Congresswoman says Trump told widow of fallen soldier 'he knew what he signed up for'

[Jingthing]

Bad hire Americans!

 

[Credo]

10 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Most anything coming out of trump's mouth, because he has his extra special donald "filters" is going to come off badly. I can see how the message given in the way that Kelly gave it in his conference could actually be the exact right thing to say. Face it -- donald mucked it up.

He can't fake compassion for anyone other than himself and close family. There is no there there. 

This whole contacting family thing was politicized by the clown potus himself when he disgustingly accused previous presidents of not doing calls. Another bizarre controversy created directly from donald. Which was purely one of his classic defense tactics because he knew he was totally busted on being so LATE in doing even LETTERS to the families of the Niger casualties. Shame on trump and those that defend him. He's the most divisive so called president in history. 

The first problem is there is no Donald filter.   A filter would mitigate a lot of the controversy between what he said and what he meant.

 

Trump has completely forgotten the purpose of the call has nothing to do with him.   It has to do with support for the military and particularly for support to the family of a fallen soldier.   Even if the family were to misquote him, or reject his apology or criticize the President, he should be quiet or if he does say anything, simply explain his sadness over the loss of a soldier.   He is the C-in-C and he is their boss.   They have the right to be sad, angry or hurt.   He has the obligation to be strong and compassionate and sometimes that it is best done by letting the family vent whatever anger they have.  

 

But now, once again, the loss of a soldier, La David Johnson, has been upstaged by Trump who is in the limelight, providing even less comfort to a family who has lost a father, son and husband.   

 

How very sad for the loss of this soldier.   How tragic that a president cannot see his way clear to deal with it in a helpful manner.  

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

Trumpism is contagious!

Video shows Kelly made inaccurate claims about lawmaker in feud over Trump’s condolence call

"The White House’s aggressive effort to discredit a Florida congresswoman who criticized President Trump over a military condolence call ran into a new set of problems Friday when a video emerged showing that the chief of staff had made false claims about her..."

 And he asserted that Wilson, at the 2015 FBI building dedication in Miami, had “talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call, he gave the money, the $20 million.'..”

"But video of Wilson’s nine-minute speech at the 2015 event, posted by the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, shows that she spoke solely about her efforts to get the building named after two fallen FBI agents, praised the agents for their service and thanked colleagues in Congress from both parties."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/video-shows-kelly-made-inaccurate-claims-about-congresswoman-in-feud-over-condolence-call/2017/10/20/5cd328e4-b5bf-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html

 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[Thakkar]

6 hours ago, Credo said:

The first problem is there is no Donald filter.   A filter would mitigate a lot of the controversy between what he said and what he meant.

 

Trump has completely forgotten the purpose of the call has nothing to do with him.   It has to do with support for the military and particularly for support to the family of a fallen soldier.   Even if the family were to misquote him, or reject his apology or criticize the President, he should be quiet or if he does say anything, simply explain his sadness over the loss of a soldier.   He is the C-in-C and he is their boss.   They have the right to be sad, angry or hurt.   He has the obligation to be strong and compassionate and sometimes that it is best done by letting the family vent whatever anger they have.  

 

But now, once again, the loss of a soldier, La David Johnson, has been upstaged by Trump who is in the limelight, providing even less comfort to a family who has lost a father, son and husband.   

 

How very sad for the loss of this soldier.   How tragic that a president cannot see his way clear to deal with it in a helpful manner.  

 

 

Delilia O'Malley (‪@DeliliaOMalley‬)

17/10/17, 08:29

.‪@realDonaldTrump‬ When my brother was killed, Pres Bush listened while I screamed at him & then held me as I sobbed, you fat <deleted> liar. twitter.com/commondefense/…

[riclag]

On 10/20/2017 at 9:04 AM, Credo said:

I am not a Trump fan and I don't doubt he said what he is accused of saying.   I don't think he is capable of real, sincere or even acting empathetic.   I think for him it would be better to have someone else make the calls on behalf of the President.   

 

Some people don't do well with sympathy.   I've heard people say things like "It's probably better that he died quickly."   They don't mean it to be bad, but how you aim your words and where they land can be quite different.   

It certainly is refreshing and uplifting to hear your comment. It struck me as well thought out and precise .

After listening to another Gold Star conversation with Twitterman, which was a honorable attempt. I agree with somethings you mentioned especially that someone else should call . Perhaps Pence or Kelly.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by riclag

[selftaopath]

19 hours ago, thaihome said:

To add to my post above. It is worth noting that of the dozen or so previous presidents that served in the military  (and combat) none chose to listen to military (maybe Teddy Roosevelt is an exception) advice once in office and purposely distanced themselves from the military. 

TH 

IMO it's all part of 45's plan to be a dictator. He loves them and hates rule of law (democracy). He's alot like other world dictators. We have a congress. cabinet, and appointees that  are spineless so 45 is basically safe. Or so it seems.

[ilostmypassword]

 

 

White House tried to identify the families of all fallen troops this year after Trump's false claims, email shows

"In the hours after President Donald Trump said on an Oct. 17 radio broadcast that he had contacted "virtually everybody" who had lost a family member in military service this year, the White House was hustling to learn from the Pentagon the identities and contact information for those families, according to an internal Defense Department email.

The email exchange, which has not been previously reported, shows that senior White House aides were aware on the day the President made the statement that it was not accurate – but that they should try to make it accurate as soon as possible, given the gathering controversy.

The exchange between the White House and the Defense secretary’s office occurred about 5 p.m. on Oct. 17."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-staffers-knew-prez-didn-contact-families-fallen-troops-article-1.3577949

Edited October 21, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[Slip]

10 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

 

 

White House tried to identify the families of all fallen troops this year after Trump's false claims, email shows

"In the hours after President Donald Trump said on an Oct. 17 radio broadcast that he had contacted "virtually everybody" who had lost a family member in military service this year, the White House was hustling to learn from the Pentagon the identities and contact information for those families, according to an internal Defense Department email.

The email exchange, which has not been previously reported, shows that senior White House aides were aware on the day the President made the statement that it was not accurate – but that they should try to make it accurate as soon as possible, given the gathering controversy.

The exchange between the White House and the Defense secretary’s office occurred about 5 p.m. on Oct. 17."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-staffers-knew-prez-didn-contact-families-fallen-troops-article-1.3577949

These people have literally no shame, and their supporters walk around with decent folk unchallenged.

[Andaman Al]

10 hours ago, riclag said:

It certainly is refreshing and uplifting to hear your comment. It struck me as well thought out and precise .

After listening to another Gold Star conversation with Twitterman, which was a honorable attempt. I agree with somethings you mentioned especially that someone else should call . Perhaps Pence or Kelly.

 

 

Thanks for posting this. This is about as easy as it can be (do not misunderstand the term 'easy') when doing these calls. I have been involved in having to do this, but of course doing it because I knew the people involved and it is the worst 'duty' you could be required to carry out. Trump was helped a lot here by having an amazingly resilient, positive and very respectful woman on the phone.  He started to go into auto gabble at one point and luckily she interjected and all remained ok. But Trump did ok in what is an extraordinarily difficult situation.

 

The problem like anything is nobody talks about anything we do that is to the expected standard. That goes for all of us, if we do something to the standard that's expected then that is our duty. The issues start when we screw it up, and in the environment of a compassionate call there is no worse place to screw it up.

 

I was stationed -  flying in Germany and we had two aircraft from our squadron in a mid-air. One pilot died the other lived. Due to some incredibly crap communications in a very dynamic situation, the Station Commander rushed round to tell the 'wives' before they heard it on German news or from base personnel etc. Unfortunately he told the wrong woman her husband had died and the wrong woman her husband had lived. Lucky for one and a cruel sledge hammer blow for the other.

 

I feel for Trump on this one, I have had to do it. BUT when the story broke out, in this case Trump should have avoided any possible conflict and  simply have said "I want to make an unreserved apology to the family of Sergeant La David Johnson, there is no way I meant to be disrespectful or unfeeling in my remarks. As a father of 5 myself I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child in these conditions and in trying to convey La Davids love for his job I insensitively chose the wrong words. I apologise to Mrs Johnson and hope the family will forgive me".   If Trump would have said that he would have had a 60% or higher approval rating and EVERYONE would have praised , even been humbled by his humanity. BUT.............he didn't, and it is the reasons why he didn't say something like that,  that make him the SOB (Presidentially used term) that he is.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Andaman Al

[selftaopath]

8 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

Thanks for posting this. This is about as easy as it can be (do not misunderstand the term 'easy') when doing these calls. I have been involved in having to do this, but of course doing it because I knew the people involved and it is the worst 'duty' you could be required to carry out. Trump was helped a lot here by having an amazingly resilient, positive and very respectful woman on the phone.  He started to go into auto gabble at one point and luckily she interjected and all remained ok. But Trump did ok in what is an extraordinarily difficult situation.

 

The problem like anything is nobody talks about anything we do that is to the expected standard. That goes for all of us, if we do something to the standard that's expected then that is our duty. The issues start when we screw it up, and in the environment of a compassionate call there is no worse place to screw it up.

 

I was stationed -  flying in Germany and we had two aircraft from our squadron in a mid-air. One pilot died the other lived. Due to some incredibly crap communications in a very dynamic situation, the Station Commander rushed round to tell the 'wives' before they heard it on German news or from base personnel etc. Unfortunately he told the wrong woman her husband had died and the wrong woman her husband had lived. Lucky for one and a cruel sledge hammer blow for the other.

 

I feel for Trump on this one, I have had to do it. BUT when the story broke out, in this case Trump should have avoided any possible conflict and  simply have said "I want to make an unreserved apology to the family of Sergeant La David Johnson, there is no way I meant to be disrespectful or unfeeling in my remarks. As a father of 5 myself I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child in these conditions and in trying to convey La Davids love for his job I insensitively chose the wrong words. I apologise to Mrs Johnson and hope the family will forgive me".   If Trump would have said that he would have had a 60% or higher approval rating and EVERYONE would have praised , even been humbled by his humanity. BUT.............he didn't, and it is the reasons why he didn't say something like that,  that make him the SOB (Presidentially used term) that he is.

I don't feel for 45. He is not only a pathological liar, he is unqualified for the Presidency. He is unqualified on many levels. He would serve the country best by resigning. Hopefully he will be impeached or ???? anything that removes him from his disastrous mission to become a U.S. dictator and stand with other world dictators.

[Berkshire]

8 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

I feel for Trump on this one, I have had to do it. BUT when the story broke out, in this case Trump should have avoided any possible conflict and  simply have said "I want to make an unreserved apology to the family of Sergeant La David Johnson, there is no way I meant to be disrespectful or unfeeling in my remarks. As a father of 5 myself I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child in these conditions and in trying to convey La Davids love for his job I insensitively chose the wrong words. I apologise to Mrs Johnson and hope the family will forgive me".   If Trump would have said that he would have had a 60% or higher approval rating and EVERYONE would have praised , even been humbled by his humanity. BUT.............he didn't, and it is the reasons why he didn't say something like that,  that make him the SOB (Presidentially used term) that he is.

Yes, this could have been an easy fix.  But it goes against Trump and his "instincts."  Trump follows the Roy Cohn playbook, which is "never apologize" and "attack, attack, attack your accusers."  I've seen this with Trump time and time again.  The problem (biggest problem) is his nutty supporters.  They embolden him and his tactics.  I doubt they understand what's going on, but it encourages Trump to keep doing what he's doing...as crazy as it seems to the rest of us normal people.

[Andaman Al]

1 hour ago, selftaopath said:

I don't feel for 45. He is not only a pathological liar, he is unqualified for the Presidency. He is unqualified on many levels. He would serve the country best by resigning. Hopefully he will be impeached or ???? anything that removes him from his disastrous mission to become a U.S. dictator and stand with other world dictators.

I meant 'feel' from a human perspective. Something Trump would never 'feel'. As I said at the very end he is a SOB (Presidentially used term) nothing less and is the first President in history to cause a sh*t storm over a compassionate call to the wife of a fallen soldier. He probably thinks it's good for ratings.

[thaihome]

More late attempt at cover by whitehouse staff due to obvious lie by their boss.

 

TH 

 

Donald Trump Is Rush-Shipping Condolences to Military Families

Three families of fallen servicemembers received next-day UPS letters from President Trump after a turbulent week in which Trump falsely claimed he had called “virtuallyall” of the families.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/donald-trump-is-rush-shipping-condolences-to-military-families/543606/

 

[Publicus]

 

Caligula and his horse's ass first consul Kelly have taken up residence in the White House....

Family of slain sergeant says Trump showed ‘disrespect’

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The mother of an Army sergeant killed in Niger said Wednesday that President Donald Trump, in a call offering condolences, showed “disrespect” to the soldier’s loved ones as they drove together to the airport to meet his body. 

“Yes the statement is true,” Cowanda Jones-Johnson said. “I was in the car and I heard the full conversation. Not only did he disrespect my son,” but he disrespected his wife and me and my husband."

http://www.twincities.com/2017/10/18/trump-says-fallen-soldier-knew-what-he-signed-up-for-congresswoman-says/

 

 

Cowanda Jones-Johnson, the fallen sergeant's mother, said she felt the president had failed to console her grieving family.

Details of the call were first revealed by Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who was sitting with Johnson's widow while she spoke to Trump on Tuesday afternoon. The details were later confirmed by Johnson's mother.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/18/white-house-does-not-dispute-details-of-trumps-call-with-army-widow.html

[Andaman Al]

39 minutes ago, thaihome said:

Three families of fallen servicemembers received next-day UPS letters from President Trump after a turbulent week in which Trump falsely claimed he had called “virtuallyall” of the families.

...........and the families should ship him back a next day UPS letter containing a steaming turd. How bad can the administration get in allowing/encouraging this to happen. "Oops, sorry we forgot you , but about your sons death 2-3 months ago........we are all really sorry, never mind, times a good healer blah blah!"

[Publicus]

 

Trump is always busy running away from responsibility and adulthood to be a qualified Potus, i.e., able to take on the tuff jobs and aspects of the position.  

The Associated Press found relatives of two soldiers who died overseas during Trump’s presidency who said they never received a call or a letter from him, as well as relatives of a third who did not get a call. And proof is plentiful that Barack Obama and George W. Bush — saddled with far more combat casualties than the roughly two dozen so far under Trump, took painstaking steps to write, call or meet bereaved military families. 

After her Army son died in an armored vehicle rollover in Syria in May, Sheila Murphy says, she got no call or letter from Trump, even as she waited months for his condolences and wrote him that “some days I don’t want to live.” 

 

http://www.twincities.com/2017/10/18/trump-says-fallen-soldier-knew-what-he-signed-up-for-congresswoman-says/

 

Trump and his first consul Kelly are the ultimate tragedy to themselves by themselves and for themselves only. 

[Publicus]

 

Trump has no idea what he signed up for.

 

Ignoramus moron idiot.

 

And Kelly is right there behind the eight ball.

Edited October 22, 2017 by Publicus
Two peas in a pod.

[Publicus]

On 10/21/2017 at 1:23 AM, Jingthing said:

Bad hire Americans!

 

 

Bring back Silent Cal.

[Becker]

Imagine for a moment if Obama had shown even a fraction of the disrespect the man-child is showing servicemen and women!

[Opl]

"We should worry about a president who hides behind bright medals and pressed uniforms. Doing so may help Trump escape his current political scrape, but he’ll do so at the cost of the long-term reputation of the military, and its proper role in society."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/10/john_kelly_will_make_america_s_civil_military_divide_an_even_bigger_problem.html

[Langsuan Man]

I'm not surprised, a clown cannot be presidential no matter how much you try and dress him up

 

But my expectations of an intelligent and reasoned response from former Marine Four Star General and current Chief of Staff,  John F. Kelly,  were at best pandering to his boss and at worst,  defending the indefensible

[Publicus]

Kelly's press meeting was a disaster.

It was not exactly LTG Flynn's "Lock Her Up" tirade at the RNC but Kelly conducted himself along the same lines against Congresswoman Frederica Wilson.

Kelly showed himself to be a political hack. Barely distinguishable from Flynn who was yet another Trump clone.

[Opl]

Maybe for Trump, simply a memory loss symptom.. 

 

"Trump won’t say name of Sgt. Johnson after Niger death: ‘I was so nice… I spoke the name of the young man. President Donald Trump insisted to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that he knew the name of a soldier who died in Niger even though he referred to him as “the young man” during the interview"

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-wont-say-name-of-sgt-johnson-after-niger-death-i-was-so-nice-i-spoke-the-name-of-the-young-man/

 

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Opl

[Thakkar]

The cascade of missteps that turned one White House error into a messy week

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/10/21/the-cascade-of-missteps-that-turned-one-white-house-error-into-a-messy-week/

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎20‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 12:18 PM, habanero said:

What was the alternative?

1 of the other 160 million Republicans, is it that hard to understand?

[Gulfsailor]

6 minute interview with La David's widow; 

https://mobile.twitter.com/GMA/status/922431492793528320/video/1

 

[Skywalker69]

TRANSCRIPT: Widow of fallen soldier La David Johnson speaks out

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/transcript-widow-fallen-soldier-la-david-johnson-speaks/story?id=50655055

[Andaman Al]

5 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

6 minute interview with La David's widow; 

https://mobile.twitter.com/GMA/status/922431492793528320/video/1

 

Twitter your way out of that one Donald you lying SOB (Presidentially used term). If he would just have said sorry he would have been well past this. Now a Gold Star widow calls him out publicly for being a liar. Shame on him and shame on his supporters.

[JCauto]

2 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

Twitter your way out of that one Donald you lying SOB (Presidentially used term). If he would just have said sorry he would have been well past this. Now a Gold Star widow calls him out publicly for being a liar. Shame on him and shame on his supporters.

Seriously. And wasn't it so obvious from the start. The same pattern, the same bald faced lies, the same "I have a recording", the same "there is no recording", the same multiple witness corroboration of his lying. Why anyone would believe anything he says at this point boggles the mind.

[selftaopath]

On 10/22/2017 at 11:55 AM, Opl said:

"We should worry about a president who hides behind bright medals and pressed uniforms. Doing so may help Trump escape his current political scrape, but he’ll do so at the cost of the long-term reputation of the military, and its proper role in society."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/10/john_kelly_will_make_america_s_civil_military_divide_an_even_bigger_problem.html

We should worry about a president whose name is Donald J. Trump. End of story. Hell many MH professionals wrote a duty to warn statement recently. I have not seen much media coverage on it however.