President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, made the pitch for mandatory military service for all Americans—even though no one in the Trump family has ever served.
The 43-year-old wife of Eric Trump said Tuesday on Fox & Friends that mandatory service would make people more appreciative of those who serve. She compared a hypothetical one-year compulsory service in the U.S. to that of Israel’s mandatory service.
“You look at Israel, every Israeli citizen has to dedicate themselves to serving their country,” she said while co-hosting the show.
“I like this idea because I’ll tell you what: It would give so much more appreciation to our men and women who do serve in America, who I don’t think get the adequate respect from a lot of the country that they are due,” she continued.
The majority of Americans already respect and appreciate those who have served the country. A 2024 poll from Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of Americans continue to have positive feelings about the military.
Meanwhile, Lara Trump’s father-in-law, President Donald Trump, infamously dodged the draft during the Vietnam War as he was granted a medical exemption at the time for apparent bone spurs.
A 2018 report from the New York Times found that the doctor who had issued the exemption had actually rented office space from Trump’s father, Fred Trump. The Times said that the diagnosis was likely “granted as a courtesy to the elder Mr. Trump.”
None of Trump’s five children—Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany, or Barron—have served in the U.S. military. Trump’s father was an immigrant from Germany and did not serve.
There is also no evidence that Lara Trump’s father, Robert Luke Yunaska, served as he attended Purdue University during the Vietnam War and was therefore likely exempt from military service at the time.
The president has also made disparaging remarks towards service members and veterans.
The topic of mandatory service came up on Fox & Friends after hosts highlighted a social media post from NBA star Dwight Howard advocating for the policy in the U.S.
The president’s daughter-in-law also said she agreed with a random X user who suggested that Americans should be required to work for one year in a customer service role, citing her own experience as a bartender.
“I was a waitress, I was a bartender — that’s right it wasn’t just AOC,” she said, adding that the experience helped her “deal with people” because “believe it or not, when your last name is Trump, not everybody is nice to you.”
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