Richardson was trained to respect the office of commander in chief, but he was rankled by allegations in The Atlantic, many of them independently confirmed by The Associated Press, that Trump had referred to fallen and captured U.S. service members as “losers” and “suckers.”

Overall, 56 percent of veterans — both current and former service members — said they approve of the job Trump is doing as president.

More than a dozen big checks flowed out of New York last week, bound for veterans' charities from Donald Trump.