'Tragedy and scandal': West Point graduate slams Trump for shrugging off soldiers' deaths

When news broke of the leaked Signal group chat detailing an impending strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen, critics called for heads to roll for potentially putting U.S. service members at risk. But instead of expressing concern over soldiers who could have been killed due to the leak, President Donald Trump immediately went on the defensive, standing firmly behind his national security adviser and secretary of defense, with no mention of American soldiers.

West Point graduate Lucian K. Truscott IV wrote in a new column for Salon that the Signal chat incident proved just how little the Trump administration cares about the fate of soldiers who have no choice but to follow Trump's commands.

"Trump's national security team cared so little about the pilots they sent into combat against the Houthis that they used the insecure civilian Signal app to plan the mission," Truscott wrote.

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While the Signal leak took up all the attention, Truscott reminded readers that four U.S. soldiers went missing in Lithuania around the same time after their M88 armored recovery vehicle disappeared during a training exercise.

When Trump was asked whether he'd been briefed on the disappearance of the soldiers in Lithuania, he replied that he had not.

"As we learned recently from the exchange of views among Trump's national security team on the Signal app as they planned the attack on Yemen, there is little love among people like Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for our European allies who find themselves on the front lines of what is rapidly becoming a new Cold War between the civilized world and Russia," Truscott wrote.

Truscott called it "both a tragedy and a scandal" that neither "Trump nor his vice president nor his secretary of defense care about" the loss of U.S. service members who were following orders to fulfill their national duty.

Truscott continued, "The loss of four soldiers from the Third Infantry Division is a tragedy. That the president of the United States had not even heard about it a day after it happened is sadly typical, especially of this president, who has repeatedly expressed his disdain for members of the military under his command."

"Sadly, soldiers are learning that not even the loss of their lives has stirred the hollow souls of Donald Trump and his men," Truscott concluded.

Read the Salon article here.