My only child, 1st Lt. Ken Ballard, joined the Army after graduating High School in 1995 and deployed to Iraq in May of 2003. Three hundred and eighty-four days later, he was killed while fighting in Najaf. He had been scheduled to return home eight days earlier, but his tour was extended.
As a mother of a son who gave his life for his nation overseas, I have been repeatedly horrified at President Trump's lack of respect for the sacrifice veterans and their families make.
I thought of my son when Trump said of Senator McCain that he "liked people who weren't captured." I can't even imagine what he thinks about people like my son who didn't come back alive. I was devastated to watch him threaten to turn Memorial Day into a spectacle by making it about money he claimed to have raised, but never did until he was caught lying about it, for veterans charities.
And now, after hearing about his phone call with a widow of a service member killed in Niger, my heart is in pieces yet again.
Sometimes it's hard to know how to respond in these moments. For me, I have been active in the Gold Star and veteran's communities as an advocate for military families. I feel as if my work resisting Trump is an extension of that work. And I am thankful to have a mechanism to do that through VoteVets. So, I want to ask:
I also have a message for President Trump:
Stop. Please, just stop. Your actions and words on this entire matter of the fallen in Niger is disgraceful, and unbecoming of a President of the United States and Commander in Chief. This is not about you, it is about them. It is about all of us who lost our loved ones in war. For once in your life, please stop making everything about you.
The truth is, your support for VoteVets helps me get this message out. And I appreciate that greatly.
Chip in $10 to VoteVets today:
Thank you very much,
Karen Meredith
Gold Star Mom and Military Families Liaison
Gold Star Mom and Military Families Liaison
VoteVets.org
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