Did Donald trump dodge the draft
Executive summary
Donald Trump did not serve in the Vietnam War: he received multiple Selective Service deferments and a final medical exemption for bone spurs that kept him out of the draft [1]. Critics and fact-checkers characterize that outcome as “draft dodging,” and former lawyer Michael Cohen has testified that Trump fabricated medical complaints to avoid service [2] [3], but no public, definitive medical record has been produced that settles whether the bone-spur diagnosis was genuine or falsified [2].
1. The paperwork: five deferments and a medical exemption
Contemporaneous reporting and retrospective profiles document that Trump obtained four student deferments while in college and a fifth deferment tied to a diagnosis of bone spurs in 1968, which resulted in his not being inducted during the Vietnam War era [1]. That sequence—student deferments followed by a medical classification—explains why he left the draft system without military service in the late 1960s [1].
2. Why opponents call it “draft dodging” and how fact-checkers frame it
A wide range of journalists, commentators and fact‑checkers have labeled Trump a “draft dodger” because he avoided service during a highly visible conflict; independent verifications and syntheses have concluded he did not serve and that he sought and obtained deferments [2] [4]. PolitiFact noted that the phrase “draft dodger” is sometimes used colloquially and that not all draft‑avoidance labels imply criminal evasion—there is a distinction between legal deferments and illegal desertion or flight [5].
3. The allegation that the injury was invented
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, told congressional panels that Trump invented medical issues to avoid military service, testimony that has been widely reported and that frames the bone‑spur claim as potentially fraudulent [3]. VietFactCheck and others report the allegation and point to Trump’s inconsistent public statements and lack of released medical documentation as reasons the public continues to question the bone‑spur diagnosis [2].
4. The historical context: deferments were common and often advantaged the well‑off
Histories of the Vietnam draft emphasize that college deferments and medical classifications disproportionately benefited men from wealthier, well‑connected families; commentators note Trump’s pattern fit that broader pattern of socioeconomic advantage in draft outcomes [1]. That context helps explain why many critics view his case as emblematic of unequal treatment even if the paperwork itself was lawful [1].
5. Political and rhetorical fallout: how the label has been used
The “draft dodger” charge has been a persistent political cudgel: veterans, elected officials and pundits have invoked it in criticisms of Trump’s comments about service members and prisoners of war, and protests and walkouts in political settings have explicitly used the term [6] [7]. Media outlets and opinion writers continue to deploy the phrase as shorthand for both his wartime absence and perceived character flaws [4].
6. What remains unresolved and why language matters
Reporting establishes the concrete facts—five deferments and no military service—yet whether Trump “dodged” the draft in the moral or fraudulent sense depends on contested claims about the legitimacy of the bone‑spur diagnosis and the absence of full public medical evidence [1] [2] [3]. Legal definitions of draft evasion differ from political or moral uses of “draft dodger,” and many of the sources caution that the label can be as much rhetorical as strictly legal [5].
Conclusion: a direct answer
Based on public records and reporting, Donald Trump avoided serving in Vietnam through repeated deferments and a medical classification for bone spurs—facts that lead most reporters and fact‑checkers to say he “dodged” the draft in practice [1] [2]. Allegations that the medical issue was fabricated come from former associates and have been reported widely [3], but no conclusive, public medical documentation has been produced to definitively prove fabrication, leaving that specific claim unresolved in the public record [2].