Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath said Tuesday that members of the United States armed forces are "stunned" by President Donald Trump's open contempt for, and betrayal of, the men and women who serve under him.

McGrath — a Democratic congressional candidate from Kentucky and the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps — made the comments during an appearance on MS NOW with anchor Nicolle Wallace, where the two discussed the administration's removal of senior military officers and their replacement with political loyalists.

"I think one of the people that's purged was the last, literally the last general in Afghanistan, General Donahue," Wallace told McGrath. "So, I mean, we have purged people for being less than, who were the best of us. And I wonder what you think of sort of the zombie reaction to things like this."

Donahue was the last American service member to leave Afghanistan in August 2021, captured in a widely shared photograph as he boarded the final U.S. military aircraft out of Kabul at the end of the withdrawal.

McGrath said many service members and veterans are struggling to absorb the president's behavior, including remarks in which Trump suggested it would be acceptable if Iran attacked Los Angeles and San Diego — cities that are home to large numbers of active-duty troops and veterans.

"I think many in the military are kind of stunned right now, as many veterans are," McGrath said. "We've never seen anything like this. Just to go back to Trump's comments [saying it would be acceptable if Iran attacked Los Angeles and San Diego, both of which have large numbers of active soldiers and veterans] — I mean, if folks are thinking this is a joke, that's sick."

She drew attention to the USS Lincoln battle group, which is based in San Diego, and said news coverage had focused on supporting its sailors even as the commander in chief joked about an Iranian strike on them.

"The USS Lincoln battle group is out of San Diego. We're talking about that in the news as wanting to help those sailors. And then we have the commander-in-chief joke around about Iran attacking them, and he wants that," McGrath said. "It's just that there's so much here, Nicolle, and it also just doesn't make sense. His comments, to those of us in the military — we're looking at this like, you can't simultaneously tell Americans and the military, 'Hey, we defeated Iran,' and then the next day say, 'Iran can just go take out an American city.' Which one is it?"

"The stuff just doesn't make any sense anymore," she added. "So I think a lot of people are in shock, especially at the higher levels within our ranks."

Elsewhere in the conversation, Wallace invoked the 1986 film "Top Gun," about Navy fighter pilots at San Diego's Miramar air base, to argue that the implications of the president's remarks are widely understood.

"Anyone in America that's seen 'Top Gun' understands this," Wallace said. "It's not just an attack on San Diego, and it's not just an attack on what is known by anybody that knows anything about California and Southern California, and that there's so much active-duty military around there." She then asked McGrath to assess what she described as Trump's "track record of indifference to the men and women of the military."

McGrath answered by stressing that the armed forces draw members from every corner of American society and from across the political spectrum.

"The military is made up of folks from all different walks of life and different political beliefs," she said. "And more and more, when you read transcripts of what Trump says, when you listen to what he says, there's a lot of indifference, as you mentioned. And I think that more and more people are sort of waking up to that. I wish it would have happened years ago."

The U.S. armed forces operate under a longstanding tradition of civilian control and political nonpartisanship, with Defense Department rules restricting partisan political activity by those in uniform.

She also faulted the president for launching the conflict with Iran in the first place, arguing that he has no viable path out of it.

"And also, he started this war. He doesn't know how to get out of it. This is a war he never should have started. It's unpopular," McGrath said. "And that's why you're seeing him try to scare Americans right now. He's trying to justify this war that he started by throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks."

The interview adds to a long-running controversy over Trump's attitude toward the military. Multiple former officials who worked for him have said he referred to soldiers as "losers" and "suckers" because they were willing to risk their lives for a cause other than their own interests — remarks first reported by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic in 2020.

Among those who responded at the time was retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient who saved the lives of 14 allied soldiers pinned down during the Vietnam War despite being wounded himself. Speaking in 2020, Jacobs said the reported remarks "cut deeply."

"It cuts deeply," Jacobs said. "Let me say at the outset that the president has said so many things that are fallacious, outrageous, hyperbolic, that they now fail to shock anymore. Maybe [GOP consultant] Rick Tyler is correct and this will resonate and maybe it will resonate not just with military people but with the large majority of Americans who support the military, who understand what the military does and what the military has been doing since the inception of the country for our freedom."

"But the president has said so many things that are outrageous that now it almost fails to shock, and it would be interesting to see what is the fallout, if any, from this," he continued. "I've spoken to a lot of people who work directly for the president who reiterate exactly what Jeffrey Goldberg said in that article, who said the president has no respect for people in uniform, no respect for people who have served and, most significantly, does not understand the notion of being part of something that's larger than yourself."

McGrath's remarks were reported by Alternet.