Donald Trump Challenged To ‘Earn’ A Purple Heart By Veteran Who Lost His Leg In Afghanistan: ‘You Are Never Too Old To Follow Your Dreams’
Donald Trump enjoys making a mockery of all things American, but there are times when he crosses the line even by his abysmally low standards.
During a rally in Virginia last week, a veteran gifted Trump his Purple Heart, a coveted military decoration received by those who are wounded or killed while serving with the United States military. Needless to add, one does not just receive a Purple Heart, one earns it.
But instead of accepting the gift with grace or poise, as one would expect any potential American president to do, Trump made a callously insensitive statement that not only betrayed apathy, but proved once again that Trump does not care for anyone else but himself.
“I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” said Trump, who deferred the draft five times during the Vietnam War. “This was much easier.”
Donald Trump, it seems, wants to have everything without ever having to work for it. Nobody dislikes a good joke made in jest, but this was made in bad taste. It was almost as if the Purple Heart is just another toy for rich-boy Trump, who, as we have seen countless times during the campaign trail, does not mind mocking only his rivals, but also sometimes people who look up to him.
It is no wonder, then, that Donald Trump’s insensitivity drew a lot of ire from everywhere. Some people took to social media to chastise the Republican nominee for his crassness.
“My Dad was a Purple Heart recipient and I’m sure he would of preferred to get his this way instead of being SHOT 5 times!”
For others, including a veteran named Cameron Kerr, who lost his leg in Afghanistan, rebuking Trump in private circles was not enough. As someone who had earned the award the hard way, Donald Trump’s apathy and callousness was something he just could not digest with a straight face.
“It was the actual callousness of him saying, ‘I’ve always wanted one. This is much easier,'” Kerr said about what exactly made him most angry about Trump’s antics when receiving the Purple Heart, according to The Huffington Post.
“There was kind of this revulsion of him making light of something people literally have to bleed or die for. Not understanding that gravity.”
For someone like him, who does not have enough resources at his disposal, finding a way to give Donald Trump a taste of his own medicine was a long shot. Kerr admits to thinking hard about how he wanted to get his message across to the Republican nominee.
“To me, it was partially, ‘How do we ridicule this insensitive, callous statement?'”
After enough thought, Kerr decided to raise funds for Trump so that he could go to a conflict zone of his choosing and earn a Purple Heart. He set up a page on the fundraising website, GoFundMe, hoping his friends and family would help him in his endeavor to “Help Trump Get A Purple Heart.”
“As with seemingly everything else in his life, Mr. Trump got [a Purple Heart] handed to him instead of earning it,” the military veteran wrote on the page, adding that the Republican nominee is not too old to chase his dreams.
“I fully endorse his desire to earn one and would happily oblige his interest in doing so, by being one of the first to chip in to fly him to the conflict zone of his choosing. After all, you’re never too old to follow your dreams.”
“We’re not going to be able to help Donald realize his conveniently retroactive military fantasies, and based on precedent he could likely get a series of deferments to avoid going even if we tried. So instead, we’re going to convert his toxic bigotry, ignorance, and callousness into something positive. As Michelle Obama said/as Melania Trump might say at some point in the future: ‘when they go low, we go high.’
What better way to do that than to redirect money to a good cause that Donald Trump would vehemently oppose: aiding Syrian refugees.”
A vet has set up a GoFundMe called #PurpleTrumpsOrange to send Trump to a war zone https://t.co/oFJM8Qg1ns pic.twitter.com/AyszFCyqpo
— UPROXX (@UPROXX) August 6, 2016
[Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images]
