Buttigieg Doubles Down On Trump’s Vietnam Deferment: He Faked ‘Disabled Status’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

South Bend mayor and Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg doubled down on his assertion that President Donald Trump faked a bone spurs diagnosis to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War.

“There is no question, I think to any reasonable observer, that the President found a way to falsify a disabled status, taking advantage of his privileged status, in order to avoid serving,” Buttigieg told ABC’s Martha Raddatz in an interview aired Sunday on “This Week.”

The mayor said he was positive that Trump faked a disability, and called it “an assault on the honor of this country.”

The comment doubled down on remarks Buttigieg made to the Washington Post’s Robert Costa this week. Trump, he said, “took advantage of the fact that he was the child of a multi-millionaire in order to pretend to be disabled so that somebody could go to war in his place.”

Trump received five draft deferments: Four for education and one for bone spurs after he graduated college. “I had a doctor that gave me a letter — a very strong letter on the heels,” he told The New York Times in 2016, when the paper reported on questions surrounding that fifth deferment. Buttigieg deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 as Navy Reserve intelligence officer.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Mayor Pete is spoiling for a fight against Republicans over the themes they have traditionally dominated, and he does this by targeting their shameless hypocrisy, be it on the subjects of Christianity or of the military. I suspect there’ll be more of this to come.

  2. Donald Trump. A “Fortunate Son”, and cowardly hypocrite. Thanks to all the heros out there who served and sacrificed in defense of our country, our Constitution, and our democracy.

  3. I wish that whenever people mention extremely stable genius Cadet Bone Spurs’ bone spurs — which, curiously enough, didn’t effect his ability to play football, baseball, squash, tennis or, yes, golf — they would also point out that the podiatrist who orchestrated the scam was a tenant of Fred Trump and was rumored to have received a postponement of his lease increase for his troubles, among other favors.

  4. And to top it off, Trump now makes fun of and mocks people with real disabilities, and picks fights with Gold Star families whose loved ones died in service to the country, on the campaign trail and from his position as illegitimate President and Commander in Chief. And now is trying to figure out a way to send kids to a war someplace, anyplace, that he can provoke.

    Let’s remember this on Memorial Day.

  5. “I had a doctor that gave me a letter — a very strong letter on the heels"

    The strongest!
    But isn’t he also the healthiest president, EVER?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

194 more replies

Participants

Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for xpurg8d Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for bobatkinson Avatar for topchap Avatar for pshah Avatar for tena Avatar for daulphin Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for tiowally Avatar for khyber900 Avatar for katscherger Avatar for centralasiaexpat Avatar for kelaine Avatar for tindalos Avatar for gregor Avatar for carolson Avatar for zenicetus Avatar for paul_lukasiak Avatar for thomaspaine Avatar for dicktater Avatar for emiliano4

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: