In a new ad released on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, three United States veterans bashed former President Donald Trump as a “draft dodger,” saying he is unfit to be president again.
The video was released by President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign on Thursday and featured Marine Corps veteran Curtis Register, Army veteran Ed McCabe, and Navy veteran Matthew McLaughlin.
In the minute-long video, the three men describe the “stark contrast between Donald Trump, who criticizes veterans and has refused to take accountability or attend military funerals, and President Biden, who stands with our troops abroad and takes care of them at home,” the Biden camp shared.
“A good commander in chief is somebody who gives a s‑‑‑,” Register says as the video begins.
“Donald Trump has zero accountability in his life,” McLaughlin said.
“He’s a draft dodger, simple as that,” McCabe added. They're referencing the fact that Trump got five separate deferments to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War, one due to bone spurs in his heels and the others via enrollment in college; Biden also received five student draft deferments, first as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware and later as a law student at Syracuse University.
The video is the latest effort from Biden’s team to try and show that the president is better for veterans and active duty service members.
Among the themes to be repeated in the video included mentioning of a report that said Trump referred to veterans buried in France as “losers” and “suckers,” along with his former comments about the late Sen. John McCain, who was a prisoner in the Vietnam War.
Trump has continually denied making the “suckers” remark, though others that were close to him, like his former chief of staff John Kelly, have said there is merit to the report.
In a statement, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said that Trump appears to be mimicking dictators of old.
“From draft dodging to promising to take away veterans’ hard-earned benefits to repeating the rhetoric of dictators, it’s clear that Donald Trump doesn’t care about those who have bravely served our country. He doesn’t understand their sacrifice or the values they vowed to protect,” Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, said.