A group of nearly 800 military family members, including Gold Star families of fallen service members, have signed onto a letter publicly endorsing President Donald Trump for reelection.
The letter, first reported by Breitbart News, was prepared by a group calling themselves Conservative Military Spouses, Veterans, and Families. The group prepared the letter in response to a recent report by The Atlantic, which cites anonymous sources claiming Trump decided to forego a visit to a veterans cemetery near Paris, France in November because he didn’t feel it was important to honor U.S. troops killed in battle. The sources claimed Trump also disparaged dead and wounded U.S. troops, calling them “losers” and “suckers.”
Trump has denied the Atlantic’s claims. His campaign site, citing various media reports, says 21 current and former administration officials, including 14 officials who were present during the Paris trip, have also disputed the claims.
In a statement accompanying the letter, the group of Conservative Military Spouses, Veterans, and Families, say they decided to act after seeing more liberal military family members citing the anonymous Atlantic story to voice their opposition to Trump.
“In the last few weeks, a false narrative has been perpetuated regarding the military community’s perception of its Commander in Chief. As conservative military Spouses, Veterans, and Family Members we refuse to remain silent in our ardent support for President Trump knowing that he holds the military community, of which we are a part, in great esteem,” the group said in its accompanying statement. “Oftentimes those voices who are the loudest attempt to convince everyone they speak for all, but we are here to stand up and be counted amongst those who refuse to have our voices silenced.”
The group’s full letter states:
An Open Letter to our President
Dear Mr. President,
While the noise of the left may be deafening, we want you to know that support for you among military families and our community is not lost. Recent statements made, on behalf of military spouses, do not reflect us as a whole. While others may be quick to believe hearsay and rumors, we know that your actions over the past three years have spoken much louder than any anonymous words.
Your courage in dealing with world leaders makes our country a safer place to live. We believe that because of your leadership and our military, America is in a position of strength. You granted a pay raise – one of the biggest in decades – to our military men and women. You fought for our vets with reforms to the VA. You repealed the Widows Tax that Gold Star spouses fought to achieve for more than 40 years. You signed an Executive Order enhancing noncompetitive civil service appointments of military spouses. You signed another Executive Order for improvement of license portability for relocated military spouses.
You have personally honored so many of our military families. Military spouses under your leadership had the opportunity to interact with your administration and were treated with the utmost respect, dignity and enthusiasm to help achieve meaningful reforms. We have prayed as our service members left for war for the past 20 years. We applaud your leadership in working tirelessly to bring our loved ones home. Thank you for being present when so many of our fallen heroes have returned.
Like you, President Trump, we are fiercely loyal to our God, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coastguardsmen serving our country. Your patriotism and love for America inspires us. We sleep better at night knowing that you will stop at nothing to protect the Constitution and those who defend it.
Mr. President, there are hundreds of thousands of military spouses in this country who are forced into the silent majority. But we do support you. We do not believe the lies and rumors that others try hard to spread. We stand tall with you.
We appreciate you supporting our freedoms, our military, our law enforcement officers, and our country. We cannot wait for your re-election. We had four years of your support and we look forward to four more years of having a Commander in Chief who loves and has a passion to lead our great nation.
Sincerely,
Conservative Military Spouses, Veterans, and Families
The conservative military family group said their letter garnered more than 700 signatories within the first three days they organized it and reached 738 signatories by the time it was published. That list of signatories is viewable in the full letter. The list reportedly continued to grow to nearly 800 signatories after the signature deadline.
The letter by the nearly 800 military family members comes two days after a group of 235 retired U.S. general officers sent an open-letter endorsing Trump. The letter’s signatories included eight four-star generals/admirals, 42 three-star generals/admirals, 133 two-star generals/admirals and the remaining officers are two and three star generals/admirals.
