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Monday, July 20, 2015

Report: Donald Trump Digs In

Donald Trump's ABC appearance  came one day after he ignited a firestorm of criticism after he said at the Iowa Family Leadership Summit  that McCain, a former Navy pilot who was held for more than five years in Vietnam after his plane was shot down in 1967, qualifies as a war hero only "because he was captured."

Bloomberg reports most of the Republican presidential candidates and the Republican National Committee swiftly condemned the comments, with the notable exception of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. So did press magnate Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News network will be hosting the first presidential debate next month and will be deciding which of the 16 major Republican candidates get the coveted 10 seats on the stage.


A number of leading Democrats also spoke out against Trump, including the party's presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, and Secretary of State John Kerry. A former Senate colleague of McCain's and a fellow Vietnam War veteran, Kerry took the unusual step of issuing a statement hailing McCain's endurance in the face of "unspeakable acts of torture." Said Kerry, who as the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, got an assist from McCain when some Republicans questioned Kerry's Vietnam war record:
"If anyone doesn't know that John McCain is a war hero, it only proves they know nothing about war and even less about heroism." 
On ABC, Trump said he did not serve in Vietnam because of  student deferments and then a medical deferment for a bone spur in one of his feet. He called himself "fortunate" because "I was not a believer in the Vietnam war."


Trump insisted he will do a better job than McCain in advancing veterans' issues. In a statement issued by his campaign after the ABC appearance, Trump cited his contributions to the New York City Vietnam Veteran's memorial and to a 1995 Veteran's Day parade.

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