Trump: ‘I Was Fortunate’ to Not Have Served; ‘I Was Not a Believer’ in Vietnam
RADDATZ: "I want to talk about you and your deferment. How many deferments did you actually get? And what were they for? I believe you had student deferments and then a medical deferment."
TRUMP: “I had student deferments, like many other people had, during the war or around the time of the war. I had a minor medical deferment for feet, for a bone spur of the foot, which was minor. I was then entered into the draft because if I would have gotten a different number, I could have been drafted. I was fortunate, in a sense, because I was not a believer in the Vietnam War. That was another war that was a disaster for this country. Lives and money and it’s disgraceful what happened with the Vietnam War. I was not a fan of the Vietnam War. But I was entered into the draft and I got a very, very high draft number.”
RADDATZ: “That wasn’t until 1969.”
TRUMP: “Excuse me.”
RADDATZ: “The lottery wasn’t until 1969?”
TRUMP: “That’s right. I was entered —“(Crosstalk)
TRUMP: “Excuse me. Excuse me. I was entered into the lottery, the draft lottery. If I would have gotten a low number, I would have been drafted. I would have proudly served. But I got a number, I think it was 356. That’s right at the very end. And they didn’t get — I don’t believe — past even 300, so I was — I was not chosen because of the fact that I had a very high lottery number.”
RADDATZ: “You — there seems to be a pattern, Mr. Trump. When you’re criticized or attacked, you often respond with name-calling, using terms like “dummy,” “loser,” “total losers” on Twitter and elsewhere. You even demean some people’s physical appearance. Is that something you would continue doing if you were president? Isn’t that language beneath the office of the president?”
TRUMP: “Oh, I don’t think — look, when people attack me, I let them have it back. You say physical appearance. You know, it’s my hair but people are constantly attacking my hair. I don’t see you coming to my defense. I’m — my hair is just fine, but I don’t see you coming to my defense. But if I say something about somebody else. Yesterday, I mentioned somebody was saying, McCain’s a smart man. I said, really? He graduated last in his class at Annapolis, OK. So people laughed when I said it, but a lot of people don’t know that. I’m very disappointed. I understand John McCain. I’ve backed John McCain; raised, I think, $1 million for John McCain when he let us down. He ran for president and lost to Obama, let us down. I wasn’t thrilled with that. But I will say what I want to say, and maybe that’s why I’m leading in the polls because people are tired of hearing politicians and pollsters telling the politicians exactly what to say. And, believe me, this whole thing was brought up by a lot of the people that are competing against me currently that aren’t even registering in the polls because people are tired of them.”
