Rubio Campaign Press Release - Why Vets Shouldn't Trust Trump

March 10, 2016
By the Honorable Thomas F. Hall, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs

In January, just as voters in Iowa were making their final decisions on which candidate to support, Donald Trump decided to skip the Iowa Republican presidential debate. He instead hosted a rally that he claimed would raise money for veterans, but we now know that he has donated less than half of the $6 million he raised that night to veterans' groups.

This broken promise, at best, reveals Donald Trump's tendency to over-promise in the name of instant publicity only to under-deliver once the media has moved on. At worst, it is evidence that Donald Trump deliberately used veterans as a prop to make his decision to skip a difficult debate seem principled. Neither is a good sign of what a Trump presidency might look like.

The Republican Party deserves a candidate who will follow through on his promises, particularly when those promises involve men and women who have fought for our nation. That's why I am calling on Donald Trump to immediately complete the $6 million in donations he pledged to more than 20 veterans ''roups. Whether he does so will be a measure of both his commitment to veterans and his trustworthiness as a politician.

In Florida alone, there are over 1.5 million veterans. Donald Trump talks a lot about veterans, but only Marco Rubio has a proven record of accomplishment when it comes to increasing accountability at the VA. Working with Congressman Jeff Miller, the Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Rubio led the fight to allow the VA to fire incompetent senior executives at the VA — and won. Donald Trump should join Mr. Rubio in proving that the Republican Party is the party that fights for those who have fought for America, but his actions are cause for serious concern.

Mr. Trump has succeeded in channeling a legitimate frustration with Washington into a political movement, but it is time for him to realize that politics is about more than just spectacle and theater. It is about following through. It is about making a difference in people's lives. His pledge to support veterans lent a principled look to his decision to skip the Iowa debate, but now he needs to put his money where his mouth is.

This is true of more than just his pledge to veterans. Mr. Trump's campaign has been characterized by numerous pledges to the American people, yet the promises of what he will do are rarely backed up with explanations of how he will execute it. How will he make America great? How will he keep us safe? How will he honor our veterans?  It's time for policy, not just empty promises.

It is my hope that Republican voters will ultimately make the best possible decision with the information available to them and that we will be left with a nominee who has both the character and the ideas to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and return America to greatness. I believe Donald Trump has yet to prove himself to be a leader of conviction or a man of his word, and I hope that changes soon.