Not long after Donald Trump was elected, a White House doctor who had clearly been promised a higher position within the administration in exchange for a glowing report on Trump’s health told the country that Trump was some kind of superhuman with absolutely no health issues despite being in his 70s and overweight. Somehow, there was no information about those infamous bone spurs that kept Trump from being drafted to fight in Vietnam.
Vietnam veteran and former senator Bob Kerrey appeared on CNN to ask for proof of those bone spurs after Trump once again criticized the late veteran and former POW John McCain.
The Independent reports that:
‘Mr Kerrey demanded to see x-rays to prove the president really had the condition that allowed him to sit-out the conflict in south east Asia where McCain served as a pilot and was held captive in Hanoi between 1967 and 1973 after being shot down on a bombing raid.’
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey on President Trump: “He sees all of us who went to Vietnam as fools. … We were the ones that didn’t have the resources to be able to get out of the draft. … Show us your bone spurs. Let’s see those X-rays!” https://t.co/AsefvLJPzp pic.twitter.com/BEGzEhGVMx
— CNN (@CNN) March 21, 2019
Trump’s lack of service has been the subject of much criticism and the only person to blame for that is Trump himself. It was revealed that his parents paid off a doctor to claim he was ineligible for service as a result of his poor feet, but Trump went on to play sports in college. Trump once referred to avoiding venereal diseases in the 1960s as his “personal Vietnam.” Even worse, Trump’s former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen told Congress that the president admitted to lying about those bone spurs to avoid the draft, saying he was not “dumb” enough to go fight in a war.
On Wednesday, Trump doubled down on his attacks on the late Sen. McCain, who did serve.
‘Speaking at a tour of a tank factory in Lima, President Trump repeated that he was “not a fan” of the late Republican presidential candidate and complained that he had never been thanked for McCain’s state funeral last year after the veteran passed away from brain cancer.’
President Trump on John McCain: "I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don't care about this. I didn’t get thank you. That's ok. We sent him on the way, but I wasn't a fan of John McCain." pic.twitter.com/hG4XwOiIBO
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 20, 2019
Trump explained the support he gets from those serving in the military by saying that he’s done more for veterans than McCain did. Of course, that isn’t true, but since when has that stopped Trump from saying anything?
According to NBC News, Trump said:
‘McCain didn’t get the job done for our great vets at the VA and they knew it.’
CNN's Jeffrey Toobin: Trump Hates That McCain is a 'Hero' and He Was a 'Weasel' During Vietnam https://t.co/k7ac6MiHeQ via @mediaite — BINGO
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) March 21, 2019
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) shot down that comment, saying that veterans very much respect McCain for his service.
‘I’ve never met a veteran who doesn’t respect the hell out of John McCain. In fact everyone I know, even those who disagreed with McCain politically, believe he’s an American hero. So I’m not sure why the late senator has gotten under the president’s skin yet again, but maybe his bone spurs are flaring up.’
From recent visit to “Hanoi Hilton” prison museum, this is the kind of dark cell where @SenJohnMcCain spent five years and five months. “Thank you” is not enough. pic.twitter.com/yWTA9OcAbK
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) March 21, 2019
Featured image via Twitter video