From a lass in Texas:
"I need to talk about Joe Kent for a minute because I have been sitting in this Suburban in the school pickup line for twenty minutes and I cannot stop thinking about it.
"Joe Kent. Green Beret. Eleven combat deployments. CIA paramilitary officer. His wife Shannon was killed by a suicid@ b@mber in Syria while serving her country. He buried her and kept going. Donald Trump hand picked this man. Did a whole press conference. Did the thumbs up photo. Told America this was the guy who would keep us safe. Put him in charge of the entire National Counterterrorism Center.
"That was thirteen months ago.
"Yesterday it was, 'I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. I didn't know him well.'
"Sir, you nominated him. You stood at the podium. You said the words into a microphone. There is video.
"And I want to be real clear about what Joe Kent's crime was. He did not sell secrets. He did not compromise an operation. He read the intelligence that his own agency produced, the same intelligence the Pentagon showed Congress, and he said out loud what the briefings already showed. Iran was not about to attack us. There was no imminent threat. The whole justification did not hold up.
"For that, a man who buried his wife got called weak. By a man who told a doctor his feet hurt so he would not have to go to Vietnam.
"I need you to sit with that for a second. Eleven combat deployments. Called weak on security. By a man whose most dangerous military experience was finding his way to the buffet at Mar-a-Lago during a power outage.
"And here is the part that should keep every Republican up at night. Kent was not some resistance liberal. This man called January 6 defendants political prisoners. Said the 2020 election was stolen. He was as loyal as they come. He was one of theirs.
"And the second he said maybe we should not be starting a war because someone else asked us to, they turned on him like he had never existed. Bless his heart, he thought the loyalty went both directions.
"Trump's adviser called him a 'crazed egomaniac.' Senior White House officials suddenly discovered he was a leaker. Congressman Don Bacon said good riddance and slapped the antisemitism label on him before the post was even finished loading. They had the whole thing ready to go before Kent's resignation letter hit the outbox. Almost like they have done this before.
"And then there is Tulsi Gabbard. The Director of National Intelligence. The woman who built her entire political career on being the anti-war voice in the room. Who stood on debate stages and lectured everyone about the horrors of interventionism. Who Kent served as chief of staff.
"She has not said a word. The woman who never once stopped talking about opposing wars in the Middle East has gone quieter than a church mouse at a cat convention. Her silence could fill the Astrodome.
"Jennifer told me in the carpool lane this morning that Tulsi is probably just 'picking her battles.' I told Jennifer that Tulsi's entire battle was already picked. That was the whole thing. That was her one thing. Jennifer nodded like that made sense and then went back to her phone.
"Now Trump says Iran was a threat and every country knew it. Every country, he said. Except Australia said no. Japan said no. Italy said no. The EU's top diplomat went on camera and said this is not Europe's war. So when he says every country, he means one country. And whoever he is currently threatening with tariffs.
"And the justification for this has changed more times than I can count. First it was about protecting Iranian protesters. Then nuclear weapons. Then long range missiles. Then forty five years of terrorism. The story shifts every forty eight hours like a teenager explaining why they smell like cigarettes. I was holding them for a friend. Also the friend does not exist. Also shut up.
"The Pentagon's own briefings confirmed Iran was not planning to attack unless struck first. Kent had the clearance. He saw the intelligence. And he said it out loud, which in this administration is apparently worse than anything the war itself has done.
"Thirteen American soldiers dead. Over fourteen hundred Iranians killed, including children at a school. And the one person in the building with the combat experience, the security clearance, and a dead wife who said this is not worth more American blood gets told he is not smart, not savvy, and it is a good thing he is gone.
"You know what is weak. Starting a war you cannot explain, watching your own people come home in boxes, and then big manning the one guy who had the nerve to say stop. That is not strength. That is an insecure man throwing a fit because somebody told him the truth and he did not have a comeback.
"Kent told Trump in his resignation letter that he could reverse course and chart a new path. Trump went on camera and called him stupid within the hour.
"Every serving member of the United States military should read this story and understand what it means. Your sacrifice, your deployments, your dead spouse, your twenty years of service mean absolutely nothing the second you stop clapping.
"You are not a hero. You are a prop. And the moment you stop holding still for the photo, they will call you weak and crazy and disloyal before your resignation email even sends.
"I told Jennifer that and she said that is just how politics works. I said no ma'am. That is how a protection racket works. She said she thought a protection racket was a tennis thing and then asked if I wanted to split a Topo Chico.
"I did not want a Topo Chico. I wanted someone to explain to me how a Gold Star husband with eleven combat deployments gets called stupid by a man who has never sacrificed anything heavier than a golf cart.
"But nobody is going to explain that. Because in this version of the party, loyalty is a one way street. And the traffic is always heading toward you."
~Texas Mom
