Sarah Palin claimed Wednesday that her son, a 26-year-old Iraq veteran who was arrested this week on domestic violence charges, was “hardened” by war and blamed President Obama for failing America’s veterans.
Track Palin was arrested Monday night following a dispute with a girlfriend at the Wasilla home he shares with his parents. He was arraigned on Tuesday, the same day the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee endorsed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
Mrs. Palin alluded to her son’s arrest at a rally in Oklahoma after she failed to show up at a morning event, USA Today reported.
“I guess it’s kind of the elephant in the room because my own family going through what we’re going through today with my son, a combat vet … like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened,” she said Wednesday. “They come back wondering if there is that respect for what their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to the country.”
While she didn’t explicitly mention the arrest, Mrs. Palin said she was speaking “personally” when she described soldiers “who come home from the battlefield bringing new battles with them (and) coming back different than when they left for the war zone,” USA Today reported.
“When my own son is going through what he goes though coming back, I can certainly relate to other families who feel these ramifications of PTSD … our soldiers do return with,” Mrs. Palin said. “And it makes me realize more than ever it is now or never for the sake of America’s finest that we have a commander-in-chief who will respect them.”
“They have to question if they’re respected anymore. It starts from the top,” she added. “The question, though, that comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, ’Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we’re trying to do to secure America?’ “
The former Alaska governor’s appearance in Tulsa is her first stump stop since endorsing Mr. Trump.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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