Senator J.D. Vance defended Donald Trump on Monday against comparisons to Adolf Hitler after Trump’s rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden stirred controversy. The rally, coupled with recent reports that Trump praised Nazi generals, prompted Nebraska State Senator Megan Hunt to criticize Trump’s supporters. “We used to fight Nazis,” Hunt wrote on social media. “Not vote for them.”
Vance responded on X, arguing that most World War II veterans would support Trump if they were voting today. “Who do you actually think the vast majority of the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy would vote for? The answer is obvious: Donald J. Trump,” Vance stated, claiming veterans would reject liberal policies such as open borders and taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for incarcerated individuals.
However, Vance’s comments, which contained inaccurate implications about Vice President Kamala Harris’s policies, faced scrutiny. Harris has not endorsed an open border policy; her campaign highlights a reduction in border crossings under President Joe Biden. Her stance on gender-affirming care, referenced by Vance, involves support for healthcare access for incarcerated individuals, not a specific mandate for taxpayer funding.
Contrary to Vance’s assumption, several World War II veterans have publicly opposed Trump’s actions and rhetoric. Edward Good, a 95-year-old World War II veteran, spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, calling Trump the “worst” president he had seen. Similarly, Private Dan Crowley, then 98, told Vote Vets in 2020 that he was repulsed by Trump’s disparagement of the late Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war, whom Trump had mocked for being captured.
In interviews with The Journal News in 2021, other veterans shared their disillusionment. Armando Galella, a Pearl Harbor survivor who supported Trump in previous elections, was appalled by the events of January 6, calling the Capitol attack “stupid and idiotic.” Alan Moskin, a veteran who helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp, expressed shock at seeing Confederate flags and other symbols of bigotry at the Capitol, stating, “We fought to get rid of all that garbage. We thought we would never see that again.”
In 2024, Mac Deford, the grandson of First Lt. Robert B. Deford, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, argued that his grandfather didn’t fight for a country governed by authoritarian values. “He fought for freedom and democracy, not for some wannabe authoritarian to tear it all down,” Deford said.
Jeff Crosby, son of WWII hero Harry “Croz” Crosby, echoed this sentiment. “My dad hated war, but he hated racism, antisemitism, and fascism even more,” he stated, pointing to Vance’s earlier criticism of Trump as a comparison to “America’s Hitler.”