The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday has been condemned by 17 veterans groups who also urged the country to keep violence out of American politics.
In the joint statement released earlier this week, the groups said that “regardless of individual politics, an attack on any candidate for office, elected official or election official is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the system of self-government that our men and women in uniform have served and sacrificed to protect.”
The groups signing the statement included We the Veterans and Military Families; AmVets; National Military Family Association; Student Veterans of America; +More Perfect Union; Elizabeth Dole Foundation; Mission Roll Call; Combined Arms; Military Veterans in Journalism; Military Family Advisory Network; Veterans for All Voters; National Security Leaders for America; The Chamberlain Network; Disabled Veteran Empowerment Network; Millions of Conversations; Vet Voice Foundation; and VetsForward. Adm. Steve Abbot and Jeremy Butler also signed the statement.
“We are honored to join an illustrious group of veteran and military family organizations in reminding our fellow Americans to keep violence out of our political process. As patriots, we put country over party or ideology, and remember that we have more in common than not,” said Ellen Gustafson, co-founder and executive director of We the Veterans and Military Families.
The statement noted that “our fellow Americans often look to our community to provide leadership and to set politics aside, because of our commitment to our Constitution and culture of putting service to the nation first. Many of us have witnessed political violence abroad. We have a clear and universal message to our fellow Americans - violence has no place in American politics.”
A fundamental tenet of American democracy is to “settle our differences at the ballot box,” the statement continues. “Our shared commitment to a peaceful democratic process is what distinguishes our system of government from others throughout history. We all have a role to play in lowering the temperature in today’s political discourse and reminding ourselves – and our fellow countrymen and women – that we all have more in common than not.”
According to the FBI, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, unsuccessfully tried to shoot Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, was killed during the shooting while shielding his family from the bullets. Two other rally attendees – David Dutch, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm – were injured.
No motive for the assassination attempt has been established.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
