In protest against Fox News picking his archenemy, Megyn Kelly, as a debate moderator, Donald Trump has announced plans to host a counter-event in Iowa “to raise money for the veterans and wounded warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians”, his campaign announced.
Advertisement
The debate is being moderated by Trump nemesis Megyn Kelly, with whom he tangled in a Fox debate in August.
“The politicization of veterans’ issues is at an all-time high”, Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said in an interview.
“Rather than going directly to veterans groups, 100% of online donations on Trump’s pro-veterans site will go directly to Trump’s personal foundation”, the conservative website reports.
He also obliquely addressed claims that the Donald J. Trump Foundation has not lived up to its promise to support veterans by saying there was “a list of organizations we’re donating too outside, and we picked ones with heart, because the heart is so important”. Trump said instead he will hold an event at Drake University and give all the proceeds to veterans and wounded warriors.
“If folks want to support vets, $$ doesn’t need to be funneled through a political campaign”, he added in a tweet Thursday. “Don’t act like you’re holier than thou and doing this for the greater good when all you’re talking about is how much money people are going to make tonight”.
It’s still unclear exactly how helpful this will end up being to veterans groups.
Instead of participating in Fox’s GOP debate Thursday night, Trump is holding a separate campaign event that he promised would benefit veterans groups.
Veterans advocates were skeptical of the sincerity of Trump’s debate-night fundraiser because they said the NY real estate billionaire, along with most of the 2016 candidates, had said little about veterans issues and how to pay for the increasing costs of their care. Over the summer, Trump was criticized after he implied Sen. He deemed Trump hypocritical for now touting veterans. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wasn’t war hero for being a prisoner of war.
Advertisement
Let’s not forget it was just last week that Sarah Palin, one day after endorsing Trump, used her son, a one-year veteran, in the Army Reserves in 2008, and who never saw combat, to further Trump’s agenda – as well as her own.
