'Wheels started spinning': Trump nephew recalls how his uncle 'got out of' Vietnam draft

Fred Trump III, the son of the late Fred Trump Jr., has published his own book about the famous family and the years of observations about his uncle, former President Donald Trump.

In a television appearance, Fred Trump began recalling a conversation where he triggered his uncle by quoting those saying the Trump name was "toxic." At one point, he and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace turned to talk about the state of the 2024 race and the ex-president's aversion to the military.

Wallace asked about Donald Trump's "appetite for violence" and the violent rhetoric he often deploys.

Read Also: Trump is a confidence man, charlatan and liar — so why is America so vulnerable?

"I don't want to be an arm-chair psychologist, but it's the guys who always talk tough who have never been in a fight before," said the nephew. "Though I know he got knocked down on the 18th green at Winged Foot one time. So, he's the fake-brave and the phony-tough as far as I'm concerned."

Wallace asked specifically about the "special derision" Trump has for men and women who serve in the military. Fred Trump agreed it likely came from their father, who despised the military.

"My dad served. The only one in the family," he recalled. "I used to use his army trunk as a camp trunk, an overnight camp trunk. Again, I'm a huge 'Godfather' fan. 'The country is not sure you're family, is not your blood.' That was it. I may have been young, but I had a hell of a memory when the whole draft issue was coming up, and wheels started spinning right away; how to get out of this?"

Wallace asked if Donald didn't want to serve and the younger Trump said that he certainly didn't but that also Fred Sr. didn't want Donald to serve in Vietnam.

"Did you know about the lie at the time, about bone spurs?" Wallace asked.

"I wasn't there when that exceptionally weird plan was hatched, but I was there when, you know, the numbers were being called out, and, again, it was a very somber night. I remember clearly. Again, my grandfather automatically just started to think about how I am going to use my influence with people. And it happened. The fact that it happened with a podiatrist in Jamaica, Queens, I don't think was the story, how the story was going to end ... "

The daughter of the podiatrist came forward in 2018 to claim the bone-spurs claim was a lie.

Wallace asked how he was able to fool so many people into buying it.

"I don't remember who I heard it from, but I think people like to be lied to. They like to be treated by someone like they're special," said Fred Trump.

"I don't much like the guy from Project 2025 who he kicked out. I think he's scared, and he should be. And I think you know that I am going to vote for Kamala Harris, and I'll campaign for her if I'm asked. As I mentioned before, I feel the country is in danger if there is a second Trump Republican Party as a different Republican Party, certainly as you knew it," he told Wallace, a former Republican staffer.

Trump got five draft deferments for Vietnam, which as Insider pointed out in 2018, was common for wealthy families at the time. Trump’s Selective Service records were posted in Dec. 2018, showing he was then 6' 2".

See the clip below or click here.

Trump's nephew shares inside story the night Donald's Vietnam draft number came upyoutu.be