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Donald Trump’s Vice President, Mike Pence, claimed last week that embattled top Trump adviser Steve Bannon served as a captain in the US Navy during war time.
Mike Pence lied. Bannon wasn’t a captain, and he didn’t serve during war time.
Bannon, you may recall, is the former executive chairman of Breitbart, a far-right Web site that caters to the white supremacist Alt Right. Bannon bragged this summer that Breitbart is “the platform for the Alt Right.” The Alt Right is a hipster white supremacist movement that hates people of color and Jews.
Back to Pence’s lies. Contrary to Pence’s claim that Bannon served as a “captain” during war time, in fact, Steve Bannon served in the US Navy as a lieutenant, three ranks below Captain. And he never served during war time.
But that’s not what Trump’s VP Mike Pence told PBS’ NewsHour the other day. See the 13:46 mark in the video below:
“But we value Steve Bannon’s input. Here’s an individual serving in a war, a captain in the United States Navy, a partner at Goldman Sachs, successful businessperson who brings a strong perspective into discussions.”
Yeah, not so much. We already know that Bannon was just a lieutenant, not a captain. And Bannon served from 1977 to 1983. No wars during that time. From Navy Times:
Bannon attended Officer Candidate School in Newport R.I., and was commissioned in the summer of 1977…. Bannon left the Navy as a lieutenant on Oct. 30, 1983.
Here’s the video of Pence making these false claims, again forward to the 13:46 mark in the video:
What’s particularly interesting about Mike Pence lying about Bannon’s military service is that Trump himself today attacked Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s for misrepresenting his military service in a way almost exactly like what Pence said about Bannon.
Putting aside for a moment that Trump lied (again) by claiming that Gorsuch never criticized Trump’s criticism of the judges considering the Muslim ban — in fact, Gorsuch did, and his spokesman confirmed it, as did a Republican Senator. (To be specific, Gorsuch criticized all instances of politicians attacking judges, but he clearly was including Trump.)
Here’s CNN on Blumenthal:
Trump’s dig at Blumenthal’s military service is a reference to Blumenthal’s past misrepresentations about his service during the Vietnam era.
Blumenthal obtained multiple military deferments to avoid getting drafted into the Vietnam War and ultimately landed in the Marine Corps Reserve and never deployed to Vietnam, though he claimed multiple times he had served in Vietnam. Blumenthal apologized for misrepresenting his service in 2010.
While Blumenthal enlisted in the Marine Reserve after multiple deferments, Trump — who was also eligible for the draft during the Vietnam War — never enlisted, instead obtaining multiple student deferments and ultimately a medical deferment for a bone spur to avoid the military draft.
So, Blumenthal mistakenly claimed that he had served in a war. Pence mistakenly claimed the same about Bannon. Blumenthal is excoriated by Trump for it. Will Trump now excoriate Pence as well? (h/t Blue Virginia.)
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