No, I am being honest. You think that by linking Ali to Trump, it somehow mitigates what Ali did. Ali claimed an exemption based on his religion, i.e., his association with the racist Nation of Islam. IMO, it was just a scam. He refused to go. Ali broke the law and Trump did not is the difference.
In the course of the Vietnam War, about 15.4 million men received deferments, were exempted or disqualified. In contrast to those millions, the government charged 210,000 people with draft violations, ranging from burning their draft cards to refusing to serve to fleeing the country.
The 2-S classifications are Trump’s student deferments. The first two covered his time at Fordham University in the Bronx, and the second two allowed him to stay in school when he transferred to study business at the University of Pennsylvania.
When he graduated in 1968, Trump’s classification shifted to 1-A, or "available for service."
Had that stood, Trump would have been drafted.
But Trump had a physical exam in September 1968. He had taken one less than two years earlier that did not disqualify him for service as we can tell from his 1-A classification in July 1968. However, his second physical was followed in October with a new classification, 1-Y. That designation put him near the bottom of any call-up list. It meant he would only be drafted if there were a national emergency.
Until recently, the only detail on record about that shift was it was medically related. After his comments about McCain, Trump said it had to do with bone spurs in his heels. Trump reportedly was active in college sports, playing baseball, tennis and squash.
"If I would have gotten a low number, I would have been drafted. I would have proudly served," he said. "But I got a number, I think it was 356. That’s right at the very end. And they didn't get -- I don’t believe -- past even 300, so I was -- I was not chosen because of the fact that I had a very high lottery number."
Late in 1969, the nation changed the selective service law to pick people through a random selection of birth dates. The very first drawing was on Dec. 1, 1969.
As TheSmokingGun.com website pointed out, the draft lottery came two months after Trump received his 1-Y classification. Essentially, even if Trump’s birthday, June 14, had been pulled first, he would not have been called to serve.
