Statue Referencing Trump’s Draft Deferment Appears in D.C.
A new statue has appeared on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. However, it does not necessarily fit in with the rest of the landscape. Here is a look at the latest addition to the nation's capital.
Statue Mocking Trump Erected on National Mall
A satirical statue of President Donald Trump has gone up on the National Mall, making fun of his Vietnam War draft deferments due to bone spurs. The statue appeared just two days before the country commemorates Veterans Day on Wednesday. The installation is located in the heart of the popular pedestrian mall near the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden.
Titled "The Foot Soldier," the statue features the president seated with one shoe off, holding and inspecting his foot. In addition to mocking the president for his bone spurs excuse, the statue also pokes fun at Trump's signature gold. The Trump administration has frequently come under fire in recent months for seemingly wanting to affix gold fixtures all over the White House.
Appearing next to the statue is a 6-foot-tall mascot known as "Toey." The person dressed as a big toe serves as an interactive element to complement the fixed statue. Toey told the Washington Post, “Draft dodger? I hardly know her,” going on to further mock Trump by saying, “I’m the biggest toe. The hugest toe. Huge. Hugest toe. Largest toe that anyone’s ever seen.”
Born on June 14, 1946, Trump was at an age that made him eligible for the Vietnam War draft. However, he received five draft deferments during this time. The first four deferments were granted because he was attending college, but the last deferment was granted in 1968 after he graduated. This last deferment was officially a medical deferment after he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels.
The president has denied the allegations that he intentionally avoided the draft. In 2018, The New York Times reported that the daughters of a Queens podiatrist said their father had diagnosed the bone spurs as a favor to Trump’s father. This was followed up in 2019 by Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen telling Congress that Trump had indeed intentionally dodged the draft using this excuse.
A plaque on the statue reads “We honor the service and sacrifice of our Commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump. He’s a soldier in spirit, who marched to the front lines of dodging the draft, armed with a perfect diagnosis of bone spurs." The plaque adds, “We salute a leader who knows you can’t spell sacrifice without ‘I,’ and a warrior who reminds us that sometimes when you’re called to stand up, it’s best to just sit down and rest your feet."
Where Did the Statue Originate?
Anonymous art protest group The Secret Handshake is taking credit for the statue, saying that it erected it to highlight "Trump's efforts to avoid the military during Vietnam." This is not the first art installation mocking the Trump administration spearheaded by the group around Washington, D.C. Other statues have included a golden toilet, an Iran war arcade game, and a statue featuring the president and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Secret Handshake confirmed that the statue will remain up through Veterans Day on November 11.
The Trump administration is calling out the statue, saying that it is yet another symptom of what they call 'Trump derangement syndrome.' According to White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, “Trump Derangement Syndrome is a sick and incurable disease that has rotted the brains of these Democrat activists. President Trump will never waver in fighting for and protecting the American people.”
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