Following attacks from Republican lawmakers on the Minnesota Governor's military record, Democratic veterans in the House of Representatives came to Governor Walz's defense today and criticized President Trump's lack of military experience.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army Ranger, said Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard, has a “long and honorable service record.”
Walz officially retired from the Minnesota National Guard in May 2005. His unit was alerted to Iraq in July and deployed in October. Walz filed to run for Congress in January 2005 and was certified by the Federal Election Commission the following month.
“Compare all of this with the old, boring attacks on the other side,” Crow said. “They have no ideas. They have no options. They're just trying to do one of the worst things you can do in America, and that's attack our veterans' service. This is old and boring.”
“America is not going to put up with that, and we're not going to put up with that,” Crow said. “It's not acceptable.”
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), who commanded troops in Afghanistan, criticized Trump for receiving a draft deferment in 1968 because of a heel spur, which allowed him to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.
“If I were Donald Trump, a man with five Vietnam War deferments, I'd be very cautious about opening the door to attacks on people who served with honor,” Auchincloss said.
“They're Swift Boat attacking him,” he added, a reference to Republican attacks in 2004 on then-Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's record as a naval officer who served in Vietnam. “We're not going to tolerate that.”
“I am grateful for J.D. Vance's service, but his political record and policies are incompatible with veterans' values, and Donald Trump has a long history of disrespecting veterans. He has called veterans who served until the very end losers.”
The remarks were a reference to a 2020 report by The Atlantic that Trump had canceled a planned visit to a U.S. military cemetery near Paris in 2018 because he felt those who died and were buried there were “losers.” The magazine quoted “four people with direct knowledge of the discussions.” Multiple media outlets confirmed the remarks, but Trump has denied them. Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, also said the remarks were accurate.