Donald Trump is just wild about veterans — as long as they’re not doing any peddling around his fancy Fifth Ave. digs.
The Republican White House hopeful, who pegs his own worth at more than $10 billion, often says the nation’s service members need a champion.
“We must protect and cherish and take care of our veterans,” he said in a recent Facebook video.
But Trump has time and again pushed New York to limit laws on peddling — including by veterans, who can get special vendor licenses from the Department of Consumer Affairs in thanks for their service.
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“While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?” Trump wrote in a 1991 letter to John Dearie, then-chairman of the state Assembly’s Committee on Cities.
“Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?” Trump demanded.
New York’s original peddling exceptions for veterans date back to 1894 — created to give those disabled during the Civil War a chance to support themselves.
In 2004, when the regulations had come up for renewal, Trump piped up again.
He complained in a letter to then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the ambiance of Fifth Ave. — the address of his gleaming Trump Tower headquarters — was being wrecked by peddlers, including some he accused of only posing as vets.
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Trump’s sally sparked protests from vendors who said they deserved the right to sell their wares on the streets they fought to defend.
The Trump campaign had no immediate comment Sunday.
The roaring real-estate magnate ramped up his pro-vet cheerleading after getting ripped for saying last month that Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Trump critic, was a war hero only because of his time as a prisoner in North Vietnam.
“I like people who weren’t captured, OK?” Trump said at the time.
The cavalier remark touched off an avalanche of criticism of Trump — who himself escaped military service via a medical deferment.
A recent Emerson College poll found 47% of those surveyed said they would be less likely to support Trump after he disparaged McCain, while 40% said his tee-off would have no impact and 11% said they’d actually be more encouraged to support The Donald because of his comments.
Trump, who railed in a TV interview that vets are “treated like third-class citizens,” ordered flags lowered to half-staff at all his properties in honor of the service members killed in a terrorist’s shooting spree in Chattanooga, Tenn., and has also established a toll-free veterans’ hotline.
“Mr. Trump has long been a dedicated supporter of our military and our veterans, and if the President won’t act, he will,” the campaign said in a statement.
