In attacking Blumenthal, Trump opens himself to criticism over the military. Again.

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

In attacking Blumenthal, Trump opens himself to criticism over the military. Again.

By Alex Horton August 7 at 10:26 PM

President Trump and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have at least one thing in common.

Both men received multiple draft deferments during the Vietnam War, as able-bodied men were deployed by the thousands to fight a wildfire conflict during the Cold War. Blumenthal received five deferments from 1965 to 1970. Trump received four student deferments by 1968.

Their deferment histories diverged at this point. Blumenthal enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1970, serving six years in the United States.

Trump received his medically disqualifying deferment two years earlier, in 1968.

Those wartime histories reemerged Monday, as Trump sent out a multipronged tweet assault during his 17-day working vacation, attacking Blumenthal's misleading 2010 comments when he said he served in Vietnam.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/07/in-attacking-blumenthal-trump-opens-himself-to-criticism-over-the-military-again/

[Achilleaze]

1. Frikken republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief* is a disgrace

* Comrade Casino (R)

[Submariner]

2. Trump family tradition

[ExciteBike66]

3. I'm not sure I would post that graphic

Refusal to fight in Vietnam should be seen as a good thing, considering that that war was a useless waste of life and funds. Trump is a toad but I can't blame him for not going over to Nam.

You are calling all of the Vietnam protesters "yellow" with your post.

[safeinOhio]

4. I've never seen any

vintage photos of trump protesting the war.

[ExciteBike66]

5. I doubt he did protest,

but the graphic implied that anyone who "refused to fight in Vietnam" was "yellow". That would include protesters.

[unblock]

6. Avoiding military service in and of itself isn't the problem.

If you do it for legitimate reasons and are consistent in your rhetoric about it.

But once donnie went after blumenthal for avoiding service, *then* it's a problem. Especially because blumenthal *did* eventually serve in the reserves.

He can't have it both ways.

[ExciteBike66]

7. Oh I agree

My point was about the specific graphic used to call Trump "yellow", since it also seemed to apply that label to anyone else who did not want to go to Vietnam.

[pscot]

8. Muhammed Ali went to jail

for two years because he refused to go to Vietnam. Trump wan't a Vietnam protester; just a greedy, self-serving coward.

[ExciteBike66]

9. Again, that was not my point

My point was about the specific graphic, which implies that anyone who refused to fight in Nam was yellow.

Further, I don't even think we should call Trump himself "yellow" for not wanting to go to Vietnam, regardless of how he got out of serving. I mean, I personally did not want to go to Iraq or Afghanistan (I was in the Army in the early 2000s), but it wasn't because I was scared.

[Lee-Lee]

10. I am going to be in the minority here but Blumenthal deserves every bit of beating about his Vietnam

remarks. Even from Trump.

He had perfectly honorable service in the USMC Reserve and it wasn't good enough for him and he had to go tell people he had been in Vietnam.

That's not a defensible lie. It's not a mistake you accidentally make, it's an intentional false statement. It's not something you can overlook- not in my book anyway.

Now, old Donny lives in a very precarious glass house to tossing his stones from, having never served at all, but it's like two people with no credibility on the issue tossing blows about who is worse on it when they both are just as bad on that specific point.

I can't give a pass on false claims of military service to someone just because they are on my side.

[gratuitous]

11. Blumenthal misspoke on two occasions

Every public utterance Blumenthal has made about his military service has specified that he was in the Marine Corps Reserve "during Vietnam." On two occasions, Linda McMahon (wife of WWE mogul Vince McMahon) found that Blumenthal had said "in Vietnam" instead of "during Vietnam." Blumenthal has apologized for these misstatements.

Donald Trump, by contrast, has never apologized or explained (for example) his vicious attacks on Gold Star families or veterans disabled by PTSD. But you've overlooked that entirely to create an equivalency between Blumenthal and Trump. I find that . . . interesting.

[Lee-Lee]

12. No, it's not an either or situation

And you are minimizing Blumenthals statements.

Maybe my perspective is different as a veteran, but you don't accidentally claim to have combat service.

I served during Iraq. I can't imagine making the mistake of saying I served "in" Iraq. I did serve in Afghanistan. I also wouldn't make the mistake of talking about "when I returned from Iraq" or "when we returened from Iraq" including myself in people who had as he did.

His statements stand alone and are not made any worse or less worse than anything Trump has done.

I know it's unpopular but a Democrat is allowed to look at the actions of a Democrat and not find them to be acceptable. And I held this same option before Trump was even an issue, and it has not changed since.