
The timing of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s boycott of last Thursday’s Fox News presidential debate in Iowa could prove costly, coming as it did four days before the Iowa Caucuses. Noting Trump’s commanding lead in several polls, the Des Moines Register noted the day before the debates:
It’s unclear how Iowa voters will react to Trump’s debate stage snub, but it seems like a menacing self-inflicted mistake by the top candidate that’s almost run a perfect race thus far.
But the fundraiser for disabled veterans that The Donald arranged as an alternative headline generator also appears to be coming back to bite him.
If there’s one thing that marks a veteran’s organization and its membership, it’s that no matter what side of the political aisle a candidate falls on, vets don’t appreciate being used as pawns.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
This can be seen in the tweets sent out by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America founder Paul Rieckhoff, who lashed out at both Trump and Ted Cruz for trying to score political points at their expense.
If offered, @IAVA will decline donations from Trump's event. We need strong policies from candidates, not to be used for political stunts.
— Paul Rieckhoff🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@PaulRieckhoff) January 27, 2016
Now it's Cruz yanking vets into the nastiness of the presidential fights before Iowa. This is not what vets need. https://t.co/xY9zwQX11n
— Paul Rieckhoff🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@PaulRieckhoff) January 28, 2016
To make matters worse, reports have resurfaced about the real estate mogul’s efforts to oust disabled veterans who had sat up food carts outside his Fifth Avenue headquarters at Trump Tower.
In a 1991 letter, Trump argued to the New York state Assembly Committee on Cities that “while disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living,” it shouldn’t be “to detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses.”
He added:
Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?
Trump has made the mistreatment of America’s military veterans one of the cornerstones of his campaign, asserting last August that “illegal immigrants, in many cases … are treated better than our veterans, who are the greatest people we have.”
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession