Former Rare Staff
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) appeared to take a snide swipe at President Trump in a recent interview about the Vietnam War with C-SPAN when he condemned people from “the highest income level” who dodged the draft by finding a doctor who “would say that they had a bone spur.”
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TONIGHT – @SenJohnMcCain talks about the Vietnam War's legacy on C-SPAN, at 6 & 10pm ET. pic.twitter.com/WnZT0n8Mcn
— American History TV (@cspanhistory) October 22, 2017
McCain’s well-documented war of words with Trump began at an 2016 campaign event when the latter questioned the Arizona Republican’s military heroism during the Vietnam War. Trump refused to apologize, and the spat has carried over to Trump’s presidency, during which McCain has been one of his fiercest Republican opponents.
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“One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never, ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America, and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur,” McCain told C-SPAN3, American History TV. “That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.”
McCain didn’t actually mention the president by name, but Trump’s bone spur-related deferment was widely reported during his 2016 campaign, and his family was obviously very wealthy at the time of the draft. Trump told The New York Times in 2016 that a doctor “gave [him] a letter — a very strong letter on the heels.”
“Over a period of time, it healed up,” he said of the heel.
