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Vice President Kamala Harris tried to use the plight of the 13 Gold Star families who lost their loved ones during the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal to score political points in her 2024 campaign against former President Donald Trump. Her plot backfired tremendously, however, when several of the family members mourning those murdered during the terrorist attack at Abbey Gate issued statements condemning Harris for politicizing the remnants of a disaster she created.

Trump, at the request of the Gold Star families, attended a service at Arlington National Cemetery last week honoring the fallen on the third anniversary of their deaths. According to the families who organized the event, Trump and his team were “respectful” and “listened to our stories” without interjecting.

Yet, that didn’t stop Harris and her allies from vilifying the Republican’s appearance at the wreath-laying.

The Army kicked off the scheme with an attempt to stifle the event by giving the families “a hard time” about inviting Trump. The corporate media then pounced, publishing anonymously sourced accounts accusing Trump’s team of leading a “verbal and physical altercation” with an Arlington National Cemetery official during the memorial service.

Harris followed suit over Labor Day weekend with a winding statement claiming Trump “disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.”

The Democrat not only revived the Biden White House’s favorite “suckers and losers” hoax to accuse the former president of disparaging the troops, but also suggested she is better suited for the title of commander-in-chief.

“I will always honor the service and sacrifice of all of America’s fallen heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our beloved nation and our cherished freedoms. I mourn them and salute them. And I will never politicize them,” Harris concluded.

The coordinated onslaught to undermine or smear Trump’s presence at the solemn remembrance did not sit well with the Gold Star families who invited him.

“Your statement is nothing more than a political spin to help you look better in your presidential campaign against Donald Trump,” Jaclyn Schmitz, Gold Star Mother of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz said in a statement directed at Harris. “You have never walked a single day in our shoes. Our kids were murdered because of your administration. And you are partly to blame for that as well.”

Harris claimed to be the “last person in the room” when the Biden administration decided to commence its botched Afghanistan withdrawal. As many of the family members testified, however, neither she nor Biden have reached out to those who paid the ultimate price for that decision over the last three years.

“Why won’t you return a call and explain to us how you call my daughter-in-law’s death a success? Vice President Harris, why will you not express your condolences yourself? Why have we never heard from you? And finally, why would you take a day where we celebrated the death of our loved one and use it to disparage not only them but us?” Sergeant Nicole Gee’s mother-in-law Christy Shamblin said. “President Trump has called. President Trump shows up. The President Trump takes the time to hear our loved one stories. Why won’t you do the same?”

Jim McCollum, late Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum’s father, told Harris that she “failed for three years and eight months to acknowledge our kids, to acknowledge me.”

“You don’t know me. You’ve never spoken to me. You’ve never reached out to me. You have failed in your duties as vice president. You have been nothing but disrespectful to me and the families of the 13. Yet you’re claiming that you will always be respectful and show respect for our fallen you’ve been absent for three years and eight months,” he noted. “You’ve proven that you’re not capable to do the job that you have, let alone the job that you seek.”

Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover’s father Darin Hoover said that, unlike Harris, Trump “has been there for us from the very beginning, when our son and the other 12 of his brothers and sisters in arms were murdered due to your negligence and uncaring attitude towards our military.”

According to Mark Schmitz, the father of late Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, Trump didn’t simply attend to “help his political campaign.”

“We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe didn’t get a call,” he said.

Harris claimed in her controversial statement that she, not Trump, is better positioned to honor the U.S. military. The Gold Star families who have endured her “lack of empathy” since 2021, however, noted that it was her “incompetence and negligence that got our kids murdered.”

“It is you who sends out messages on social media that are outright lies. It is you that has disrespected our families. It is you who knows nothing about service and sacrifice. It is you that has divided this country, and it is you who is unfit to be the commander in chief. These are the only memories we get to make with our son, and it is you who is playing politics and trying to detract from our memories made that day you should be ashamed and embarrassed that your lack of and decency as a human being,” Hoover added.

Instead of amplifying the Gold Star families’ accounts, publications like the New York Times painted the passionate statements as another political tool Trump used to advance his campaign.

“Trump Campaign Uses Statements From Gold Star Families to Attack Harris,” the Times’ Sunday headline stated.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.