Activists mock Trump’s Vietnam draft deferments with National Mall statue

Activist group The Secret Handshake put a statue called “Foot Soldier” on the National Mall, mocking Donald Trump’s Vietnam War draft deferments and the bone spur diagnosis cited to excuse him from service. The display matters because the circumstances of Trump’s deferments have remained a subject of political criticism.

Trump received five deferments in the 1960s and 70s, including one for a heel bone spur; the diagnosing doctor’s children later said the diagnosis was a favour to Trump’s father. The statue’s plaque and a bone-spur mascot called “Toey” satirise Trump’s lack of military service, while a White House spokesperson criticised the activists. The group planned to keep the statue on display with security until Veterans Day.