Trump Expressed ‘Immense Love and Eternal Gratitude’ — MS NOW Called Him ‘Callous’

On Sunday’s edition of MS NOW’s The Weekend: Primetime, co-host Catherine Rampell labeled President Trump’s comments about U.S. service members killed in the Iran conflict “relatively callous.”

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) agreed: “That’s the word I’ve used as well.”

Moments earlier, however, the show had aired a clip of Trump saying: “We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen. America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against basically civilization.”

Callous?

Rampell instead focused on a separate Trump comment to NBC News: “We expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world.”

Inelegantly phrased, perhaps. But the underlying sentiment — that sacrifice serves a larger cause — is deeply rooted in American wartime rhetoric. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln honored Union soldiers with the hope “that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

Rampell also criticized U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz for saying in response to the deaths, “freedom is never free.”

Yet that sentiment is widely used in America to convey gratitude for military sacrifice. It is even inscribed at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. [see image], a national tribute dedicated in 1995 by President Bill Clinton.

The central contrast was stark. Despite airing Trump’s expression of “immense love and eternal gratitude” to the families of the fallen, MS NOW still accused him of being “callous.” That’s not analysis — it’s liberal media bias.

Here's the transcript.

MS NOW
The Weekend: Primetime
3/1/26
6:00 pm ET

AYMAN MOHYELDIN: Also new tonight, Trump posted a new video on his Truth Social about the three U.S. service members killed in action in Kuwait. Five other service members seriously wounded, though they have not yet been identified. Trump took to Truth Social this afternoon vowing to avenge their deaths, adding that there would likely be more casualties. 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen. America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against basically civilization. 

CATHERINE RAMPELL: We've heard some strange commentary from this administration, acknowledging the lives that have already been lost by U.S. service members. We had a tweet earlier today, not just the administration, by the way, from your colleagues in the House. We had a tweet earlier today from Mike Waltz, saying freedom is never free. Donald Trump himself said these casualties are "going to do a great deal for the world." What do you make of what to me seem like relatively callous expressions of condolences for those who are making the ultimate sacrifice for their nation? 

SETH MOULTON: That's the word I've used as well. And the troops and the Gold Star families deserve respect, not callousness. But let's not forget that this is a man, Donald Trump, who called our veterans, and this is well documented, he called them suckers for serving, losers for getting killed in combat, and he attacked John McCain, a true American hero, for getting captured. So that's actually what he thinks about those who go to serve as opposed to those like himself 
who dodge the draft, fabricate a medical excuse to not serve himself. 

And it's not lost on me, as a War on Terror veteran, that his sons, which are about the same age, could have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, never served. And you don't see Barron signing up to serve either. So this is not a president or his family who fundamentally understands anything about putting your life on the line for our country.