Ex-governor slams Vance for helping 'biggest draft dodger' Trump attack Walz’s service record

10 August 2024

Since Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) has made attacking the 24-year National Guard veteran's military service record a cornerstone of his campaign speeches.

Now, that attack strategy is drawing scorn from a former Minnesota governor and military veteran: Jesse "The Body" Ventura." In a recent interview with CNN's Laura Coates, Ventura called it a "shame" that "a veteran would attack another veteran." Ventura — who served in the U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Team (often lumped in with Navy SEALs) — said the supposed controversy over Walz's service was a non-starter.

"Governor Walz served honorably for 24 years in the National Guard. After 20 years you are eligible to retire at any time you deem necessary," he said. "They talk about him missing his deployment. Well maybe Mr. Vance should ask the real question: What is the National Guard doing deploying to a foreign country in a foreign war?"

Walz enlisted in the National Guard two days after he became eligible to do so, at the encouragement of his father who was also a military veteran. He climbed the ranks to finally become a command sergeant major, which is the highest attainable enlisted rank, before retiring in 2005 at the rank of master sergeant (Walz hadn't yet completed the coursework necessary to retire as a command sergeant major).

Vance – who served for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps' public affairs office — has suggested that Walz retired in order to get out of deploying to Iraq, though his unit didn't get orders to deploy until several months after he announced his retirement. Additionally, Walz served for four more years after he was eligible to retire, notably well after the 9/11 attacks and former President George W. Bush's subsequent announcement that he was launching a global war on terror. By the time Walz put in for his retirement, the U.S. had already been at war in both Afghanistan and Iraq for several years.

In his interview with Coates, Ventura turned the tables on Vance. He reminded viewers that the Ohio senator was attacking his fellow brother in arms while serving as the running mate for a candidate who got out of the draft after a podiatrist renting space in one of his father's buildings deemed him ineligible due to bone spurs in his feet.

"Vance is doing a disservice to himself and to the United States Marine Corps. I know a lot of great Marines and Marines show respect. Vance is not showing respect," Ventura said. "Who does he have respect for? Donald Trump. The biggest draft dodger from the Vietnam War, the rich white boy who bought his way out of it."

The former Minnesota governor isn't the only elected veteran to go after Vance. In a recent tweet, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois), who was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, suggested the GOP's 2024 vice presidential nominee had little room to talk given his own lack of combat experience.

"JD served honorably, but he wasn’t kicking down doors," Kinzinger wrote. "Tim, after he was eligible for retirement, retired. People do that."

Watch Ventura's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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