With race-baiting opportunists like Frederica Wilson, nothing is too sacred.

Frederica

Tell me, what is RACIST about calling an attention-seeking, political opportunist and Trump hater an “empty barrel?” Does the person flinging the racism bomb know what the expression means? Maybe Frederica Wilson does now. Yet she’s sticking to her guns and has picked a fight with the wrong man.

Frederica, Donald Trump is an easy target and not worth your time, but your fight is not with John Kelly either. And if you choose to train your empty barrels on him, you will lose—and not because he’ll return fire, but because you’ll look even more foolish if you tangle with a person of Kelly’s character.

The brouhaha

Back to the original cause of this imbroglio: Trump, against White House Chief of Staff and former Marine Corps General Kelly’s advice, called Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson, friend of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, to express his condolences for the death of her husband, Sgt. La David T. Johnson, in an October 4th terrorist attack in Niger.

Here’s the portion of the call that inflamed Wilson: while discussing Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s sacrifice, Trump said, “He knew what he signed up for … but when it happens it hurts anyway.” This bothered Wilson and angered Myeshia Johnson. But when taken in context with the rest of the call, it strikes me as much less insensitive than at first blush.

As a veteran, I can tell you that all servicemen and women know what they’re getting into when they sign the contract. It’s not just a job. This is what Frederica Wilson apparently doesn’t understand. And it’s what many media members don’t seem to get. Serving in the military is not like volunteering for the Peace Corps. Again, it’s not just a job.

Because we know what we’re getting into makes the commitment to such dangerous service that much more meaningful and praiseworthy. Trump, in his typically ham-handed way, actually elevated Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s sacrifice; Wilson lowered it to an attention-seeking opportunity to vent her Trump hatred.

Grief is personal

The Gold Star widow says Trump’s words upset her. That’s okay. She has a right to feel any way she wants in her grief. Wilson does not. She’s a United States congresswoman and should know better than to seize on a cheap political opportunity and then double down with absurd racism claims about empty barrels.

Frederica, your hats are goofy enough—you don’t have to act like a doofus.

And now she claims that the Niger attack is Trump’s Benghazi and is demanding an apology from John Kelly for “character assassination.” And this after calling him a “puppet of the president.” Wilson is also questioning whether our forces in Niger had the equipment they needed. No, Frederica, the Niger terrorist attack is no one’s Benghazi. It’s a different animal altogether.

How low can you go, congresswoman?

A better question is this: How in the world were you elected to Congress? You’re a bigmouthed, partisan hack. And worse, you’re playing the race card because a former Marine Corps general with two master’s degrees called you out for what you are—a loud, empty-worded politician who pursues political and ideological gain over respect and propriety.

Frederica

Poor service record, Frederica

Frederica Wilson, for all her concern for Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s grieving family, has a poor record of voting against measures that would help veterans and their families.

In 2013, Wilson voted against a resolution that would ensure benefits to the families of four slain soldiers in Afghanistan would be paid in spite of a government shutdown in October that year. According to the New York Times, the families were denied burial benefits and up to $100,000, among other benefits, because the measure failed.

Wilson has also opposed numerous bills designed to improve the Veterans Administration. Instead of honoring the service of veterans and their families, she spends her time (and your tax dollars) sponsoring bills like the one in 2015 that was introduced on what would have been Trayvon Martin’s 20th birthday to press “any State legislature to reject or repeal Stand Your Ground legislation.”

Apparently Wilson is all about honoring criminal teenagers rather than those who have risked life and limb serving our country. Yet now that there’s political hay to be made against an impulsive president, Wilson is front and center and is suddenly fighting for the families of slain servicemen. She claims she has “mentored” the Gold Star widow, Myeshia Johnson.

Please, Ms. Johnson, don’t emulate the congresswoman. She’s as foolish as the president with whom she’s at war. And she’s as beneath the character and dignity of his chief of staff as an empty barrel can get.