0a6d
The conclusion
Open in workbench →Trump did post on Truth Social addressing the "suckers and losers" controversy, according to multiple credible reports. The evidence shows he referenced the allegation to deny it, not that he originated the phrase there or used it as his own description. The main caveat is that the exact primary post link provided is unavailable and reported wording varies slightly.
Caveats
- This does not show Trump coined or first published the insult on Truth Social; the reporting says he was responding to the allegation.
- The reported wording is usually "losers and suckers," not the exact quoted order "suckers and losers."
- The primary Truth Social permalink in the source set is unavailable, so verification relies on credible secondary reporting.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
The Atlantic reported that Trump referred to Americans who died in war as "losers" and "suckers." The article said he asked, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers," and in a separate conversation on the same trip he called Marines who died at Belleau Wood "suckers" for getting killed.
The Associated Press reported that a senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer confirmed some of the remarks, including the 2018 cemetery comments. The AP said Trump responded that he did not want to visit the cemetery because it was "filled with losers," and that he later referred to Marines who died in combat as "suckers."
BBC reported that the allegations were first reported in The Atlantic and that some details were corroborated by the Associated Press and Fox News. It also stated that Trump allegedly called the cemetery "filled with losers" and referred to 1,800 U.S. soldiers who died at Belleau Wood as "suckers."
Reuters reported that Trump denied the allegations, calling them "totally false," after The Atlantic published its story. Reuters also noted that the report described Trump saying, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers," and that in another conversation he referred to Marines killed at Belleau Wood as "suckers."
The Streisand effect is in full force as Donald Trump aggressively attempts to bat away an ad released by Biden’s campaign that highlights alleged remarks Trump made at a cemetery for fallen soldiers, where he reportedly referred to the cemetery as being full of “suckers” and “losers.”... Trump continued his tirade on Truth Social, where in numerous posts he called for Biden to “take down the Fake Ad,” which he described as “MADE UP DISINFORMATION by Radical Left Democrats, and Trump Haters.” “Obviously, I never said that dead Soldiers are ‘losers and suckers.’ Who would say such a thing? It was MADE UP DISINFORMATION by Radical Left Democrats, and Trump Haters...,” Trump posted on Monday.
This URL is a direct post permalink on Truth Social for the user "Donald J. Trump" (@realDonaldTrump), with post ID 116202054617775180. However, when accessed, the page returns "Not found," indicating the specific content of this post is no longer publicly available or may have been removed or is otherwise inaccessible. The URL structure confirms it is (or was) a Truth Social post rather than a general page.
The phrases "losers" and "suckers" that President Biden cited in the debate trace back to a 2020 article in The Atlantic about Mr. Trump's relationship to the military, not to a statement Mr. Trump made on Truth Social.[9] The New York Times notes that the Atlantic article reported Trump privately used those words to describe fallen soldiers, but Trump has denied saying them and they do not appear in his public posts or speeches in that form.[9]
ABC7’s report said the allegations were sourced anonymously in The Atlantic, but that the AP independently confirmed some of the remarks. It repeated the report that Trump called fallen soldiers "losers" and "suckers" and noted Trump’s denial on Twitter.
Reporting on the controversy, WTTW notes that The Atlantic article alleged Trump called World War I dead at an American cemetery in France "losers" and "suckers" in 2018.[2] Trump responded on Twitter, writing: "This is more made up Fake News" and told reporters, "I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes."[2] The piece describes denials and allegations, but does not mention Trump posting the "suckers and losers" phrase on Truth Social.[2]
The Hill reported that Trump made a Truth Social post denying the allegations and repeating that he had never called soldiers "losers" or "suckers." The article specifically ties the Truth Social post to the long-running controversy over the 2020 Atlantic report.
Fox 32’s fact-check summary says Joe Biden invoked Trump’s "suckers and losers" comment during the debate, and attributes the underlying allegation to a 2020 Atlantic article about Trump insulting fallen soldiers. The piece quotes the Atlantic’s account of Trump saying the cemetery was "filled with losers" and referring to Marines as "suckers."
In a statement to CNN, former White House chief of staff John Kelly confirmed reporting in The Atlantic that Trump had privately disparaged U.S. service members and veterans. Kelly said Trump thought those who serve are "all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them’" and that Trump "rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France." The Atlantic had reported that during a visit to France in 2018, Trump called Marines who died at Belleau Wood “suckers” and fallen soldiers at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery “losers.”
Reuters, in a retrospective on Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the military, recounted the 2020 Atlantic story, stating that Trump was reported to have called fallen U.S. soldiers "losers" and "suckers" and that the remarks drew criticism from Democrats and some veterans groups. The article notes that Trump has repeatedly denied using those words about war dead. Reuters does not document any Truth Social post where Trump used the exact phrase "suckers and losers"; instead, it describes the controversy as based on alleged spoken remarks from 2018.
Fox13 Seattle’s fact-check of the Biden–Trump debate explains that Biden’s line about Trump calling fallen soldiers "suckers" and "losers" comes from Jeffrey Goldberg’s 2020 Atlantic story, which quoted Trump as saying "Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers" and referring to Marines who died at Belleau Wood as "suckers".[5] The article notes Trump denied making those comments during the debate and demanded an apology, but it does not attribute any "suckers and losers" phrasing to a Truth Social post.[5]
President Joe Biden brought up a comment that Donald Trump made in a 2020 article referring to fallen soldiers as “suckers and losers.” ... Biden used the line from a story published by The Atlantic in 2020 that quoted Trump insulting fallen soldiers when he was president, USA Today reported. The story, written by Jeffrey Goldberg on Sept. 3, 2020, reported that Trump belittled soldiers killed when the then-president canceled a trip to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, France, in 2018. According to The Atlantic story, Trump said "Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers." In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as "suckers" for getting killed. Trump denied making the comments during Thursday's debate and called for Biden to apologize.
A Fox News social post on Truth Social was described as a tribute to military service members, but the visible text in the provided result does not itself contain the phrase "suckers and losers." This result is only weakly relevant to the specific claim about whether Trump posted those words on Truth Social.
President Trump on Friday denied claims he insulted fallen U.S. soldiers. According to a report published by The Atlantic, the president allegedly referred to those who died in war as "losers" and "suckers." ... "It was a totally fake story," President Trump said, adamantly denying claims he called fallen U.S. soldiers losers and suckers for getting killed.
In an overview of Trump’s Truth Social activity, The New York Times described how Trump has used the platform to attack political opponents and revisit past controversies, including allegations that he called fallen soldiers "losers" and "suckers." The article notes that Trump often mentions the Atlantic story to deny it and call it "fake" but does not quote any Truth Social post where he uses the exact phrase "suckers and losers" himself; instead, he tends to reference the controversy while asserting that he never used those words about the military.
Donald Trump called fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers” – he has never respected veterans. Veteran members of Congress and others have criticized Trump over this report, citing the allegation that he referred to U.S. military casualties as "losers" and "suckers" during a 2018 trip to France, which Trump has denied.
A Reddit post titled "Fact Check Shock: Snopes Backs Trump on ‘Suckers and Losers’ Hoax" claims that Snopes validated Trump's denial of the "suckers and losers" story.[6] Commenters discuss Snopes’ treatment of the allegation that Trump called war dead "suckers" and "losers," focusing on whether the report is substantiated, but the thread does not present evidence of Trump posting those specific words on Truth Social.[6]
An Instagram reel captioned “'Suckers and losers' debunked once again!” features a defender of Trump saying, "President Trump would never believe that, think that. In fact, he's been a wonderful fighter for America's military and will continue to do so." The reel is positioned as pushing back on the allegation that Trump called fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers.”
This item summarizes long-running controversy over reports that Donald Trump referred to American war dead as "suckers" and "losers" during a 2018 trip to France, and notes that Trump has repeatedly denied the allegation, including in social media posts and campaign remarks, calling it "fake" and "made up disinformation." It also mentions that his denials have been challenged by reporting in The Atlantic and by former officials such as John Kelly.
An Instagram post claims Trump was called out with the phrase "Same man you called our military suckers and losers." This is user-generated commentary and does not provide primary evidence of a Truth Social post by Trump.
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Debate
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
Source 5 confirms Trump posted on Truth Social explicitly referencing the phrase 'losers and suckers' while denying the allegation and calling it 'MADE UP DISINFORMATION.' Source 10 independently verifies these Truth Social posts where Trump repeatedly addressed and quoted the 'suckers and losers' controversy.
The Proponent equivocates between “posting about” the controversy and “posting 'suckers and losers' as a statement,” because Source 5 and Source 10 describe Truth Social posts that quote the phrase only in the course of a denial (“I never said…”) rather than evidencing Trump making the underlying claim. More importantly, the Proponent's reading directly conflicts with the New York Times' explicit finding that the “suckers” and “losers” wording traces to The Atlantic's 2020 reporting and “not to a statement Mr. Trump made on Truth Social,” and that it does not appear in his public posts in that form (Source 7; see also Source 18).
Argument against
The motion is false because the core “suckers and losers” wording originates from alleged private remarks reported by The Atlantic (Source 1) and reiterated in later coverage, while the New York Times explicitly notes the phrase traces back to that 2020 reporting “not to a statement Mr. Trump made on Truth Social,” and that it does not appear in his public posts in that form (Source 7; see also Source 18). Where Truth Social is actually discussed, outlets describe Trump using the platform to deny ever saying it—calling it “MADE UP DISINFORMATION”—not posting the phrase as his own claim, and the only provided Truth Social permalink is inaccessible (“Not found”), so there is no verifiable post content to support the assertion (Source 5, Source 6, Source 10).
The Opponent misreads Source 5 and Source 10, which document Trump's Truth Social posts quoting the exact phrase “losers and suckers” while denying the allegation, thereby confirming posts about the topic rather than originating the private remarks. The Opponent's reliance on Source 7 and Source 18 commits the fallacy of irrelevant distinction by conflating the origin of the reported remarks with Trump's subsequent public posts addressing the controversy on Truth Social.
Panel Review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Reviewer 1 — The Logic Examiner
The claim asserts that Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about 'suckers and losers.' Source 5 and Source 10 logically prove this claim is true by quoting and describing his actual Truth Social posts where he explicitly wrote, 'Obviously, I never said that dead Soldiers are "losers and suckers."'
Reviewer 2 — The Source Auditor
The claim is that 'Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about suckers and losers.' This is an ambiguous claim — it could mean (a) Trump posted the phrase as his own statement about soldiers, or (b) Trump posted on Truth Social referencing the 'suckers and losers' controversy. The most reliable sources here are The New York Times (Source 7), The New Republic (Source 5), The Hill (Source 10), and Reuters (Source 13). Source 7 (NYT) explicitly states the phrase traces to The Atlantic's 2020 reporting 'not to a statement Mr. Trump made on Truth Social' and does not appear in his public posts 'in that form.' However, Source 5 (The New Republic, high authority) directly quotes Trump's Truth Social posts where he references the phrase 'losers and suckers' in the context of denying it — writing 'Obviously, I never said that dead Soldiers are losers and suckers.' Source 10 (The Hill) also confirms Trump made Truth Social posts addressing the controversy. So Trump did post on Truth Social about 'suckers and losers' — specifically to deny the allegation — which satisfies the literal claim that he 'posted on Truth Social about suckers and losers.' The NYT's statement that the phrase doesn't trace to a Truth Social post as its origin is consistent with Trump having posted about it in denial form. The claim as stated is broadly true: Trump did post on Truth Social referencing the 'suckers and losers' controversy, as confirmed by multiple high-authority sources including The New Republic and The Hill. The only caveat is that the specific Truth Social permalink (Source 6) is inaccessible, but the secondary reporting from credible outlets confirms the posts existed.
Reviewer 3 — The Precision Analyst
The evidence indicates Trump used Truth Social to deny the allegation and, in doing so, referenced the words “losers” and “suckers” (e.g., Source 5; Source 10), but the only primary-link provided is inaccessible (Source 6) and the New York Times specifically says the quoted phrase traces to The Atlantic report rather than a Truth Social statement and does not appear in his public posts “in that form” (Source 7; see also Source 18). As worded, the claim is too underspecified and reads as asserting a verifiable Truth Social post containing the phrase, which is not cleanly supported here, so it is mostly false.