Arizona’s Senior Sen. John McCain appeared on C-Span over the weekend to talk about the 50th anniversary of the escalation of the Vietnam War.
McCain criticized the inequities of the Vietnam-era draft, which disproportionately affected Americans of lower economic and education status, and said it was wrong that the rich got deferments to avoid serving. In doing so, he made a veiled reference to President Trump's five deferments to avoid going to Vietnam.
“One aspect of the conflict that I will never, ever countenance is that we drafted the very lowest income of America and the highest level of Americans could go find a doctor to say they had a bone spur,” McCain said.
McCain, now 81 and battling a brain tumor, is a Navy veteran who served in the war and was shot down, tortured and held captive for five and a half years.
In 2015, then-candidate Trump sparked an ongoing war of words between the two Republicans, saying McCain was a war hero only "because he was captured."
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story indicated that McCain had suggested that all Americans should serve in the military. The headline and story have been modified to indicate that McCain was criticizing the inequities of the draft during the Vietnam War.