Jesse Ventura has never been shy about how he feels about Donald Trump.
But the former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor just went somewhere even the president’s harshest critics rarely go … straight into the barracks.
Taking a page from Trump, he used the president’s own records against him, and he might not like it.
In a newly surfaced interview, the 75-year-old Vietnam-era Navy veteran painted a vivid picture of what Trump at war.
Ventura described what Trump’s first night in uniform would have looked like. And the visual wasn’t flattering or heroic.
After the interview went viral on X, many couldn’t shake the image Ventura conjured.
The moment hits harder as Trump keeps talking tough about Iran while other people’s children carry the weight.
According to Ventura, Trump wouldn’t have been a leader or even a passable recruit. He’d have been the guy everyone in the unit remembers for all the wrong reasons.
Speaking with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, Ventura didn’t mince words.
“If Donald Trump would have gone in the military. He would have, I believe this. He’d have been the guy that wet his bed, cried for his mom, went hysterical, and would be carted out in the middle of the night,” Ventura said.
He wasn’t finished; he went straight into name-calling: “The man’s a coward.”
“He’s a bully. And I’ll tell you why. All bullies are cowards. That’s why they’re bullies,” Ventura continued. “They find people they can bully because they themselves are cowards.”
What fueled his rant was Trump’s own record.
Ventura served two tours in Southeast Asia, highlighting his family’s sacrifice. He contrasted that service with Trump “running and hiding like the coward he is” during the Vietnam War.
When Piker chimed in that Trump “had bone spurs.” Ventura shot back that he’d “never heard him cancel a golf date.”
That diagnosis has followed Trump for decades. He collected four student deferments while attending Fordham University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Then he landed a 1968 medical deferment for bone spurs in his heels. That’s five passes on the Vietnam draft, and not once did he put on a uniform.
Ventura interviewed Trump at WrestleMania XX in 2004. He even once floated himself as a possible running mate during Trump’s first White House run.
These days, he’s one of the president’s loudest critics. He repeatedly labels Trump a “draft-dodging coward” and calls his Hall of Fame induction a disgrace.
The timing makes the jab sting even more. The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Nearly eight months later, the president still talks about the conflict like he’s choosing an ending for a movie.
“Now, my question is, do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?” Trump said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” on Oct. 25.
Ventura’s comments struck a nerve online, and plenty of people were cheering him on. A self-described former Marine wrote, “Donny would be exactly the guy freaking out Boot Camp day one,, LOL!”
Another person kept it short: “Not one lie told.”
One fan declared, “Jesse is the only one making sense right now.” Another guessed Trump would have been kicked out because “HE CANNOT FOLLOW ORDERS, RULES OR LAWS.”
A fifth pointed to the family tree, writing, “This family has been shirking responsibilities while reaping the benefits for over a century.”
Meanwhile, back in March, Ventura used an appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” to dare Barron to enlist, shooting down the idea that the 6-foot-9 college student is too tall to serve.
Around the same time, critics rallied behind the DraftBarronTrump.com movement.
Then an old school clip of Ivanka’s daughter Arabella saying she wanted to join the Marines resurfaced and suddenly it was read very differently.
As for Ventura, he’s made his case loud and clear. In his eyes, the toughest-talking man in Washington is just the recruit who wouldn’t have made it past lights out.
Jesse Ventura: “If Donald Trump woulda gone in the military, he woulda been the guy that wet his bed, cried for his mom, went hysterical, and would be carted out in the middle of the night. The man’s a coward. He’s a bully. All bullies are cowards. That’s why they’re bullies” https://t.co/fKow32iP6v
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) October 25, 2026
