Trump’s criticism puzzling
It is puzzling to me why so many are outraged at the athletes kneeling in protest during the playing of our national anthem. As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I find no disrespect to our flag in their actions. In fact, they are doing what good, patriotic Americans have always done — standing up for injustice. I suspect if they played “Hang on Sloopy” at the start of the game, they would kneel for that as well.
It’s common knowledge that the Vietnam War was largely fought by soldiers at the bottom of the economic rung while those that could afford it found ways to avoid the draft. President Donald Trump was one of them. He sought and received numerous deferments to avoid the draft and then conveniently got a medical deferment for a temporary problem (his words) to avoid serving our country, but it didn’t stop him from playing football, tennis and other sports. So it doesn’t sit well with this veteran that a man who avoided service to our country because of the silver spoon he was born with, denigrates those whose only motive is to oppose injustice.
Ed Perry, Boalsburg
This story was originally published November 4, 2017 at 9:20 PM with the headline "Trump’s criticism puzzling."