‘Not too many’: Trump laughs at Arlington about few Donalds dying in war. He made sure of that with 5 draft deferments

On Memorial Day, President Donald Trump gave a speech at Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen U.S. military members buried there. But during the speech, he made a joke about the small number of service members named Donald buried at the site. The comment quickly drew backlash and brought renewed attention to his own history of avoiding military service through draft deferments.

Trump opened his address by acknowledging the families of deceased veterans and noting that 400,000 soldiers are buried at Arlington. He mentioned that the first service member laid to rest there was a Union soldier named Private Christman. He then began listing the names of those buried at the cemetery, offering what appeared to be a tribute to the diversity of those who gave their lives for the country.

According to Mediaite, Trump said there are over 18,000 service members named William, 20,000 named John, and 13,000 named James buried at Arlington. He then added, “joined over time by Isaacs, Elijahs, Earls, Hanks, Helens, Juans, Margarets, Marius, Donalds, not too many, and others whose names tell the true story of American greatness.” The remark about “not too many” Donalds did not go over well with many people.

Trump’s draft deferments during Vietnam make his Arlington joke hard to ignore

The comment stands out even more given Trump’s own history with military service. During the Vietnam War, Trump received four student deferments and a medical deferment in 1968, citing a diagnosis of bone spurs, according to Sky News. That medical claim has since been disputed, with the daughter of the doctor who made the diagnosis saying it was done as “a favor.”

The doctor himself, Roy Cohn, maintained at the time that the diagnosis was legitimate and that Trump did have bone spurs. However, the dispute over the claim has never fully gone away, and Trump’s five deferments have remained a point of controversy throughout his political career. This Memorial Day was not the first time Trump faced criticism, either, as he also drew heavy backlash for a scathing Memorial Day post targeting Democrats.

Adding to the debate, Trump told CNBC‘s Squawk Box in April that he would have quickly ended the Vietnam War, saying, “I would’ve won Vietnam very quickly.” That statement, along with his Arlington comments, has led many to question how seriously he takes the sacrifices made by those who actually served. Critics pointed out that someone who avoided the draft is not well-placed to claim they would have won the war.

The gap between Trump’s words at the cemetery and his own record is hard to miss. He spoke about the deep importance of Arlington and the soldiers buried there, while his personal history shows he took several steps to avoid being one of those soldiers himself during the Vietnam era. Around the same time, Trump has also been in the news for sending mixed signals on an Iran nuclear deal, first calling it imminent and then telling representatives not to rush.

Trump’s bone spur deferment, in particular, has drawn scrutiny because the diagnosis came at a critical moment, when he was facing the military draft, and because the doctor’s own family later cast doubt on whether it was a genuine medical finding. The fact that the claim was described as “a favor” by the doctor’s own daughter has made it one of the most questioned medical exemptions in modern political history.

The question of whether the deferment was legitimate has never been fully resolved, and it is unlikely to be put to rest anytime soon. What is clear is that Trump’s lighthearted comment about the few Donalds buried at Arlington landed poorly against the backdrop of his own Vietnam-era record, and it gave his critics fresh reason to revisit a chapter of his past that he has long tried to move beyond.