Congresswoman Frederica Wilson Sponsored Bill to Increase Involvement in Niger in 2015

image
Wes MessamoreWes Messamore
Published: 19 Oct, 2017
3 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hrAYlI9itE

Video Credit: TIME Magazine

After Donald Trump made a phone call to the wife of a soldier, U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who died earlier this month in an ambush by Islamic radicals in Niger, the president's words of condolence to the grieving widow became a national controversy.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson was present with Myeshia Johnson when she took the president's call, and claimed on Tuesday that Trump told Johnson:

"He knew what he signed up for."

That's how many media sources have reported it, giving the impression that Trump's remarks were dismissive and insensitive.

But this bears the appearance of selective editing to create a false impression, because the part of the quote that is left out of many mainstream media headlines and the many social media posts criticizing Trump for the phone call is this:

"He knew what he signed up for, but when it happens it hurts anyway."

In many mainstream reports, such as this one by ABC News, this part of the conversation is buried in the article. In others, such as this one by the Washington Post and this one by the New York Times, this second part of the statement is not even included in the article.

IVP Donate

This appears to be very deliberate selective editing, and it's this sort of axe-grinding in the media that has earned the ire of so many voters, and a major reason why Trump appealed to so many Americans in the first place, because his attacks on media bias and fake news resonate so strongly with them.

To put a grieving family in the spotlight for the purpose of such a petty partisan swipe at Trump seems unconscionable.

But all the media smoke and mirrors obscures an even deeper reality than what Trump actually said, the reality of an aimless U.S. foreign policy with deadly consequences for American soldiers.

Many Americans were not even aware at the time of the October 4 ambush that the U.S. had troops on the ground in Niger. Sixteen years since 9-11, and the Overseas Contingency Operation, as the Global War on Terror was quietly renamed during the Obama administration, still has American soldiers fighting in foreign civil wars, sometimes with and sometimes against Islamic radicals, all over the Middle East and Africa.

And Rep. Frederica Wilson, who took Trump to task in the media for what he said on the phone call to her constituent, actually sponsored and got a bill passed in 2015 to increase the Department of Defense's involvement in the conflict in Niger and neighboring Nigeria.

So while partisans on both sides bicker over the president's words in a phone call to a dead soldier's widow, the actual cause of his death, and whether it serves any vital American interests has gone almost completely un-examined.

There have been some laudable attempts to address this question, notably by Slate and The Atlantic, which are worth reading.

In light of this tragedy, if Americans are weary of war overseas, and they certainly seem to be, they should demand that their representatives vote against funding for the Overseas Contingency Operation and pass a bill to formally bring this long war to an end.

Let Us Vote : Sign Now!

You Might Also Like

SQ836 supporters
Oklahoma GOP Fails To Block Open Primaries Initiative from Going Before Voters
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously rejected a challenge to a proposed ballot initiative that would open taxpayer-funded primary elections to all candidates and voters, regardless of party affiliation – paving the way for the signature petition process to begin....
17 Sep, 2025
-
4 min read
Supreme Court of the United States
Forward Party Joins Petition to SCOTUS Against State of Florida
Right now, the divide between the Republican and Democratic Parties appears beyond repair. The political rhetoric is toxic, the nation’s leadership puts party gain before lasting solutions, and few voters actually feel heard by the people elected to represent them. At a time when it seems things will only get worse from here, the Independent Voter Project filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court along with Open Primaries and the Forward Party in support of a lawsuit that targets one of the biggest culprits behind all of this....
16 Sep, 2025
-
3 min read
congress flag
Poll: 82% of Americans Want Redistricting Done by Independent Commission, Not Politicians
There may be no greater indication that voters are not being listened to in the escalating redistricting war between the Republican and Democratic Parties than a new poll from NBC News that shows 8-in-10 Americans want the parties to stop....
10 Sep, 2025
-
3 min read