Trump attacked over ‘sick games’
UNITED STATES: President Donald Trump has pulled bereaved military families into a painful political fight of his own making, going so far yesterday as to cite the death of his chief of staff’s son in Afghanistan to question whether Barack Obama and other presidents did enough to honour the military dead.
Trump boasted ‘‘I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died’', though relatives of two soldiers who died overseas during Trump’s presidency said they never received a call or a letter from him, as well as relatives of a third who did not get a call from him.
The White House said Trump did telephone yesterday the families of four soldiers who were killed in Niger nearly two weeks ago, the issue that had spawned the controversy this week.
‘‘He offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their family’s extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten,’' a White House statement said.
Contending that Trump’s propensity for a political fight has drifted into ‘‘sacred’' territory, Democrats and some former government officials have expressed anger at his comments that he, almost alone among presidents, called the families of military members killed in war.
They accused him of ‘‘inane cruelty’' and a ‘‘sick game.’'
For their part, Gold Star families, who have lost members in wartime, told of acts of kindness from two presidents – Obama and George W Bush – when those commanders-in-chief consoled them.
Trump’s posture has been defensive in recent days after he was criticised for not reaching out right away to relatives of soldiers killed in Niger. On Tuesday, Trump said he had written letters that hadn’t yet been mailed; his aides had been awaiting information on the soldiers.
Then Trump stirred things further, saying, ‘‘You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?’'
John Kelly, a Marine general under Obama, is Trump’s chief of staff. His son, Marine Second Lieutenant Robert Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. John Kelly was not seen at Trump’s public events yesterday.
A White House official said Obama did not call Kelly after his son’s death. White House visitor records show Kelly attended a breakfast Obama hosted for Gold Star families six months after his son died.
A person familiar with the breakfast – speaking on condition of anonymity because the event was private – said the Kelly family sat at Michelle Obama’s table. Obama aides said it was difficult this many years later to determine if he had also called Kelly, or when.
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, of Illinois, an Iraq veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was attacked, said Obama did right by the fallen.
‘‘I just wish that this commander-in-chief would stop using Gold Star families as pawns in whatever sick game he’s trying to play here.’'
And retired General Martin Dempsey, once chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tweeted that Bush, Obama and their wives ‘‘cared deeply, worked tirelessly for the serving, the fallen, and their families. Not politics. Sacred Trust.’'
Trump initially claimed on Tuesday that only he among presidents made sure to call families. Obama may have done so on occasion, he said, but ‘‘other presidents did not call’'.
He equivocated yesterday as the record made plain that his characterisation was false. ‘‘I don’t know,’' he said of past calls. But he said his own practice was to call all families of the war dead. –