Jake Tapper Laments How Soldiers’ Deaths Are Now Just a ‘Piece of Ammunition in the Snark Wars’
Over the past three days, we have witnessed President Donald Trump distract from his initial 12-day silence on the deadly ambush in Niger by falsely claiming former President Barack Obama didn’t call Gold Star families, invoke the death of his chief of staff’s son, and allegedly tell a grieving widow her deceased husband signed up for his death.
During today’s broadcast of CNN’s The Lead, anchor Jake Tapper addressed the whole controversy, noting that the president’s actions this week take the focus off of the ultimate sacrifice made by our military members, instead making it all about scoring political points.
Recapping the reports of Trump’s call to Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow Myeshia Johnson and the White House accusing Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) of politicizing the tragedy, Tapper said it makes “little difference” to the family what the administration is claiming as they heard what they heard.
“The problem that President Trump might have here, however, is that when it comes to sensitivity, when it comes to sensitivity about service and sacrifice, specifically, he’s already made what critics have assessed to be some grievously bad decisions,” the CNN host stated.
He went on to highlight Trump’s comments about Vietnam War veteran and POW Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) not being a war, his attacks on a Gold Star family, and Trump using the CIA’s memorial wall to brag about the size of his inauguration crowd.
“Amidst all this ham-handedness, the president this week falsely accused President Obama and previous presidents of never having phoned Gold Star families,” Tapper said. “In an apparent attempt to make himself look more attentive and compassionate, I suppose.”
He continued, “In the midst of that effort, this glowing controversy sadly burst onto the scene as just another political weapon used by the president and used against the president. This most personal and horrific experience just one more piece of ammunition in the snark wars where nothing matters anymore except for scoring points, instead of focusing on the fallen men and women, we’re focused on process and phone calls and letters.”
Tapper ended his monologue by stating we all need to “consider the unimaginable these families go through when we speak to them and speak of them,” and that if you are reckless with your words when speaking about these sacrifices, then people may not “be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if on one occasion your words come out wrong.”
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
—
