The U.S. Deserves a Commander-in-Chief Who is Fit to Serve
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” — Article II, Section 2, Clause I of the U.S. Constitution
On September 9, 1965, a U.S. Navy pilot James Stockdale catapulted his A-4 Skyhawk off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. His plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, catching the engine on fire, and forcing the pilot to eject. The plane crashed into a rice paddy and exploded in a great fireball. During the ejection, he broke a bone in his back and upon landing, he badly dislocated his knee that would go untreated for years. He was captured in the streets of a small village. The locals tore off his clothes and beat him mercilessly, breaking his leg and paralyzing his arm. The military police transported him to the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison where he would spend the next seven years being physically and psychologically tortured by the North Vietnamese.
As a prisoner of war, he was kept in solitary confinement in total darkness for four years, in leg irons for two years, and physically tortured more than 15 times. He was beaten, whipped, and strangled to near death with ropes. He was denied medical and dental care, starved and malnourished, and deprived of any contact with the outside world. His captors promised him better treatment and an end to his torture if he would just admit that the United States was engaging in crimes against the Vietnamese people. He refused. He led the resistance of his fellow American prisoners of war (POWs), lifting their spirits and helping them maintain a will to survive and even fight back.
On May 20, 1968, a 21-year-old Donald Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. During the proceeding four years, two at Fordham University and then two at UPenn, he had received four student draft deferments. In July 1968, he was once again classified 1-A — available for service, making him eligible for the draft. At the same time, the Selective Service System was issuing higher draft calls to meet the increasing demands of the Vietnam War. Between June 1968 and the end of the year, nearly 150,000 U.S. men were drafted into military service. The lottery system, randomizing the selection of eligible draftees, was not implemented until December of 1969. In October of 1968, just 3 months after Trump was classified 1-A, he was reclassified 1-Y after a medical examination diagnosed him with bone spurs in his heels. “Disq,” short for “disqualified” was written in Trump’s selective service record marking him as disqualified from regular military service. Later, in 1972, Trump’s classification was changed to 4-F, which permanently disqualified him from military service.
In the spring of 1969, Stockdale’s captors told him he was going to be taken “downtown” to be paraded in front of foreign journalists, he used his shaving razor to slash his own scalp and the leg of a wooden stool to disfigure his own face. He knew they would not want to display a prisoner of war who appeared to have been beaten. When he learned that many other American POWs were being tortured to death, he slashed his own wrists to prove to his captors he preferred death over dishonor. This led to better treatment of his fellow American POWs. Stockdale was finally released from prison in 1973 and in 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded him The Medal of Honor — the highest military decoration that may be awarded by the United States government. It is presented by the President of the United States, in the name of Congress, and is conferred only upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.
On July 18, 2015, then Presidential candidate Donald Trump was asked by Frank Luntz about Senator John McCain and whether or not it was appropriate for Trump to refer to McCain, a war hero who had spent over five and a half years being tortured in the same “Hanoi Hilton” as Admiral Stockdale, as a “dummy.” Trump not only called McCain, “a loser,” but he exclaimed, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Sheldon and Miriam Adelson were the largest donors to Donald Trump’s campaign throughout his presidency. The couple provided the largest donation to his 2016 campaign, his presidential inauguration, his defense fund against the Mueller investigation into Russian interference, the 2018 midterms, and his 2020 campaign. In 2018, Trump awarded Miriam Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to “any person recommended to the President for award of the Medal or any person selected by the President upon their own initiative,” and was created to recognize people who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” The White House press release noted Miriam’s financial support to fight drug addiction, illness, and provide investments in Jewish causes as the reasons she was receiving America’s highest civilian award.
In February of this year, Miriam pledged her financial support to Trump again in the 2024 election. Yesterday, former President and 2024 Presidential candidate Trump was giving a speech at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey where Miriam, one of his biggest donors, introduced him. Shortly thereafter, Trump made the following remarks:
“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the congressional medal of honor. But [the] civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the congressional medal of honor — that[’s] soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they are dead. She gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman and they rated equal, but she got the presidential medal of freedom.”
No, President Trump, you giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to one of your biggest donors is absolutely not “much better” or anywhere near “the equivalent” of one of our service members earning the Medal of Honor. You see, you were officially disqualified in 1968 to make such dishonorable and disparaging comments. Men like you will never know the significance of the sacrifices of America’s real heroes like James Stockdale and John McCain. Unlike you, these men were fit to serve, and they did.
