Jesse Ventura launches a forceful challenge to Barron Trump
Jesse Ventura, actor, professional wrestler and former governor of Minnesota, challenged Barron Trump on Tuesday, challenging Donald Trump’s youngest son to enlist in the US military and serve in his father’s Iran war.
Ventura, a decorated Navy SEAL veteran and outspoken critic of the president, argued in Piers Morgan’s “Uncensored” that “a war is justified” only if those responsible are willing to send their own sons to fight.
“Because how can you send someone else’s children to war if you don’t send your own?” asked.
Ventura challenged Trump’s scion:
“So, I’m calling right now Barron Trump, Donald Trump’s son. You know, after all, he’s had three wives. He’s had children with each wife and no one has ever served in the military. As far as I know, a Trump in the last hundred years has never served in the military. Well, Barron, you can change that. Enlist in the United States Army right now.”
“Do something your father didn’t have the courage to do,” he added. “Do something your father didn’t have the patriotism to do.”
“I want to see a Trump in the military,” he said. “Everyone in my family has served, so I think I can say that with all due confidence. Come on, Trumps. Don’t just reap the benefits of this free world. Someone put on the uniform and that’s you, Barron.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, Morgan asked Ventura about his interview with Trump at WrestleMania XX in 2004, when he told the crowd, “I think we may need a wrestler in the White House in 2008.”
Ventura said he was just doing his job with the line and called Trump’s subsequent elevation to the WWE Hall of Fame a “tragedy,” adding that “when I was referring to putting a wrestler in the White House, I was talking about me, not him.”
Ventura later suggested it might be time for “a showdown between the Vietnam vet and the draft evader,” the latter in reference to Trump, who received deferments after being diagnosed with bone spurs in his feet (even though the podiatrist’s daughters later claimed the diagnosis was made as “a favor” to Trump’s father, Fred Trump).
Morgan asked Ventura if he meant a physical confrontation.
“No, but if he wants, he is in the hall of fame,” Ventura responded. “Let’s both get in the ring. He’s in the hall of fame, right? Although he’s never, ever had a match.”