Will Private Bone Spurs Bring Back The Draft?

The Most Transactional Character In American Politics

Thanks for my grandfather, who came to this country when he was a teenager, a refugee from the Russian Empire, I was already a socialist long before I went to college, and what was then called, a peacenik. During the summer between high school and college I worked in my first political campaign, a volunteer for Bill Ryan, the Upper West Side congressman and first member of the House to call for an end to the war against Vietnam, who was running for mayor. So when I got to Stony Brook in the fall (1965), I was disappointed to find that— despite being called, “the Berkeley of the East Coast,” disparagingly by the local press— only a third of the students were even vaguely militant about the leftist issues of the day— the war and racism being the 2 stand-outs. Another third of the students were right-wingers. And the final third were busy studying and just wanted to be left alone. I was elected president of the Young Democrats and quit when most of them turned out to be, well... like this. I was elected freshman class president and it just caused me endless frustration that not everyone was radical. Except on one thing— the draft.

There was no way I was ever going to fight in Southeast Asia— just like Trump. By the time I was draftable, we had a lottery system based on your birthdate. My number was over 300, and it was never going to be called. Trump found another way to avoid military service: a phony doctor’s note about bone spurs that was common among the wealthy at the time. But the draft was the most potent issue the left had— especially as the bodies of our contemporaries started being shipped home. The draft alienated so many young Americans that it was finally abolished in 1973 in favor of an all-volunteer army, one that is struggling to attract enough volunteers at the moment.

When it was reported on Tuesday that Trump allies were pushing to reinstate the draft and Trump said it was something he’d consider, someone smart in his campaign thought better of it— and Trump was soon out saying no way, never gonna happen, Fake News.

Mar-a-Lago swamp characters pushing for conscription include former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, who Trump has hinted might head the Pentagon in a second Trump regime and Trumpist Senators Lindsay Graham (SC), also looking for a Cabinet position, and J.D. Vance (OH), who would like to be vice president. But Trump is the most transactional politician in America and he’ll do or say what he feels he needs to at any given moment. And in this moment, it’s winning over as many young voters from Biden as he can. 

Neal Rothschild reported that Trump is currently staking out “youth-friendly positions that defy GOP orthodoxy and contradict past statements. After proposing a TikTok ban during his presidency, Trump baffled conservative China hawks by coming out against such a move earlier this year. The electoral upside of that stance is clear:

• “TikTok is popular among younger users, and support for a ban grows as the age of respondents increases. Trump joined TikTok and posted his first video earlier this month.” No mention of the millions of dollars Philadelphia TikTok billionaire Jeff Yass paid Trump for the change of heart?

• “Trump has hugged the cryptocurrency world in recent weeks. He's boosted NFTs, vowed to end regulatory hostility and endosrsed U.S.-mined Bitcoin as a way to help America become ‘energy dominant.’ That contrasts with the Biden administration's posture toward the industry. SEC chair Gary Gensler has become one of crypto's biggest villains. During his own presidency, Trump declared that he was ‘not a fan’ of crypto— which is most frequently embraced by young men.”

• “Trump singled out a new constituency this week by vowing to get rid of tip taxation, the Washington Post reports. The comments, made at a Las Vegas rally, may have been targeted at career service-industry workers— and Latinos in particular. But young restaurant and bar workers nationwide might take notice.”

I doubt Trump is going to win the youth vote... but I'd love to see the Democrats put up a bill immediately to end tip taxation and see how much effort Trump is willing to put into persuading his pawns in Congress to back it.