SIGN UP FOR OUR
Click image to enlarge
Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.
There are some things going on in today’s turbulent political world that simply boggle the mind.
Such is the case of Florida’s flamboyant U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson and her “set-up” of President Donald Trump as she listened in on a presidential sympathy phone call to the widow and family of a fallen African-American Green Beret soldier killed by ambush Oct. 4 in Niger, Africa, along with three others – all of whom are white. In this sordid ‘he said-she said’ controversy there are no winners.
Wilson, 74, has represented the 24th U.S. Congressional District in South Florida since 2011. She’s popular in her home district having won reelection four times with percentages in the 65-to 86-percent range. Before that she was a long-time state representative in Tallahassee, according to Wikipedia. She just happened to be a close friend of the family of slain U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson. They told Wilson they were expecting a call from President Trump within 24 hours so she made sure she was present when that call came. Wilson, Johnson’s wife and mother were all riding in a car when the president called. The conversation was put on speaker phone while Johnson’s mother and Wilson listened in as his widow Myeshia Johnson, 24, spoke to the president, according to news reports.
A long-time Trump hater, Wilson recanted the conversation to mainstream media reporters saying the president was insensitive to Johnson’s widow and he “made her cry.” Johnson’s mother also agreed with Wilson and stood by the congresswoman’s account of the call. Johnson was laid to rest Saturday afternoon in South Florida with heavy media coverage and live TV helicopters hovering above.
Soon after the controversy erupted, the president’s Chief-of-Staff Gen. John Kelly, who was in the Oval Office when President Trump called Johnson’s family to offer his condolences, said he was “broken-hearted” when he came to work that morning and saw Wilson’s comments plastered all over mainstream media news reports on television, in newspapers and on social media.
Last week, Kelly gave an impassioned and emotional response to Wilson’s comments in a rare appearance at the White House Press Briefing Room. Kelly is also a ‘Gold-Star’ parent having lost his active-duty son in Afghanistan in 2010. ‘Gold-Star’ families are those that lost a son or daughter, a husband or wife during combat.
Kelly left no doubt that he thought President Trump’s call was respectful and proper. He staunchly defended the president’s expression of sympathy toward Johnson’s widow and family.
After Kelly’s words to reporters, Wilson called Kelly and the president “liars” and even went as far as claiming the White House “is full of white supremacists,” and “This is Trump’s Benghazi.” With all the media attention Wilson referred to herself as “a rock star.”
So what are we all to make of this messy controversy? Clearly this situation is a far-left tactic to smear President Trump and make him look like a racist.
In an interview last week with Newsmax, former Fox News political commentator Bill O’Reilly said the Wilson-Trump controversy is nothing more than a political stunt meant to harm the president.
“The thing that disturbs me is Congresswoman Wilson … the family was given 24-hour notice that President Trump would call,” O’Reilly said. “They gave that information to Congresswoman Wilson, who is a Trump hater and has been from the jump. She knew the call was coming in; she was in the car when President Trump reached the widow … Then she goes out on CNN and says, ‘The president insulted Mrs. Johnson, made her cry.’ This looks to me to be a set up. It really does.”
O’Reilly went on to say that mainstream media is far outplaying Wilson’s comments over Kelly’s.
“I know he (Trump) respects military people, so why on earth would a sitting president call a widow – just lost her husband in Niger – and insult her? It’s impossible. It’s inconceivable. They’re (the media) taking Ms. Wilson’s word for it. They’re not taking Gen. Kelly’s word for it, who says there wasn’t anything inappropriate. They’re taking Wilson’s. Why? Because they hate Trump. Everybody knows what the game is.”
Former Speaker-of-the-House Newt Gingrich, in a Fox News interview, summed it all up with: “I think what you saw in a very simple contrast a man (Kelly) who has served his country for over 40 years, risked his life, lost his son, dedicated himself to honoring America and frankly a politician who doesn’t know anything, has no shame, has no sense of understanding and can’t figure out the time has come to keep her mouth shut.”
A U.S. military wife, Erica McMannes, from Newport News, Virginia, offers a glimpse into the heart break of Gold-Star families that want nothing to do with this political hullabaloo.
“Why are military families and community advocates asking for the political banter to stop instead of demanding justice for Gold Star families? Because we know. Because we defend. Because we know there ARE things in life that go beyond political winnings and fantasized media attention of unintelligent repertoire. We know loss,” McMannes writes on Facebook. “Until you’ve heard the untangled wail of a spouse release from the depth of her soul in a memorial ceremony because she just can’t keep it in any longer … or you’ve heard roll call with 12 names called out in the most deadly, eerie silence that haunts you 15 years later … or you’ve held hands with spouses for days not knowing which of you was going to leave a widow … or you watched the brave aura of a child rise to the occasion and accept a fallen parent’s flag at a burial … then you just might not understand. And that’s ok. I won’t fight with you about it because the fight already happened and it’s not for you to win.”
Enough said. Thank you, Erica McMannes.
About the Author
Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.
