Trump says he would've been 'honored' to serve in military, thinks he's making up for it now
President Trump said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that he was "never a fan" of the Vietnam War, but that he would not have minded serving in the conflict that he avoided due to bone spurs.
Trump was asked in an interview with Piers Morgan on "Good Morning Britain" about his lack of military service as the president prepared to attend a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
"I would not have minded that at all," Trump responded when asked if he wished he'd been able to serve his country.
"I would’ve been honored. But I think I make up for it right now ... and I think I’m making up for it rapidly because we’re rebuilding our military at a level that it’s never seen before," he added, citing defense spending increases under his administration.
The president received medical deferments from the draft during the Vietnam War because of bone spurs in his feet. The diagnosis has led to mockery and criticism from some on the left.
Trump, who campaigned against U.S. entanglement in foreign conflicts, spoke more broadly in the interview with Morgan about his opposition to the Vietnam War.
"Well, I was never a fan of that war, I'll be honest with you," he said. "I thought it was a terrible war. I thought it was very far away ... and at that time nobody ever heard of the country. Today they're doing very well."
"This isn't like I'm fighting against Nazi Germany, we're fighting against Hitler," he added. "And I was like a lot of people. Now, I wasn't out on the streets marching ... but no, I was not a fan of that war. That war was not something we should've been involved in."
The president will spend the next two days attending events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasions. He and other world leaders joined members of the British royal family at a ceremony in Portsmouth, England, on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, Trump will attend a larger event in Normandy to honor the June 6, 1944, Allied invasion.
I served in the Marines and will be the first to tell you that (to be exact) 40/41 of the Marines who served with me support Trump. That's not a dig on you, that's just truth. I hadn't seen or heard from some of these guys in ten years and then we all reconnected on Facebook over time. 40/41 support Trump.
See this coward had the chance and ran from it now he like many of his followers say they would have served ...please . On the eve of the day of celebrating real men this " man " spews this garbage
I know it's about 50/50 for active military .... 40 out of 41 supporting Trump from those that served with you is an outlier of the highest magnitude. It means somewhere there is a reasonably high chance that there's a group where 40/41 thing Trump is a terrible commander in chief/POTUS.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
See this coward had the chance and ran from it now he like many of his followers say they would have served ...please . On the eve of the day of celebrating real men this " man " spews this garbage
I served in the Marines and will be the first to tell you that (to be exact) 40/41 of the Marines who served with me support Trump. That's not a dig on you, that's just truth. I hadn't seen or heard from some of these guys in ten years and then we all reconnected on Facebook over time. 40/41 support Trump.
I am genuinely curious to know their reasons. I've always suspected that the numbers were as you say, but I really want to know why. When then speak of their support, what do they cite as heir reasons?
See this coward had the chance and ran from it now he like many of his followers say they would have served ...please . On the eve of the day of celebrating real men this " man " spews this garbage
I was a HS senior in 73-74. Summer after my Junior year, I registered for the draft lottery without so much as a second thought. Pops was Army, Okinawa. My entire family served for generations, and if such was to be my lot, I would do so, as well.
I did not hop into a VW microbus and flee to Canada. I did not try to register as a Conscientious Objector. I talked to My Pops about how to best swallow my fear in order to serve. I was as ready as a punk Midwestern smallish-town kid could make himself.
Another thing I did not do... is weasel out of my civic responsibility with some dubious medical excuse. I didn't even consider such a thing.
Why?
Because I was being raised to become a real f-ing man, should I actually reach adulthood. A person who would handle his responsibilities without looking for some safe, soft, slippery way out. This cowardly POS weaseled 4 deferments, then actually had the gall years later to claim in an interview that "avoiding sexually-transmitted diseases during the war years was 'his own personal Viet Nam.'"
My God. Some Browns fans actually voted for- this.
Rich kid 'moneys' his way out of service. Poor kid comes home from a swamp in a bag. Rich kid grows up to take advantage of poor folk, becomes famous. Poor kid comes home from a desert in a bag.
I was scared out of my mind when I registered, but I was always ready to step up, if called. This guy pussed his responsibilities by claiming 'bone spurs' as his first impulse. Two different scenarios. Character on display in both.
Zero respect for cowardice. Even less respect for hollow bluster... 50 years too late.
50 years ago, d00d already showed us what he was made of: Sta-Puft marshmallow.
Most servicemen and women know trump is POS coward. But they can’t speak out about it in public. So us veterans who served with honor are making up for that now.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
I served in the Marines and will be the first to tell you that (to be exact) 40/41 of the Marines who served with me support Trump. That's not a dig on you, that's just truth. I hadn't seen or heard from some of these guys in ten years and then we all reconnected on Facebook over time. 40/41 support Trump.
Quoted for the irony of veterans supporting a draft dodger.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I served with guys who regularly stated that they rather have a draft dodger in office than a Kenyan Muslim.
And most are unsurprisingly from the south, and conservative.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
You have to wonder what the Queen was thinking. I mean she was actually a mechanic and drove a military truck in WW2, while Trump had his deferments and bone spurs.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Well, she is a thousand years old so she was probably thinking about what kind of pudding was for lunch . I get the point though because the man is , was and always be a coward . If he had said " I regret not serving when my country called me " i would have respect for that .
You have to wonder what the Queen was thinking. I mean she was actually a mechanic and drove a military truck in WW2, while Trump had his deferments and bone spurs.
A 90 year-old woman with bigger balls than he.
"Leader" of the free world. Watch his behavior... even he knows how sub-standard he is. It's why his brags always sound so forced, hollow and insincere.
His insecurity is openly on display... and the most honest thing about him.
Here's what I consider the saddest part in all of this.
If he had actually have stood for something during the Vietnam war I could have respected that. Many people served in Vietnam and many people strongly objected to and protested the war.
Some people actually did what they felt was their duty by serving in Vietnam and came home to protest the war after they were actually there and saw the tragedy of it all.
But in all of those cases, people took a stand. They stood for their beliefs. They stood for something.
"Well, I was never a fan of that war, I'll be honest with you. I thought it was a terrible war. I thought it was very far away," Trump said. "At that time, nobody had ever heard of the country."
So he wouldn't serve and wouldn't protest. The very definition of Milk-toast.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
He was 6 feet tall and had an athlete’s build. He played football in high school and was active in sports throughout college. He spent one summer as a lifeguard at a local pool.
But after he graduated college in the spring of 1968 and became eligible for the draft and —possibly — combat duty in Vietnam, he received a diagnosis that let him avoid military service.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
I missed the part that was about Biden ...oh wait, there was none . We were commenting on the Coward in Chief not some other draft dodger . We werent talking about Clinton , Jr or any other avoider just the current windbag lying piece of dog crap that currently holds the office .
Now this knucklehead diminishes D-Day! These guys just don't get it at all!
Barr compares being Trump’s attorney general to D-Day invasion
Barr claims his return to the Justice Department was "like jumping into Sainte-Mère-Église on the morning of June 5."
A day after the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Attorney General William Barr claimed that his return to the Justice Department bears similarities to the 1944 Battle of Normandy.
During a speech at the FBI academy on Friday, Barr compared the scrutiny that he has received since becoming President Donald Trump’s attorney general to the Allies’ invasion of Europe — which is estimated to have claimed the lives of about 2,500 U.S. soldiers and nearly 2,000 soldiers from other Allied countries.
“As we’ve been watching the coverage of June 6, 1944 — D-Day — I had the thought that my arrival this time felt a little bit, I think, like jumping into Sainte-Mère-Église on the morning of June 5, trying to figure out where you could land without getting shot,” said Barr.
U.S. troops were airdropped into the French town of Sainte-Mère-Église in advance of the Allies’ amphibious June 1944 invasion in order to restrict German access to the nearby beaches.
Barr — who was confirmed by the Senate in February after serving as President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general from 1991 to 1993 — has faced intense criticism for his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Trump’s attorney general released a “summary” of Mueller’s report in March that claimed to exonerate the president of any wrongdoing. Barr made similar remarks at an April press conference on the release of Mueller’s redacted report.
Mueller reportedly objected to Barr’s misleading summary of the special counsel’s investigation in a letter to the attorney general.
Mueller also undercut the attorney general’s claims in a press conference last month, during which the former FBI director said he didn’t charge the president with obstruction of justice due to DOJ policy, but there were at least 10 cases of potential obstruction.
Barr later admitted he had decided to clear Trump of any obstruction of justice charges before reading the special counsel’s report.
Numerous congressional Democrats have called for Barr to be held in contempt for refusing to testify and share the unredacted version of Mueller’s report with lawmakers.