Trump Thinks Increasing Military Budget as President Makes Up for His Having Dodged Vietnam

Trump Thinks Increasing Military Budget as President Makes Up for His Having Dodged Vietnam

President Trump told Piers Morgan during an interview for Good Morning Britain that throwing money at the military as president makes up for his never serving in the military. The exchange starts at 17:28 in this video:

The comments came during a back-and-forth over Trump’s having skipped out of serving during the Vietnam War due to allegedly having bone spurs in his heel. First, Morgan asked the president if he wishes he had been able to serve.

“Well, I was never a fan of that war, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said. “I thought it was a terrible war…Nobody ever heard of Vietnam. Today they’re doing very well. On trade, they’re brutal, they’re very brutal. They’re great negotiators, they’re great business people.”

“So I was never a fan,” he continued. “This isn’t like I’m fighting against Nazi Germany, we’re fighting against Hitler.”

Morgan than asked if Trump “would have liked to have served generally.”

Trump responded, “I would not have minded that at all, I would have been honored. But I think I make up for it right now. Seven hundred billion I gave last year and then this year seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, and I think I’m making up for it rapidly because we’re rebuilding our military at a level it’s never been before.”

Of course there was nothing stopping Trump from at least serving in the National Guard during the Vietnam era, which was a way to dodge being sent to Vietnam while still wearing a uniform. Especially since there is reason to believe his bone spurs condition was made up to get him out of military service, as reported by The New York Times last December.

This is very Trump, to think that throwing money at a problem makes up for his past behavior, because who doesn’t like money?

Watch the video above, via Good Morning Britain.

Gary Legum

Gary Legum has written about politics and culture for Independent Journal Review, Salon, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, AlterNet and McSweeney's, among others. He currently lives in his native state of Virginia.

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