‘Chump’ or saviour? Donald Trump divides US veterans living in Vietnam
President has come under fire for deferring the Vietnam draft five times – including once reportedly for bone spurs
When US President Donald Trump lands in Danang, once a key US wartime airbase, he’ll receive a mixed welcome from American veterans who fought on Vietnamese soil but now call the coastal city home.
Trump fans among Danang’s community of war vets are keenly awaiting an “America First” clarion call by a man they are proud to have as president when he addresses the APEC summit of world leaders on Friday.
Others are strikingly less enthusiastic. Former marine David E. Clark, 68, is convinced “Trump the chump”, as he dubs him, will drive the United States into ruin.
“He’s going to start a war, there will be a recession, he’ll triple the national debt,” Clark said, poring over meticulously kept notes about previous presidents’ economic records. “It will be the greatest depression the United States has ever seen.”
He’s going to start a war, there will be a recession, he’ll triple the national debt. It will be the greatest depression the United States has ever seen
Clark left Danang in 1969 an angry young man after 13 months as a combat engineer, vowing to never return to the country he once thought of as “the asshole of the world”.