Trump “Congratulates” Soldier For Earning Purple Heart

Slate reports:

President Donald Trump raised more than a few eyebrows during his first visit as president to Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday when he awarded the Purple Heart to Army Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos.

“When I heard about this, I wanted to do it myself,” Trump told Barrientos as he placed the Purple Heart on the soldier’s lapel. “Congratulations … tremendous.” The medal is given to service members who were wounded or killed in battle.

Many on social media immediately criticized the president’s choice of words to the wounded soldier whose leg had to be amputated after he survived an attack in Afghanistan’s Helmland province.

Pres. Trump awarded a Purple Heart on Saturday to an Army sergeant recently wounded in Afghanistan: https://t.co/MSRsIByw9Y pic.twitter.com/StQ5gJ7H6D

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 22, 2017