On Wednesday night (the day before Thanksgiving), I wrote some thoughts about the attack on two members of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C.
On Thanksgiving, President Trump announced the death of Spc. Sarah Beckstrom. She was sworn in only hours before the attack and is now dead at the age of 20. Trump added that her colleague Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is "fighting for his life".
The responsibility for Beckstrom's death and Wolfe's injuries are on the shoulders of Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national who worked with the CIA and was welcomed into this country after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during the Biden Administration. Nevertheless, neither Beckstrom nor Wolfe nor any other member of the West Viriginia National Guard ought to have been in D.C. engaged in domestic law enforcement. The sort of work Beckstrom and Wolfe ought to have been engaged in would be disaster recovery. The sort of thing of the West Virginia Army National Guard and Air National Guard were deployed for last June following the floods in Wheeling and surrounding areas. Trump's unconstitutional policy and its consequences are on his head.
For his part, Trump plans to honor Beckstrom and Wolfe at the White House. Obviously, it is up to the Beckstrom and Wolfe families to determine whether they take Trump up on his invitation. But if they do I worry that Trump will diminish the solemnity of the occasion and take yet another opportunity to glorify himself and diminish former President Biden or anyone else who happens to peak his ire or express any other petty grievances.
After announcing Beckstrom's death on Thanksgiving, Trump was asked if he planned to attend her funeral. Trump began by stating he "hadn't given it any thought, but it sounds like something I could do." Then he added this thought:
I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere. They are great people. I love the people of West Virginia.
In summation, President Trump deploys Sarah Beckstrom to D.C. where she is murdered by a terrorist. Her life is snuffed out at 20 years of age. When asked if he will pay his respects, Trump gives no thought to this young woman. Instead, Trump thinks only of himself and tells the world how popular he is in West Virginia.
So, what if Beckstrom had been from another state? What if she had been from neighboring Virginia, a state that Trump did not carry? Or California? Illinois? Massachusetts? What would he have said under those circumstances?
The Beckstrom family is free to choose to honor their daughter as they see fit and if it means including President Trump then that is their call. But given his callous comments, perhaps the Beckstrom family will choose to keep her funeral a private affair and not share their grief with a boastful man incapable of compassion towards others. R.I.P.
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