'Don't you ever forget that name': Biden's tough meeting with grieving relatives
Dont you ever forget that name: Bidens tough meeting with grieving relatives
By Matt Viser
Today at 7:17 p.m. EDT
President Biden made his way on Sunday around a quiet room at Dover Air Force Base, a chamber filled with couches and chairs, with dignitaries and grieving families huddling together as the president came to speak to them privately, one family at a time.
Mark Schmitz had told a military officer the night before that he wasnt much interested in speaking to a president he did not vote for, one whose execution of the Afghan pullout he disdains and one he now blames for the death of his 20-year-old son Jared.
But overnight, sleeping in a nondescript hotel nearby, Schmitz changed his mind. So on that dreary morning he and his ex-wife were approached by Biden after hed talked to all the other families. But by his own account, Schmitz glared hard at the president, so Biden spent more time looking at his ex-wife, repeatedly invoking his own son, Beau, who died six years ago.
Schmitz did not want to hear about Beau, he wanted to talk about Jared. Eventually, the parents took out a photo to show to Biden. I said, Dont you ever forget that name. Dont you ever forget that face. Dont you ever forget the names of the other 12, Schmitz said. And take some time to learn their stories.
{snip}
Meagan Flynn and María Luisa Paúl contributed to this report.
By Matt Viser
Matt Viser is a national political reporter for The Washington Post. He joined the paper in October 2018. He was previously the deputy chief of the Washington Bureau for the Boston Globe, where he covered Congress, the presidential campaigns in 2012 and 2016, and John Kerrys tenure as secretary of state. Twitter https://twitter.com/mviser
jimfields33
(15,789 posts)rso
(2,271 posts)And many more than 12 marines died in Afghanistan during Donnies four years. Would this grieving father act this way toward Donnie if his son had died during Donnies tenure ?
AkFemDem
(1,823 posts)3 Marines died in Afghanistan under Trump
orwell
(7,771 posts)...63 soldiers died in Afghanistan under TFG's regime.
https://marketrealist.com/p/how-many-troops-died-in-afghanistan-under-trump/
I don't think it matters what branch of the service they were in.
AkFemDem
(1,823 posts)Thanks, you're correct, many more service members, not only marines.
AkFemDem
(1,823 posts)And for some reason not nearly the media coverage or outrage 🤔
DURHAM D
(32,609 posts)TFG simply did not care about Jared, or anyone else.
Response to DURHAM D (Reply #3)
AkFemDem This message was self-deleted by its author.
madaboutharry
(40,209 posts)I am also sorry that Mr. Schmitz has chosen to take his sorrow out on President Biden. By the time of his sons death order was restored at the airport and the mission was organized and running as smoothly as possible under adverse conditions. President Biden did not set off a suicide bomb. Mr.Schmitzs son joined the Marines and although all violent deaths are tragic, joining the Marines has inherent risk, especially when the country is at war.
I understand that losing a son this way causes great anger along with unbearable bereavement, but I do not think the terrorist attack at the airport was Joe Bidens fault. It was the Terrorists who made that happen.
Moebym
(989 posts)madaboutharry
(40,209 posts)I do that a lot, leaving out a word that changes the entire meaning of a sentence. Proofreading is important.
Joinfortmill
(14,417 posts)Enough to listen to him. But then that's Joe and why we love him.
Moebym
(989 posts)To know that he grieves for each one and does want to know more about who they were as people. This part of the job is without a doubt the most difficult for him and the one he considers the most sacred.
I'm going to refrain from being too harsh on the parents of the 13 who perished in that blast because emotions are understandably intense only a few days after the attack. This combined with the fact that this father didn't vote for Biden would make him a tough person to win over.
The Unmitigated Gall
(3,807 posts)...It's TFG who can't remember the names of soldiers.
And calls them "suckers" as well.
AkFemDem
(1,823 posts)I dont blame families of those KIA for their reactions. When people are mourning, they feel what they feel. The media is taking advantage of them imo.
maxrandb
(15,324 posts)after just losing their child for the true stories of President Biden interacting with these families.
He lost his son, but it's pretty obvious that he has an agenda.
Joe Biden does not seem like the kind of guy that wouldn't look a man straight in the eye, even if he was glaring at him