September 19, 2016

Hillary Clinton’s New Ad Will Remind You How Awful Trump Has Been to Veterans

“He insulted all of our military.”


Donald Trump has said a lot of awful things, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign wants to make sure you don’t forget. Her latest campaign ad directly attacks Trump’s controversial statement last July that questioned Vietnam veteran and Arizona Sen. John McCain’s status as a war hero.

“He’s a war hero because he was captured—I like people who weren’t captured, okay?” Trump said, provoking the ire of numerous Republicans. Trump has yet to apologize for the comment.

The Clinton ad was timed to coincide with National Prisoners of War Remembrance Day, which took place on September 16, and features Joel Sollender, a prisoner of war who was captured by the Nazis during WWII. “Apart from the outrage of the insult to prisoners of war, he insulted all of our military,” says Sollender, who appeared to be choking back tears  as he noted his war was both “70 years ago, and yesterday.”

“I would hope we would not adulate a man like him and put him into the most precious office in this country,” he concluded.

Trump, who received five deferments during the Vietnam War and has never served in the military, has had a number of controversies involving veterans. Earlier in January, Trump held a highly publicized fundraiser for veterans and promised to personally donate $1 million to veterans’ causes. The money only arrived four months later, after pressure from the Washington Post. In August, Trump came under fire again after he smeared Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of an American solider who had died in Afghanistan.

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