THE LONG VIEW: TRUMP’S MILITARY RECORD
1968
ART OF THE DODGE
Trump’s bone spurs allow him to dodge the draft; he says sleeping around and not contracting STDs was his own “personal Vietnam.”
2015
DISHONORING AN AMERICAN HERO
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump says of Sen. John McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war. “I like people who weren’t captured.”
JULY 2016
ATTACKING A GOLD-STAR FAMILY
After Khizr Khan, father of a fallen Muslim soldier, criticizes Trump at the Democratic National Convention, Trump attacks the grieving father and speculates that a Clinton staffer wrote the speech and suggested Khan’s wife “wasn’t allowed” to speak.
OCT.
CALLOUS MANNER Speaking to a veterans group, Trump suggests that soldiers suffering from PTSD aren’t “strong” and “can’t handle” the things they did at war.
JUNE 2017
CHECK, PLEASE
Trump promises to start an online fundraiser for a grieving military father and to donate $25,000 but does neither until pressured by the media months later.
JULY
TRANSGENDER BAN
In a tweet, without consulting his top military advisers, Trump announces he’s banning transgender service members, calling them burdensome and disruptive.
OCT.
NO SYMPATHY
Four soldiers are killed in Niger and Trump makes no comment for 12 days, but tells the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
FEB. 2018
PROPAGANDA FAIL
Trump orders the Pentagon to plan a grand military parade for himself down Pennsylvania Avenue. The dream is shelved when costs reach $92 million.
AUG.
OUTSOURCING THE VA TO MAR-A LAGO
The overhaul of the medical records for 9 million vets is guided by three members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago — the head of Marvel Entertainment, a Palm Beach lawyer and a doctor — none of whom are government officials or have ever served in the military.
OCT.
POLITICAL WARFARE
Trump deploys 5,200 troops to the Mexican border to defend the country from a nonexistent “invasion” one week before the midterm election.
NOV.
NOT IN THE TRENCHES
In France, Trump no-shows at a ceremony for the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Reason: It was raining. Vive le coif!
NOV.
NOT-SO-ETERNAL FLAME
Trump skips a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington Cemetery, later explaining he was “extremely busy.”
NOV.
BLOCK THE VOTE
Frustrated by the Florida midterm recount, Trump tweets, “must go with election night” results, which would exclude ballots from service members overseas.
DEC.
COMBAT PAY
After nearly two years in office, Trump finally visits a combat zone, in Iraq, but lies to the troops, claiming he gave them a 10 percent pay raise (it was less than three).