Donald Trump recently thought it would be a good idea to go after Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity and start promoting messages related to the Democrat’s birth certificate. For those familiar with the Republican’s record of racist antics, the strategy was painfully familiar: Axios described it as “Trump’s new birtherism.”

But as it turns out, that’s not the only ugly tactic from the GOP’s recent past that the party’s 2024 ticket is eager to recycle.

In 2004, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, bankrolled in part by a Republican megadonor and Justice Clarence Thomas benefactor, smeared then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s military service. The deceptive operation was guided in part by a GOP consultant named Chris LaCivita.

Twenty years later, LaCivita is a top member of Trump’s 2024 operation, and wouldn’t you know it, Swift-boating, like birtherism, is making a sudden comeback. NBC News reported:

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is homing in on what advisers see as a potential liability for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: his departure from the Army National Guard two decades ago. Walz, introduced Tuesday as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, ended his 24-year military career to run for public office in 2005 — just before the unit he led deployed to Iraq.

“What bothers me about Tim Walz is this stolen valor garbage,” Sen. JD Vance told reporters on Wednesday.

The Ohio Republican’s use of the word “garbage” rang true, but not for the reasons the vice presidential nominee probably intended.

Based on all of the available evidence, this line of attack appears utterly baseless. Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard as a teenager, and his military service spanned nearly a quarter of a century. The Minnesotan served honorably, rose to the rank of command sergeant major, and retired as a master sergeant in 2005.

Months after his retirement, Walz’s unit was deployed, which is apparently of interest to the Republican attack machine, but which does not appear to be controversial.

In fact, Vote Vets, a progressive veterans group, published a brief summary, fact-checking the anti-Walz smear, and helping set the record straight.

Alexander Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, had a related, similarly pointed message, making the case that Vance probably shouldn’t be too eager to compare his service record with Walz’s.

But if the far-right senator was a poor messenger for this message, Trump was worse.

The former president called Walz a “DISGRACE” by way of his social media platform, and added some related online attacks overnight.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but this is a fight Cadet Bone Spurs should probably avoid. Not only did Trump avoid military service when many in his generation served, but members of his own team have told the public that the Republican has denigrated those who serve in the military and condemned fallen American heroes as “suckers” and “losers.”

Trump has also complained bitterly about American military leaders, disparaged wounded veterans, referred to soldiers missing in action as “losers,” blamed military leaders for failed missions he approved, downplayed the importance of troops with traumatic brain injuries, and famously declared in reference to American prisoners of war, “I like people that weren’t captured, okay?”

If the GOP candidate thinks he can be a credible critic of Walz’s lengthy and honorable military service, he’s mistaken.