Watch: Buttigieg Slams Trump Over Vietnam Deferments, More

President Donald Trump's attempt at a snappily dismissive nickname for Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay Democratic mayor of Sound Bend Indiana and quickly-rising star among the field of contenders for 2020, may have fallen far short, but Buttigieg wasn't lacking for ammo as he scored one direct hit after the next on Trump during an event hosted by the Washington Post on May 23, UK newspaper The Guardian reported.

First and foremost among the military veteran's comments was a criticism that the current Commander in Chief "took advantage of the fact that he was the child of a multimillionaire in order to pretend to be disabled so that somebody else could go to war in his place."

Buttigieg was referring to Trump's deferments for "bone spurs" – deferments that might, as the Guardian noted, have been invented by a New York City podiatrist who was a tenant of Trump's father.

Though he did not serve, Trump made controversial comments regarding war hero and longtime Senate member John McCain, who was a POW for more than five years in Vietnam, saying that he "like(s) people who weren't captured" during the conflict.

As a candidate in 2016, Trump also insulted the family of an American soldier killed in action in Iraq.

Referencing his own tour of duty overseas, Buttigieg said of Trump, "I don't have a problem standing up to somebody who was, you know, working on season seven of 'Celebrity Apprentice' when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan," reported ABC News.

Buttigieg made his remarks to Washington Post journalist Robert Costa, ABC News noted.

When asked by Costa whether he thought the president had "faked a disability" in order to avoid military service, Buttigieg quipped, "Do you believe a disability? Yeah." Added Buttigieg, "At least not that one [bone spurs]."

During the conversation, Buttigieg fielded questions related to a number of other controversies, the Guardian reported, including that of football players kneeling during the National Anthem as a means of protesting police shootings of African American men.

Buttigieg said that such peaceful protest was a matter of free expression, saying it was "a right I had put my life on the line to defend," and adding, "The point of defending free speech is that you expect to be perfectly aligned with every speech act that is protected."

Addressing a more pointed question – whether Trump is a racist – Buttigieg was equally candid: "If you do racist things and say racist things, the question of whether than makes you racist is almost academic.

"The problem with the president is that he does and says racist things that gives cover to other racists."

Hate crimes have soared since the 2016 election, and there are allegations that hate groups – white supremacists among them – have been emboldened under Trump's presidency, but that phenomenon seemingly took root even before the election: A recent study confirmed that hate crime attacks more than tripled in areas where Trump campaigned.

Buttigieg's conversation with Costa was posted to Twitter. Watch it below.

Robert Costa: "Do you think [Trump] should have served in Vietnam?"
Pete Buttigieg: "Well, I have a pretty dim view of his decision to use his privileged status to fake a disability in order to avoid serving in Vietnam."
Via WaPo Live pic.twitter.com/5UT9m8TA89– Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 23, 2019