Senator Tammy Duckworth criticized President Donald Trump for saying that Democrats who did not stand and applaud during his State of the Union address are “treasonous.”
“We don’t live in a dictatorship or a monarchy. I swore an oath—in the military and in the Senate—to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap,” Duckworth tweeted.
President Trump, during a GOP speech in Ohio on Monday, called Democrats “treasonous” for not applauding when he numbered his achievements to Congress.
“Can we call that treason? Why not? They certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much,” the president said.
According to The Hill, Duckworth was referring to Trump’s multiple deferments from the draft during the Vietnam War, one of which was for heel spurs, or bone protrusions caused by calcium buildup.
The Senator later added a quote by President Theodore Roosevelt which said that “if we are to stand by the president in right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Duckworth was the first Asian American woman elected to Congress in Illinois, the first disabled woman to be elected to Congress, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Also, Duckworth is the second Asian-American woman serving in the U.S. Senate after Mazie Hirono.
As an Iraq War veteran, Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, losing both of her legs and damaging her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war. Having received a medical waiver, she continued to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard until her retirement from the Army in October 2014
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