In July 2025, a rumor from months prior (archived, archived) resurfaced, alleging that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration removed information about decorated WWII and Korean War veteran Ruby Bradley from government websites, and that the president called Bradley – who won 34 medals for her service and spent 37 months as a prisoner of war – a "loser."
One post (archived) on July 12, 2025, received more than 1,100 reactions on Facebook, as of this writing. Its caption read, in part:
President Trump called the woman pictured below a 'loser' for being captured. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and DOGE ordered her service history to be deleted from the Department of Defense archives because she was "DEI" and "woke."
(Facebook user @Mike Cato)
One post from May 2025 linked to a Substack article that is no longer available, which may have been the source of the claim.
The rumor came in the wake of Trump's executive order to eliminate programs associated with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) from the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security; government officials either deleted, deleted and then restored or deleted and then restored with edits numerous webpages on history the U.S. government previously featured.
None of the posts linked above provided a source or evidence, and no reputable news source reported on such a removal or that Trump called Bradley a "loser." Google search results for Trump's alleged comment at the time of this writing show only the repeated claim on social media or articles debunking the claim, and "Ruby Bradley" on Trump's Truth Social account yields no results (archived).
We reached out to the DOD in May 2025, and the department responded via email, "The department is not taking down content related to Ruby Bradley."
At least one U.S. Army webpage, published in 2013, features Bradley's history, as of this writing (archived).
The rumor likely stems from both alleged and verified comments Trump has made in the past referring to veterans as "losers," including the late senator John McCain. "He's not a war hero. He is a war hero 'cause he was captured. I like people who weren't captured," Trump said in 2008 (minute 5:52).