False Military Claims: The Bone Spurs Diagnosis, the Purple Heart, and Claims of Superior Military Knowledge
Tier 4Documented1968-01-01 to 2020-01-01
Factual Summary
Donald Trump has made a series of false or misleading claims about his relationship to military service that span from the Vietnam War era to his presidency. These claims concern his avoidance of the draft, his statements about military honors, and his assertions of superior military expertise.
Between 1964 and 1968, Trump received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War. Four were educational deferments (2-S) while he attended Fordham University and then the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1968, after graduating, Trump received a medical deferment (1-Y) based on a diagnosis of bone spurs in both heels. Trump has cited this diagnosis as a legitimate medical condition throughout his public life.
In December 2018, The New York Times reported that the two daughters of the podiatrist who diagnosed Trump, Dr. Larry Braunstein, stated that their father had provided the bone spurs diagnosis as a favor to Trump's father, Fred Trump. Dr. Braunstein rented his office in a building in Jamaica, Queens, that was owned by Fred Trump. One daughter, Dr. Elysa Braunstein, told the Times: "I know it was a favor." She added that the diagnosis was an act of gratitude toward Fred Trump for the office space. Dr. Larry Braunstein died in 2007 and could not confirm or deny the account. Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified before Congress in February 2019 that Trump had asked him to find the medical records and that no such records were ever produced.
Trump has given inconsistent accounts of the bone spurs. In interviews over the years, he has been unable to specify which foot was affected, alternating between saying the right foot, the left foot, or both feet. In 2015, Trump told reporters that bone spurs were "not a big problem" but that they had been "temporary" and had "healed." In a 2019 interview, he stated, "I had a doctor that gave a letter, so I had a very high draft number anyway."
On August 2, 2016, at a campaign rally in Ashburn, Virginia, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Louis Dorfman presented Trump with his Purple Heart medal. Trump accepted the medal and told the audience: "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier." The Purple Heart is awarded to service members who are wounded or killed in combat. Trump's comment drew criticism from veterans' organizations and Gold Star families who viewed it as trivializing a medal earned through physical sacrifice.
Throughout his 2016 campaign and presidency, Trump repeatedly claimed superior military knowledge. In a November 2015 interview, he stated: "I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me." He made similar claims on multiple occasions, asserting that he understood military strategy better than career military officers. These statements were contradicted by his lack of any military service or formal military education.
Trump also claimed during the 2016 campaign that his attendance at the New York Military Academy, a private boarding school, gave him "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military." Former military officers, including retired generals, publicly disputed this comparison.
Primary Sources
1. Selective Service records documenting Trump's five draft deferments, 1964 through 1968
2. The New York Times: "Trump's Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet," reporting on interviews with Dr. Braunstein's daughters, December 26, 2018
3. Michael Cohen congressional testimony, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, February 27, 2019
4. Video footage of Trump accepting the Purple Heart at the Ashburn, Virginia, rally, August 2, 2016
5. Trump interview transcripts in which he discussed bone spurs and military expertise, 2015 through 2019
Corroborating Sources
1. CNN: "New York Times: Daughters of foot doctor say he diagnosed Trump with bone spurs as 'favor' to Fred Trump," December 26, 2018
2. The Washington Post: "Trump, who avoided combat, accepts gift of Purple Heart from veteran," 2016
3. NBC News video compilation: "Donald Trump on the military, in his own words"
4. Time: "5 Reasons Veterans Should Not Support Donald Trump," 2016
5. Vice News: "Trump's 'bone spurs' to avoid Vietnam were bogus, say podiatrist's daughters," 2018
Counterarguments and Context
Trump has maintained that his bone spurs diagnosis was legitimate and that the medical deferment was proper. His supporters noted that many young men of Trump's generation received deferments during the Vietnam War, including prominent figures from both political parties, and that singling out Trump is politically motivated. Regarding the Purple Heart comment, some supporters characterized it as a lighthearted remark made in the context of accepting a gift from an admiring veteran and argued that it was not intended to diminish the medal's significance. Trump's claims about knowing "more about ISIS than the generals" were defended as rhetorical confidence rather than literal assertions, and supporters pointed to his administration's military actions against ISIS, including the fall of the territorial caliphate, as evidence that his strategic instincts were sound. However, the account from the podiatrist's daughters, combined with Trump's inability to consistently identify which foot had the bone spurs and the absence of any medical records, raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the diagnosis that kept him out of Vietnam.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 4 because the central claims rest on investigative journalism rather than adjudicated findings. The account of the bone spurs favor is based on secondhand testimony from the podiatrist's daughters, and the podiatrist himself died in 2007. The Purple Heart and ISIS comments are documented through Trump's own public statements and are not in dispute factually. The significance of these claims lies in their cumulative effect: a pattern of constructing a military identity from a position of having avoided military service, combined with assertions of expertise that were unsupported by any training or experience.