
After Trump callously told a military widow her husband signed up to die, a crowdfunding campaign raised the money to put her sons through college in a matter of hours.

Donald Trump’s response to the four U.S. soldiers killed by ISIS in Niger is one of his most incompetent spectacles so far. He waited two weeks to even mention it, then lied about President Obama, blamed the whole thing on “paperwork,” and finally used the death of his own chief of staff’s son to smear Obama again.

But perhaps the most disgusting moment was when Trump finally did get around to calling U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson's widow, Myeshia Johnson, who is pregnant and has two young children, to tell her that “he knew what he signed up for.”

This is simply not something you say to a military wife, ever. Especially not if you are the commander in chief. As former HUD official and veteran Brandon Friedman wrote, “I did two tours in combat as an infantry officer and I never met a soldier who thought dying was a reasonable result of their service ... the President has no idea how the military works or what his role and responsibilities are.”


In fact, people all across the country were so outraged by Trump’s disrespect for Johnson’s family that they stepped up and crowdfunded his children’s college tuition:

Verified @gofundme campaign to pay for college for the children of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, KIA in Niger.https://t.co/RLLV8oE7FO — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 18, 2017

Initially, the GoFundMe page set a goal of $100,000. But overnight, the page raised $200,000 and as of Wednesday morning is still going. The goal has now been upped to $1 million.

Well-wishers have flooded the page with comments. “I am so sorry for your loss. Your Congresswoman painted a picture of an amazing young man. Thank you for your sacrifice for our safety,” wrote one. “May your memory and sacrifice shine forever,” wrote another.

Trump has proven time and again that he does not appreciate military sacrifice, from attacking the Khans to boasting his “personal Vietnam” was avoiding STDs from all the sex he has.

But as this crowdfunding campaign shows, ordinary Americans all around the country still know how to honor those men and women who risk their lives. And if military families cannot look to the president for support, now they at least know they can look to their fellow Americans.