Senator who lost her legs in Iraq slams Trump as draft-dodging coward

Trump gave an interview to British reporter Piers Morgan on Tuesday, in which he defended draft-dodging the Vietnam War by saying he was “never a fan” of the conflict and “thought it was a terrible war.”

And Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who lost both of her legs when her helicopter was shot down during her military service in Iraq, was having none of it.

Duckworth called Trump out for his excuses in a Wednesday afternoon tweet storm, dubbing Trump #CadetBoneSpurs — a reference to the phony excuse he used to dodge the draft and get out of serving in the war.

“No one cares whether you were a ‘fan’ of the Vietnam War,” Duckworth tweeted. “No one believes you were medically unfit to serve. You used your wealth & privilege to avoid serving your country five times, forcing another American to serve in your place each time.”

She went on to attack Trump’s military policies, including stealing defense funding to build “a wall you promised Mexico would pay for,” and for banning transgender Americans from serving in the military.

Duckworth also pointed out that many people who serve in the military aren’t proponents of war, but step up to serve — or they served when drafted, like the law demanded.

“Sane people aren’t ‘fans’ of war—only #StableGeniuses would even think that,” Duckworth tweeted, another dig at Trump, who has declared himself a “very stable genius.”

“I’ve met many #WWII #DDay Vets,” Duckworth added. “None ever said they were fans of war. They simply answered their nation’s call, regardless of what they thought. Especially during the draft — it wasn’t optional for them.”

She concluded her thread with a brutal dig at Trump, calling him a coward for shirking his duty to serve in Vietnam.

“These comments only make one thing clear: @realDonaldTrump got his deferments for the wrong thing,” Duckworth tweeted. “They shouldn’t have been for his disappearing, imaginary bone spurs—they should have been for that yellow streak down his back. At least that would have been a real condition.”

That’s going to leave a mark.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.