A dispute over Trump's proposed target
Biden focused on Trump's suggestion of "going after Ho Chi Minh City." Known during the war as Saigon, the city was South Vietnam's capital. Hanoi was the enemy's capital and was bombed by the United States, Biden noted.
According to Biden, Trump dismissed the presidents who fought the war as stupid while describing a strategy that would have targeted America's ally. "He's had more than fifty years to learn which side we were on. He still hasn't," Biden wrote. He argued that this should disqualify Trump from sending other people's children to war.
HuffPost reported that Trump made the one-week claim at a campaign rally in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sunday, November 1, 2026, ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. Trump also said at that rally that he could have won the Afghanistan war "in a very short period of time."
The Vietnam boast echoed an earlier remark. Writing on Substack, John Dickerson noted that Trump told CNBC in April 2026 that he "would have won Vietnam, very quickly." Journalist David Corn also commented on X on November 2: "Math is not his strong suit."
War deaths and draft deferments
Biden contrasted the 58,220 Americans killed in the Vietnam War with Trump's five draft deferments. According to Snopes, Trump received four college deferments, classified as 2-S, followed by a medical exemption, classified as 1-Y, after a 1968 examination found bone spurs in both heels.
The London Economic reported that the war spanned more than two decades and killed an estimated 3.5 million people overall, including almost 60,000 U.S. military personnel.
Questions about further strikes on Iran
Biden linked his criticism to Trump's consideration of more strikes on Iran after Tuesday. He said the administration had reportedly considered the "mother of all bombs," a weapon Trump has described as "like a tiny nuclear bomb." Biden's argument was that a president who confused the two sides in Vietnam was now responsible for choosing military targets.
CNN reported on October 15, 2026, that military planners had prepared options for renewed combat operations against Iran, including possible use of the bomb on energy infrastructure and nuclear sites if Trump gave the order. Trump had publicly said he would not launch new military action against Iran before the midterm elections.
The weapon, formally named the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, weighs 21,600 pounds and is the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. According to CNN, its only combat use came in 2017, when Trump authorized a strike on an ISIS tunnel complex in Afghanistan that killed 36 ISIS fighters.
By early November 2026, the U.S. war with Iran had reached its ninth month, Dickerson wrote. He also cited Pew polling showing that 65% of Americans disapproved of Trump's handling of the war.
