Buttigieg: I’m Not Scared of a Reality TV Hack Who Faked His Bone Spurs

Donald Trump has had a busy day on Twitter railing against congressional oversight, calling the man he hired to run the State Department “dumb as a rock,” and screaming that he is extremely calm and in complete control of his emotions at all times. So you’ll have to forgive him if he hasn’t gotten around to losing his mind and lashing out at Pete Buttigieg, but rest assured, it’s coming!

Speaking during an appearance at a Washington Post Live event, the South Bend mayor and Democratic candidate for office was asked by reporter Robert Costa what he thought of the news that Trump is considering pardoning several war criminals on Memorial Day, to which Buttigieg responded that it’s one of the grosser things to come out of this presidency, which is obviously saying a lot. “My view is it‘s disgusting,” he said, adding that such a move would hurt the credibility of the U.S. military justice system, which found these people guilty. “If the president blows a hole in that, he is blowing a hole in the military, and he is putting troops’ lives at risk.”

Speaking of military service, or lack thereof, when asked if Trump should have served in Vietnam, Buttigieg came for the bone spurs. “I have a pretty dim view of his decision to use his privilege to fake a disability in order to avoid serving in Vietnam,” the mayor, who served in Afghanistan as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, commented, adding that said fake disability should be “talked about” more. While Trump has insisted his 1968 medical deferment was legit, last year The New York Times reported that the children of the podiatrist who wrote the letter allowing the president to dodge the draft say it was done as “a favor” to Fred Trump, from whom the doctor’s office space was rented. According to one of his daughters, the doctor received preferential treatment after the letter was issued, and no increases in rent.

But does the mayor have any fears about incurring the wrath of a man known for attacking his enemies with devastating nicknames? “I don’t have a problem standing up to someone who was working on Season 7 of Celebrity Apprentice when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan,” Buttigieg said, going in for the kill.

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neuronexmachina on May 26th, 2019 at 15:50 UTC »

Wow, that title is super-clickbaity. For anyone else who can't read the article because of the paywall, here's what Buttigieg actually said in response to Costa's questions: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/buttigieg-trump-faked-a-disability-to-avoid-vietnam.html

Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan, raised the issue in the interview with the Post’s Robert Costa, saying, “I don’t have a problem standing up to somebody who was working on season seven of Celebrity Apprentice when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/23/pete-buttigieg-trump-vietnam-war-disability-accusation

Buttigieg, who took a seven-month leave of absence from his job as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to serve in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the navy reserve, said: “I have a pretty dim view of his decision to use his privileged status to fake a disability in order to avoid serving in Vietnam.”

Speaking at a Washington Post event on Thursday, the 37-year-old continued: “I mean, if he were a conscientious objector, I’d admire that, but this is somebody who, I think it is fairly obvious to most of us, took advantage of the fact that he was a child of a multimillionaire in order to pretend to be disabled so that somebody could go to war in his place.

“I know that dredges up old wounds from a complicated time during a complicated war, but I am also old enough to remember when conservatives talked about character as something that mattered in the presidency, and so I think it deserves to be talked about.”

sheepcat87 on May 26th, 2019 at 14:28 UTC »

Sharks smell blood in the water lately

I'm all for it. Y'all can have the moral high ground. I'm 31 and have watched Republican fuckery too long.

No physical violence, don't break any laws. But FUCK their feelings when they're being as dishonest as claiming bone spurs to get out of serving our country

To middle ground Republicans, wherever they are as quiet as a church mouse, please.... Stand up for your country

To straight up Trump supporters who have been engaged and tuned in for all of it and STILL THOUGHT.... 'Yea, this is good'

Y'all are about to be loathed everywhere you go and rendered irrelevant in 2020. You don't have a place here with your traitorous, anti equality views.

RyanSmith on May 26th, 2019 at 13:58 UTC »

Trump could clear this all up with a simple x-ray.