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https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local...aft-deferment/

Statue on National Mall mocks Trump for Vietnam draft deferment

A towering gold statue of President Donald Trump appeared on the National Mall Monday morning, a satirical installation poking at his Vietnam-era draft deferments.

Trump received a total of five draft deferments during the Vietnam War era, including four education deferments while attending Fordham University and the University of Pennsylvania and one medical deferment due to a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels after graduation.

The statue of Trump, installed two days before Veterans Day, stands opposite to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Titled “The Foot Soldier,” it shows a larger-than-life Trump seated on a granite pedestal, looking at the bottom of his right foot.

“We honor the service and sacrifice of our Commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump. He’s a soldier in spirit, who marched to the front lines of dodging the draft, armed with a perfect diagnosis of bone spurs,” said the plaque on the pedestal Trump sits on. “We salute a leader who knows you can’t spell sacrifice without ‘I,’ and a warrior who reminds us that sometimes when you’re called to stand up, it’s best to just sit down and rest your feet.”

The plaque also includes a 2013 quote from President Trump himself: “I can be very military.”

The organizers, an anonymous protest art collective known as “The Secret Handshake,” have previously installed other statues, including a statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, a sculpture portraying Trump and Epstein recreating the bow-of-the-ship post from the movie Titanic, and a golden toilet satirizing Trump’s White House renovations.

A six-foot mascot, named “Toey,” is stationed near the statue. The toe mascot, according to organizers, will interact with visitors as a “live, interactive element.”

The statue and mascot are set to be up on the National Mall through Veterans Day on Wednesday, Nov. 11.