A Donald Trump town hall meeting was punctuated by a joke the former president made about getting shot to a couple whose son died at war in Afghanistan.
The discussion with South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in Oaks, Pennsylvania, turned into an impromptu concert after the former president was twice interrupted by medical emergencies in the room.
But at one point, Noem introduced Mary and Charles Strange, a Gold Star family whose son Michael was killed while serving in Afghanistan in 2011.
THE BIZARRE JOKE
Trump and Noem encouraged the Strange family to come up on stage, but Trump then cracked a joke about getting up to meet them.
‘It’s a little harder to get up since I got shot. It made it more difficult. Perhaps that’s the way it’s supposed to be,’ he said.
Noem forced a chuckle before reintroducing the Strange family: ‘They lost their son, Michael. Come on up here.’
Both Trump and the family moved past it, with Charles Strange asking the president to launch a Congressional investigation into his son’s death.
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT
‘My son was killed August 6, 2011 with 29 other men. It was the biggest loss of life in the Iraq and Afghan war,’ Strange said.
’22 of them men were Navy Special Warfare. Til this day, we still haven’t gotten any answers. I was wondering, I’m begging you, we would like a congressional hearing.’
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Trump replied: ‘So here’s what we’re going to do.
‘In the first week – not the first day because I made a lot of promises in the first day, we’re gonna drill baby drill, we’re gonna close up the border, we’re gonna do a lot in the first day. In the first week, we will set up a commission.’
A VISIT TO WHITE HOUSE
He completed his plan by inviting Charles and Mary Strange to visit him after he’s elected.
‘We’re gonna find out because so many people are in your same position. They want to know what happened, why did it happen to their son or daughter, and we’re gonna do that in the first week. So you get ready to come over to the White House, okay?’
