President Donald Trump has tried to politicize the traditionally nonpartisan U.S. military more than any president in modern history, and he did the same thing with a wildly political address before the thousands of sailors over the weekend that was supposed to be a 250th anniversary celebration but instead ended up being all about him.
And comments he made about the Vietnam War are now biting him back online.
Not only did he lash out at Democrats during the speech at the Norfolk Naval Base, as usual, but he veered off into comments about grievances and grudges as if he was still on the campaign trail, even seeming to support turning the military against half the country who didn’t vote for him and doesn’t support him.
Then he took a turn with a hypothetical story about how things would be different if he was in charge. Trump’s macho speech began by criticizing military decisions made about the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and the war in Vietnam more than 50 years ago.
“The problem with Vietnam, we, you know, we stopped fighting to win. We would’ve won easy,” he crowed.
“We would’ve won Afghanistan easy. We would’ve won every war easy,” he confidently claimed.
“But we got politically correct. ‘Oh, let’s take it easy.’ We’re not politically correct anymore, just so you understand. We win. Now we win. We don’t want to be politically correct anymore,” Trump proclaimed.”
Trump’s attempt paint himself as a winner, easily backfired especially given his grand efforts at draft-dodging and lies about a medical condition he’s widely thought to have fabricated to avoid going to war. And many didn’t forget that inconvenient fact.
“Bone Spurs was playing golf while people died in Vietnam,” mused one user on Threads.
Another mused, “The military genius, Draft dodging Donald.”
“What exactly does the 5 time draft dodger know about Viet Nam? He dishonors veterans and active service members every time he opens his mouth 😡,” noted another of Trump’s insults.
One user captured Trump’s stance perfectly, “Reminds me of that line from Shrek, when Lord Farquhaad says something like, “Some of you will die – but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
Others were not as kind to the president, “COWARDS always seem to think they are brave…. while HIDING BEHIND other men.” And another piled on, “A bullsh*t talking coward” with simply asking, “WTF?”
“Draft dodgers don’t get to criticise real men, real soldiers. Quite unbelievable.” said another.
And for all Trump’s griping about Afghanistan, too, he’s the one that ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops during his first term in office. And social media has a long memory.
“Says the guy who didn’t go to Vietnam and set the timetable for troop withdrawals in Afghanistan,” this Threads user observed.
Trump received five deferments during the height of the Vietnam War, according to Military Times. Four of them were for his education because he was in college at the time, but the fifth was a medical waiver after he graduated.
The fact checks on Trump’s bravado kept coming. At a later point during his “rally”, he rambled about America winning several wars before it became “woke.” The history tells a more nuanced story.
Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testified before Congress in 2019 that Trump had confided to his close advisors that he fabricated an injury to avoid the draft.
“I wasn’t going to Vietnam,” Cohen testified that Trump told him.
“Mr. Trump claimed (his medical deferment) was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery,” Cohen said during the House Oversight Committee hearing.
“He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment,” Cohen added. “He finished the conversation with the following comment: ‘You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.’”
Trump made comments similar to ones he made last week in a long rambling and even incoherent speech at times in Quantico, Virginia, before hundreds of the nation’s top military leaders when he ranted that the U.S. is “under invasion from within.”
During the Naval address, he also boasted about deploying the National Guard to Democratic-run cities, criticized his political opponents, slammed the news media, railed about a “rigged” election and about “woke generals” among other wrongs and injuries.
