Now that Donald Trump has the Republican presidential nomination sewn up, it is time to look at how he would approach important matters of policy such as the military. With Mr. Trump this is a problem, because although hawkish today he is a classic Vietnam- era draft dodger.
For California Republicans this presents a dilemma, because they will have to repudiate one of the early pillars of Ronald Reagan’s popularity, as he was caustic about yellow bellies and draft dodgers. Colorfully he once said of the Vietnam War protesters, “The last bunch of pickets were carrying signs that said ‘Make love, not war’. The only trouble was they didn’t look capable of doing either.”
Of one unruly draft dodger Reagan said, “His hair was cut like Tarzan, he acted like Jane and he smelled like Cheetah.”
Now, no one would accurse Mr. Trump of smelling like Cheeta. He was not with the smelly hippies in the street; he was a much more clever draft dodger. He had a rich daddy and survived the war off his four college deferments. Mr. Trump was deferred from military service in July 1964, in January 1966, in December 1966 and in January 1968. When the deferments ran out, he pulled the old draft dodger saw; he had a “boo-boo in his piggy.” In this case, the boo-boo was bone spurs in his foot.
The New York Daily News quotes biographer Wayne Barrett, the author of Trump: The Deals and the Downfall, “Up to that time, he was an active athlete. It was bulls—t. I never heard of any foot problem other than them being well-placed in his mouth.” The News quotes Barrett as stating, “Trump likely got special treatment as a young man with money and influential family connections. It appears he was actively looking for some justification to evade (the draft).”
So California Republicans who supported war heroes George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, and John McCain may be forced to explain why they are now supporting a known draft dodger as their party’s nominee.
But Mr. Trump is trying to assuage their concerns by his new hawkish military policy. Mr. Trump has clarified much of his current attitude toward war by his recent criticism of Sen. McCain. “He’s a war hero because he got captured? I like people who weren’t captured.”
As is well known, Navy aviator McCain was shot down over North Vietnam and spent six years in a Hanoi prison. It is clear that Mr. Trump believes Sen. McCain should have taken his own life rather than be captured, perhaps have gone down with his plane like Major Kong riding down with the bomb in Dr. Strangelove.
Mr. Trump’s position on captured Americans needs to be taken seriously. In World War II, death rather than capture was often the norm. A good example of new Trump Doctrine would be Reichsfurher Schutzstaffel Heinrich Himmler who was captured by the British on May 23, 1945 while trying to escape but immediately bit into a cyanide capsule and fell dead to the ground. Similarly, Reichsmarschall des Grossdeutschen Reiches Hermann Goering swallowed a cyanide capsule rather than undergo the indignity of a trial at Nuremberg.
We can presume Mr Trump would find this conduct admirable as neither soldier underwent the humiliation of capture like McCain. A good policy for President Trump would be to issue all American service personnel cyanide capsules and instructions in how to use them in case of capture. In the Pacific Theater, quite a large number of Japanese generals and admirals committed hari kari rather than be captured. Kaigun Taisho Chuichi Nagumo is a good example for Mr. Trump. As he died in the name of his Emperor, captured Americans should be ready to die in the name of President Trump.
This new Trump Doctrine will surely help overcome his days as a yellow belly draft dodger and provide some solace to Republicans as they rally around his candidacy.