President Donald Trump and the Republicans tout their devotion to the military and their respect for military families. However, their actions do no match up with their words.

Trump’s latest fight is with a Gold Star widow, the wife of the late Sergeant La David Johnson. Sgt. Johnson, along with three other men, were killed in an ambush in early October, in Niger. Details are still emerging about the attack.

As presidents usually do, Trump called the widow, Myeshia Johnson, to express his condolences. According to Johnson and Representative Frederica Wilson (D-FL), who was also on the call, both say that Trump said that Sgt. Johnson “knew what he signed up for” and that Trump stuttered when saying the late Sergeant’s name as well.

His widow, Johnson, was very upset by Trump’s tone and lack of empathy, so Trump did what any reasonable person would do, attack her on Twitter. He tweeted, “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!”

I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2017

Let’s take step back, say Trump really was being respectful and that Johnson truly had misconstrued his remarks. Even in that scenario, Trump should have stayed off Twitter, apologized and then have moved on. Johnson is pregnant, a mother of two children already, and just lost her husband under cloudy circumstances. Instead of being the Consoler-In-Chief, he chose, yet again, to be the Tweeter-In-Chief.

This is not a one-time ordeal, though. During the campaign, Trump attacked another Gold Star Family, the Khans. Khizr and Ghazala Khan, parents of the late Army Captain Humayun Khan, were attacked after speaking against Trump at the Democratic National Convention in July of 2016.

That’s why to many on the left, and now a growing number on the right, believe that Trump’s behavior was, unfortunately, not uncharacteristic. As the president of a country that frequently sends its soldiers all across the world to meddle in different countries’ affairs, Trump needs to get used to being empathetic and caring. 

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