McCain says he doesn’t consider Trump a ‘draft dodger’

Republican Sen. John McCain left no doubt Monday that he was thinking of President Donald Trump as he criticized the draft system during Vietnam for forcing low-income Americans to serve while the wealthy could avoid war with a doctor’s note.

McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war, stopped short of labeling Trump a “draft dodger” for getting five draft deferments. But the senator’s comments came with Trump already immersed in controversy over how he honors U.S. troop deaths, and underscored the remove between the billionaire president and the military system he now controls as commander in chief.

McCain’s criticism also continued a long-running clash between the two men on the eve of a visit by Trump to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to court Senate GOP votes for his tax plan, a meeting that could contain more than a few awkward moments.

Sen. John McCain said on ABC’s ‘The View’ he didn’t consider President Trump a ‘draft dodger,’ after bringing up people who got out of Vietnam because of a ‘bone spur’

“I don’t consider him so much a draft dodger as I feel that the system was so wrong that certain Americans could evade their responsibilities to serve the country,” McCain said on ABC’s “The View.” He was being pressed about comments in a C-SPAN interview aired Sunday where he lamented that the military “drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur.”

One of Trump’s deferments came as a result of a physician’s letter stating he suffered from bone spurs in his feet. Trump’s presidential campaign described the issue as a temporary problem.

McCain, meanwhile, spent 5½ years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. Yet during last year’s presidential campaign Trump said McCain was not a war hero because “I like people who weren’t captured.”

Senator John McCain
'The View' TV show, New York

Senator John McCain’The View’ TV show, New York

The senator made clear during Monday’s interview that he had been referring to Trump in making his C-SPAN comments. When one of the hosts remarked that people thought he was talking about Trump because the president had sought a medical deferment, McCain interjected, “More than once, yes.”

McCain was asked to describe his relationship with the president. “Almost none” he simply said.

The six-term Arizona lawmaker, battling brain cancer at age 81, made his appearance on “The View” in honor of his daughter Meghan McCain’s birthday. She recently joined the daytime talk show as one of its panel of co-hosts. The White House declined to comment on McCain’s remarks.

McCain, who has been criticized about his war hero status by Trump, seemed to retaliate while speaking about the Vietnam War in an interview aired on C-Span Sunday night

McCain, who has been criticized about his war hero status by Trump, seemed to retaliate while speaking about the Vietnam War in an interview aired on C-Span Sunday night

The tacit criticism reflected the ongoing tension between Trump and McCain, which began during last year’s campaign and has flared on and off. Trump responded furiously when McCain’s “no” vote sunk Senate efforts to repeal and replace “Obamacare” earlier this year.

And last week, in a speech in Philadelphia, McCain questioned “half-baked, spurious nationalism” in America’s foreign policy. Trump lashed out, insisting he would fight back and “it won’t be pretty.”

That prompted McCain to retort: “I have faced tougher adversaries.”

The senator burst into sustained laughter on Monday when one of the hosts mentioned Trump’s threats and asked McCain, “Are you scared?”

After he stopped laughing, McCain said, “I mentioned that I had faced greater challenges.”

“Let’s stop insulting each other. Let’s start respecting each other,” McCain recommended.

The 81-year-old from Arizona spoke about how wealthy Americans were able to avoid being drafted into service during the battle - in which he spent five years as a prisoner of war - by having a doctor say they had a bone spur

The 81-year-old from Arizona spoke about how wealthy Americans were able to avoid being drafted into service during the battle – in which he spent five years as a prisoner of war – by having a doctor say they had a bone spur

The back-and-forth between the president and McCain stands as the latest skirmish between the two Republican Party heavyweights and another example of Trump tangling with GOP senators who could make or break his agenda in Congress.

Trump in recent weeks has feuded with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, although the president joined with the Kentucky senator at the White House last week to publicly declare they were on the same page. Both Corker and McCain could be critical to the success or failure of the president’s push to overhaul the tax system.

During Trump’s presidency, McCain has questioned the president’s immigration policies and warned him against cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The senator also criticized Trump in August for saying that both white nationalists and counter protesters were responsible for violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.

McCain insisted in a tweet at the time that “there’s no moral equivalency between racists & Americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry” and the president should say so.

The senator underwent surgery in mid-July to remove a 2-inch (51-millimeter) blood clot in his brain after being diagnosed with an aggressive tumor called a glioblastoma. It’s the same type of tumor that killed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at age 77 in 2009 and Beau Biden, son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, at 46 in 2015.     

McCain delivered a thinly veiled attack ofPresident Trump’s lack of military service on Sunday evening. 

McCain, who has been criticized about his war hero status by Trump, seemed to retaliate while speaking about the Vietnam War in an interview aired on C-Span Sunday night.

The excuse that McCain spoke about was the one that Trump used in 1968 to avoid being drafted to serve in the Vietnam War

McCain is pictured in a 1967 photo

 The excuse that McCain, pictured right in a 1967 photo, spoke about was the one that Trump, pictured in a high school photo in 1964, used in 1968 to avoid being drafted to serve in the Vietnam War

The 81-year-old from Arizona spoke about how wealthy Americans were able to avoid being drafted into service during the battle – in which he spent five years as a prisoner of war – by having a doctor say they had a bone spur. 

If that sounds familiar to anyone, that’s because it is the excuse that President Trump used in one of his five deferments during Vietnam. The other four were because he was still a college student.

‘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 said in the interview. 

‘That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.’ 

This less-than-subtle criticism follows Trump’s continuing controversy surrounding gold star families, and particularly how he allegedly told Sgt La David Johnson’s widow that her husband ‘knew what he signed up for,’ when he went to Niger, where he was killed. 

McCain and Trump have feuded since the reality television host-turned-president used an event during his presidential campaign to claim that McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War. 

Specifically, he said: ‘I like people who weren’t captured.’

Trump would not apologize for the remark – and now that feud has transferred into the Trump administration, with McCain becoming one of the most fervent critics of the Republican party. 

McCain was one of few Republicans to vote against Trump’s proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare, earning him harsh criticism from the President.   

McCain and Trump have feuded since the reality television host-turned-president used an event during his presidential campaign to claim that McCain wasn't a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War

McCain and Trump have feuded since the reality television host-turned-president used an event during his presidential campaign to claim that McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War

Trump refused to apologize for the comment, and since then has received very little praise from McCain despite belonging to the same party. McCain is pictured bottom right alongside his squadron in 1965

Trump refused to apologize for the comment, and since then has received very little praise from McCain despite belonging to the same party. McCain is pictured bottom right alongside his squadron in 1965

McCain was a prisoner of war for five years during the Vietnam War. His service and refusal to be returned home without his fellow soldiers

McCain was a prisoner of war for five years during the Vietnam War. His service and refusal to be returned home without his fellow soldiers

In 2015 it was revealed that Trump – who actually graduated high school from the New York Military Academy – received medical deferment from the war in 1968 after showing up to a physical examination with bone spurs in his feet.

In 2016, just before he was elected to office, Trump told the New York Times: ‘I had a doctor that gave me a letter – a very strong letter on the heels.’

He said his condition, bone spurs, was temporary and ‘not a big problem, but it was a big enough problem.’ 

Bone spurs are a calcium deposit that causes a bony protrusion on the underside of the heel bone. They are generally caused by a local inflammation and can inflame or injure nearby cartilage or tendons. 

And though McCain’s comments might seem pointed – they come with plausible deniability – as a number of wealthy Americans used the same excuse to avoid being drafted.

This would not be the first time that the Arizona Republican criticized Trump and made allusions to his ‘half-baked spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.’ 

He was speaking specifically about Trump’s strong support for the military and for the troops despite never serving, and for the President’s criticism of athletes who kneel during the anthem. 

This would not be the first time that the Arizona Republican criticized Trump and made allusions to his 'half-baked spurious nationalism.' Trump is pictured on October 18 in a meeting with the Senate Finance Committee

This would not be the first time that the Arizona Republican criticized Trump and made allusions to his ‘half-baked spurious nationalism.’ Trump is pictured on October 18 in a meeting with the Senate Finance Committee

McCain was also one of many to criticize the way that Trump allegedly told the late Sgt La David Johnson's widow that he 'knew what he signed up for,' during a phone call to the woman to express his condolences

Myeshia Johnson also confirmed that President Donald Trump made the comments over the phone

McCain was also one of many to criticize the way that Trump allegedly told the late Sgt La David Johnson’s (pictured left) widow Myeshia  (pictured right) that he ‘knew what he signed up for,’ during a phone call to the woman to express his condolences

The claim he made that comment was backed up by Rep Frederica Wilson (pictured), who said she was listening into the interview when he said it

The claim he made that comment was backed up by Rep Frederica Wilson (pictured), who said she was listening into the interview when he said it

McCain was also one of many to criticize the way that Trump allegedly told the late Sgt La David Johnson’s widow that he ‘knew what he signed up for,’ during a phone call to the woman to express his condolences.  

The claim he made that comment was backed up by Rep Frederica Wilson, who said she was listening into the interview when he said it.  Trump has now gone after the congresswoman with a vengeance – referring to her on Twitter as ‘wacky,’ in an effort to dismantle her credibility.

McCain, who was recently diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumor, said in the C-SPAN interview that a lot of the lessons learned in the Vietnam war can be applied today.  

Specifically he spoke to the need for the US to have a ‘strategy and capability to win’ before getting involved in a conflict. 

‘It really split our society in a way that we sometimes forget. Mass arrests, demonstrations, Chicago, that all of us can look back and see on C-SPAN,’ McCain said.

‘It was a tumultuous time and most of it was bred by the conflict.’ 

Since being diagnosed with the brain tumor, which carries a five-year survival rate of 10 percent, McCain has held nothing back in speaking about or acting on his opposition to Trump or his policies.

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