An op-ed by AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council Executive Director Will Fischer was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, highlighting how Donald Trump does not have the temperament or judgement to be President of the United States. After rooting for the housing market to collapse, abolishing the minimum wage, and insulting Gold Star parents, it is clear to Mr. Fischer there is only one person in the race who has the vision, understanding, intelligence to be Commandeer in Chief – and that’s Hillary Clinton.
Read the piece here.
Fischer: Trump not fit to be president
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 16, 2016
This great nation – our great nation – was built through generations of hard work, sacrifice, and a willingness to work together to achieve our collective goals.
Americans of every race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and political persuasion have fought for the betterment of our future in times of war and peace. It is without a doubt, though, that those who are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to preserve and protect our freedoms are universally respected, honored, and cared for by our nation. Our military has been and continues to be the foundation that America builds upon.
Democrats understand this and have cared for our veterans to the best of their ability. Donald Trump, and the Republicans who continue to support him, do not and continue to speak with hyperbole and no action.
Last week, Trump doubled down on his attacks against the Khan family, Muslim-American Gold Star parents who lost their son in Iraq.
What kind of person insults parents grieving over the loss of their child? What kind of person insults an American soldier who died protecting his men? What kind of person doesn’t respect those who have kept him and his family safe for generations?
Not a person who wants to be my President, that is for sure.
Donald Trump is unfit to serve our highest office. I call on him to apologize to the Kahn family and the military community as a whole, who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us can live easier lives.
As a Vietnam veteran, I know that I cannot trust Donald Trump to be my Commander in Chief. Trump’s comments on the Khan family are only the latest in a series of his disrespectful rhetoric and record aimed at American veterans and military families, such as lying about donations to veterans’ charities, firing employees because of their military service and verbally attacking prisoners of war.
For decades, Trump has been treating our veterans with disdain, from a deluge of deeply offensive comments, to taking actions that directly targeted and damaged the lives of those who have served. The few policy reforms his campaign has actually embraced, like moving toward privatizing the VA, would deprive our veterans of the unique support they need and deserve.
In the eyes of veterans and working-class people, Donald Trump has sacrificed nothing. Trump is so out of touch with the reality of hard-working families and veteran families that he claims a history of job creation as his biggest sacrifice. Not only is his answer ridiculous, especially compared to someone giving the ultimate sacrifice for their country, Trump’s business record is one disaster after another that speaks for itself.
Trump’s products have been manufactured in at least twelve countries other than America. Trump is so concerned with his own bottom line that he rooted for the collapse of the housing and real estate market just two years before the Great Recession, which ultimately cost nine million Americans their jobs and five million their homes. Now, Trump is offering more of the same dangerous ideas that don’t help working families make ends meet. Trump has proposed abolishing the minimum wage after repeatedly saying that “wages are too high”, opposes any attempt at creating a debt-free college program, opposes paid family leave, and wants to end Obamacare and cause almost 21 million people to lose their health insurance.
The bottom line is that Trump has never cared about working people. His reckless approach to business has devastated working families and communities while he walked away with millions. Not only has he verbally disrespected all veterans, he has hurt their bottom line as well.
What does it say that Wisconsin’s top Republican leaders, including Speaker Paul Ryan, Governor Scott Walker, Senator Ron Johnson, and State Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald, who have all previously endorsed Donald Trump, refused to go to his event in Green Bay last week?
To me, it says that they know this man is offensive, delusional and dangerous. But their allegiance to artificial party lines is preventing them from a candidate they know will support our veterans, their hard-working families, and keep our country headed in the right direction – Hillary Clinton.
