Vets Just Responded To Trump’s Exploitation Of Fallen SEAL’s Widow, And They’re NOT Happy
The responses to President Trump’s speech to Congress – and the stunt he pulled with the widow of Chief Petty Officer Ryan Owens – were mixed, to say the least.
The Former Dep. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Brandon Friedman noticed a strange dichotomy in the responses to Trump’s speech, and the results speak for themselves:
Media people in my feed (left) viewed Trump's Navy SEAL moment last night very differently from the veterans (right). A story in two images: pic.twitter.com/P2vlptE5B1
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) March 1, 2017
Veterans from around the country were horrified by his exploitation of a grieving woman who lost her husband in a raid that Trump ordered but would not take responsibility for.
Other vets on Twitter echoed those angry sentiments.
The way to honor Chief Petty Officer Owens' service is to allow #Yemen raid investigation. His family deserves truth. #JointAddress
— VoteVets (@votevets) March 1, 2017
.@realdonaldtrump if you have lied about intel gathered in Yemen, per NBC, the nation will never forgive you for using Ryan Owens #SOTU
— VoteVets (@votevets) March 1, 2017
Military veterans are disgusted by the USE of a seal widow by #Trump. https://t.co/PhFxz61BZq
— Warrior Pride 66 (@warriorpride2) March 1, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump Ryan's father is asking for an investigation. Honor him with that #Jointsession
— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) March 1, 2017
https://twitter.com/WYVeteran/status/836989641873989634
Trump's most applause was for a widow he created.
— The Green Veteran (@TheGreenVeteran) March 1, 2017
On the other hand, the media positively fawned over him, all ready to declare him presidential and falling over themselves to normalize Trump’s behavior even though he spent all of last week slandering them as “fake news” and refusing to give them access to the White House press gaggle.
Just take a look:
It seems like the enabling media, which gave $3 billion in free coverage to Trump during the election campaign since he was such an easy source of content and ratings, hasn’t learned a damn thing yet.
Just because Donald Trump did the bare minimum by behaving himself for one whole evening doesn’t mean he’s suddenly our president. The media seems to have forgotten that he tried to blame Jewish community centers for their own bomb threats just a few hours before his speech.
The exploitation of Carryn Owens is one of the more despicable publicity stunts Trump has ever pulled. Our veterans and their families have been used as a cheap political prop by insincere Republicans for far too long.
