NBC held a Commander-In-Chief forum last night. They spent 30 minutes with each presidential nominee, and they took questions from the audience. Most of the talk was about foreign policy and military issues.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton came out and talked about the emails and about foreign policy. She had concise, well thought out, specific plans to deal with Iraq and Libya.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took the opportunity to insult our military when he said:
“I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. They have been reduced to a point where it’s embarrassing for our country.”
He made a particularly rude gesture toward a female veteran, Rachel Fredericks. She started to talk about the number of veterans who commit suicide every day. She said the number was 20 people.
Trump had to “correct her” and say it was 22 people. Really, Trumpkin? This woman is talking about her friends who have taken their own lives.
Here is how she was introduced before she spoke about her question:
“Rachel Fredericks specialized in aviation operations in the Marine Corps. She lost two friends to suicide, and she herself has post-traumatic stress disorder. During the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Commander-in-Chief Forum Wednesday night, Fredericks asked Trump what he was going to do to stop 20 veterans a day from killing themselves.”
She was actually correct, the Department of Veterans Affairs said that this number was 20. Many people believe it is 22, but that’s not the important part. Even one life taken is too many.
Just recently, a veteran took his life outside of a VA hospital in Virginia. He had been denied care even though he was very sick.
This has sparked the new internet craze called 22 push-ups. Our favorite Liberal Redneck did his own video about this. The challenge is to upload a video of you doing 22 push-ups to raise awareness of the veterans taking their own lives.
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
