Posted on 10/19/2017 1:26:20 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Thursday gave a powerful defense of President Trump’s handling of a call to a Gold Star widow of a soldier who was killed in Niger — and ripped a Florida lawmaker for politicizing the issue.
“There’s no perfect way to make that phone call,” he said in his first public comments on the controversy over the call, which slain Sgt. La David Johnson’s mother Cowanda Jones-Johnson and a Florida lawmaker who knew him called disrespectful.
“If you’ve never worn the uniform, if you’ve never been in combat, you can’t even imagine how to make that call but I think he very bravely does make those calls.”
Kelly, who lost his marine lieutenant son in Afghanistan, said he advised Trump not to make the calls because it was so difficult to deliver such a tragic message.
But the president, he said, insisted that he thought it was the right thing to do.
”He said to me, ‘What do I say?’ ‘I said to him, ‘Sir, there’s nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families,” he said.
He then said a military friend had told him how he handled the calls, and he shared the advice with the president.
The friend, he said, would tell loved ones that the deceased “was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1 percent. He knew what the possibilities were.”
That phrasing is similar to what Johnson’s family said Trump told them, that the sergeant “knew what he signed up for.”
Kelly also blasted Democratic Rep. Frederica S. Wilson for listening in and politicizing the call that Trump had made.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“You know when I was a kid growing up a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor. That’s obviously not the case anymore as we see from recent cases. Life, the dignity of life, was sacred. Religion, that seems to be gone as well. Gold star families, I think that left in the convention over the summer. I just thought the selfless devotion that brings a man or a woman to die on the battlefield, I just thought that might be sacred.”
Kelly went on to say that he told the president what Kelly’s friend Marine Gen. Joe Dunford told him when Kelly’s own son died.
“He said, ‘Kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining… that 1 percent. He knew what the possibilities were, because we’re at war. And when he died… he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That’s what the president tried to say to four families the other day.”
The President has nothing to apologize for.
That Wilson...woman, on the other hand...she could start by apologizing for those stupid hats if nothing else.
The stupid hat-wearing bi-otch is probably too stupid to realize the epic slapdown she just received.
One thing I want to get it off my chest -
You know WHY president Obama doesn’t make those kind of phone calls?
Because he is a deficient human being, he could not feel empathy towards those serving men and women, nor towards those Gold Star family members who’s experience the greatest grief.
At least Obama is smart enough (or his handlers) to know he won’t handle it well.
I hope Trump listens to everything Kelly tells him and follows through. Then ignore the haters.
Wow. I really appreciate the way he delivered that message.
Just in case anyone does not already know, it's this trash, the one on the right.
.
“He knew what he was signing up for.” That is a great tribute to anyone killed, wounded, MIA, or any other person volunteering for the military for that matter. The President meant it that way. Of course, everything he does is met with base, primal hatred.
Kelly also said that he spent an hour and a half walking among the finest people pon eart—you can find them—they are pover in Arlington Cemetery. Some of whom I put there—they were following my orders.
Kelly is solid gold for this.
The President has nothing to apologize for.
Yet another manufactured scandal, no doubt created to try and distract from Billary’s Uranium problem.
Nothing is sacred to that vile cow.
Good advice from a good man.
Trump did a compassionate thing, doesn’t deserve this crap.
“Kelly, who lost his marine lieutenant son in Afghanistan, said he advised Trump not to make the calls because it was so difficult to deliver such a tragic message.”
Does anyone think that Franklin Roosevelt call the families of every American soldier that died on D-Day or that Lincoln wrote every family of those who were killed at Gettysburg ?
President Trump went far beyond the call of duty here by phoning Sgt. Johnson’s widow and tell her that her husband died protecting the freedom of Americans and the freedom of Nigeriens.
“Good advice from a good man.”
“Trump did a compassionate thing, doesn’t deserve this crap.”
It isn’t going to stop. Day in and day out. This is how it is going to be. For 8 years!
The US Army was screwed up on a lot of things, but they had some things right.
As an Officer, you had your normal duties.
You had to supervise maintenance on the tanks. You had to help train your people to use the weapons on a tank.
Those were normal duties.
We also had Extra Duties, as assigned.
We had to serve as Casualty Notification Officers. This was where you went to the deceased Soldier’s family and officially notified them of the death.
We had to serve as Casualty Assistance Officers. We were assigned to help the family. This help could go on for months as you worked on life insurance and a myriad of other things without taking over for the deceased Soldier.
We had to serve as Funeral Detail Officers at the funeral of a deceased Soldier. The Army is extremely serious about this. Any mistake, any, can end a career. I saw an Officer transferred to Korea in two days because his uniform wasn’t correct. Two days.
We also sometimes served as Escorts for the body of the deceased. If you’ve seen the movie Taking Chance, then you will know what that is about.
We had these duties to help the deceased Soldier and his family, but it was also to train us.
We learned the value of a Soldier’s life.
We saw the look of terror on parents faces as we stood on the front steps.
We screamed at insurance companies who only saw the Soldier as a monthly premium.
We looked into the widow’s lost eyes as we presented her with the folded Colors.
We learned the value and impact of a Soldier’s life.
The Soldiers that I helped bury weren’t rich or famous.
Their families have the troubles we all have.
But they no longer answer at Roll Call.
At least not the ones here on earth.
To knowingly and willingly take words of comfort from a Commander, THE Commander, and misuse them to try and score political points is the lowest, most dishonorable thing a person can do to a deceased Soldier.
May she rot in hell.
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