Senator Tammy Duckworth Says Trump Has A 'Yellow Streak Down His Back'
A senator who lost both her legs while serving in the military during the Iraq War isn’t impressed by the comments of a president who skipped out of an earlier war because of bone spurs.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump told “Good Morning Britain” host Piers Morgan that he “would not have minded serving” in the Vietnam War.
At the time, however, he managed to avoid the draft when a podiatrist diagnosed him with bone spurs that he may not actually have had. (The podiatrist’s daughters recently suggested that it was all a favor to their dad’s landlord, who happened to be Trump’s father.)
When Morgan asked the president with a straight face if he would have liked to serve had his condition not prevented him, Trump explained that the Vietnam War just wasn’t big enough for him:
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. Nobody ever, you know, you’re talking about Vietnam, and at that time, nobody ever heard of the country. Today they are doing very well, in fact, on trade, they are brutal. They are very brutal.
Trump’s remarks inspired the ire of Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who had both legs amputated due to injuries suffered in Iraq in 2004.
First, she called out the president for avoiding military service to his country.
#CadetBoneSpurs: no one cares whether you were a “fan” of the Vietnam War. 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. 1/ https://t.co/bSZbQlnWMf
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 5, 2019
Then she went after Trump for taking money away from current military members and their families in order to pay for his pet projects.
Now, you're stealing billions from @DeptofDefense's budget to fund a wall you promised Mexico would pay for. You're failing to support military families by taking away caregiver funding. You're kicking out Americans who *are* willing to serve only because they're transgender. 2/
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 5, 2019
Duckworth reminded the president that people aren’t supposed to treat wars like favorite TV shows or sports teams.
Sane people aren't "fans" of war—only #StableGeniuses would even think that. I’ve met many #WWII #DDay Vets. 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 3/
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 5, 2019
Then for all intents and purposes, she called the president a coward ― though not in those exact words.
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These comments only make one thing clear: @realDonaldTrump got his deferments for the wrong thing. 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. 4/4
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 5, 2019
So far, Trump hasn’t responded ― but it’s just a matter of when, right?
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.