John Kerry, former presidential candidate, Senator, and Secretary of State during the Obama Administration, is a proud veteran, a status he maintains despite the phony attacks on his service record during his campaign against George W. Bush in 2004.
Those falsehoods about Kerry’s Navy career were spread in a political smear campaign by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group primarily funded by prominent Republican donors close to the Bush campaign. Despite the fact that the allegations made by the SBVT were roundly disproved by Navy service members who actually served with Kerry in Vietnam, the right-wing has never abandoned their antipathy towards the Democratic politician.
It was unsurprising, then, when after Kerry posted a critical tweet about President Trump’s disgraceful abandonment of his presidential duties in paying tribute to America’s fallen soldiers by skipping a visit to an American military cemetery in France during the centennial commemoration of the end of World War I, he was the subject of multiple hateful responses.
President @realDonaldTrump a no-show because of raindrops? Those veterans the president didn’t bother to honor fought in the rain, in the mud, in the snow – & many died in trenches for the cause of freedom. Rain didn’t stop them & it shouldn’t have stopped an American president.
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) November 11, 2018
Even more unsurprising was the fact that the most hateful response came from a Fox News host, Greg Gutfeld, who channeled all of his Trumpian vitriol into his Twitter reply.
U didn't stop ISIS. you sent James Taylor. Plug your knothole, Captain Driftwood. https://t.co/iTe5cyfuE9
— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) November 11, 2018
Luckily, Kerry saw Gutfeld’s insulting tweet and came up with an appropriately pithy and droll response to the Fox News talking head, a man who has never spent a day serving the nation in the military during his 54 years on this planet.
Happy Veterans Day, Greg. I’m glad that all of us who served in uniform fought to defend your freedom to be a complete fool on Twitter. #freedomisntfree https://t.co/LFUrXDWt8E
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) November 11, 2018
Touché, John Kerry, touché!
Perhaps the repugnant Trump apologist will think twice before insulting a highly decorated military veteran on the very day that our nation is meant to honor him and the many others like him. However, it’s much more likely that Gutfeld will continue to act like a complete fool both on Twitter and wherever else he happens to be at any given moment.
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