The Express News Group editorial board never misses an opportunity to take a swing at President Donald Trump, but choosing to do so during Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor those who served and those who passed away, is a new low [“The Toll on Veterans,” Editorial, May 22].
The reality is that no modern-day president has done more for veterans than President Trump.
President Trump reformed the Veterans Administration in his first term, allowing veterans to see local doctors and receive care at non-VA facilities. He expanded access to telehealth and formed the PREVENTS task force to fight veteran suicide, securing $9.5 billion for mental health in 2020.
He also expanded education benefits to include online distance learning, while at the same time ordered that federal student aid would be forgiven for permanently disabled veterans.
His record for securing employment for veterans includes over 600,000 veterans hired through American job center services, and securing loans for veterans for housing and protecting their disability payments if they went bankrupt.
He also fired 10,000 veterans employees who were not adequately serving veterans. It’s hard to fathom that an editorial board would stick up for fired workers who were working from home. Sorry, I think the majority of Americans and veterans want government employees to actually show up — something the Biden administration simply just didn’t care about.
Suggesting that it’s corruption and chaos is far from the truth. It’s been a systematic unraveling of the last administration’s failures to protect veterans, not VA employees.
I think what’s even more indicative of how veterans feel is that, currently, our recruitment for service into our military is once again meeting the goals set by the Pentagon. Something that literally disappeared under the last administration.
The most glaring statistic is that 12 percent of voters in the last election had served in the military, and 65 percent voted for Donald Trump, with only 34 percent of them voting for Kamala Harris. I think that says it all about who they prefer to protect their interests and the interests of America.
So, stop gaslighting Americans, especially those who served their country and who know who really cares about their service and commitment to America.
Thomas M. Jones
Sag Harbor
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