Donald Trump's presidential campaign needs to send Sarah Palin home and "let her take care of her family problems and not make it part of his campaign," MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said Thursday, after the former vice presidential candidate
targeted President Barack Obama for her son's issues.
"I think there was a reason she wasn't in Iowa," the
"Morning Joe" host said on his show. "She doesn't need to be on the campaign trail. She needs to be back with her family."
On Monday, Palin's son, Track, 26, was arrested in Wasilla, Alaska for allegedly hitting his girlfriend in the face, kicking her in the knee and threatening suicide with an AR-15 assault rifle, and was charged with interfering with the report of domestic violence, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and assault.
He had served for a year in 2008 in Iraq with the Alaska-based 25th Infantry Division's 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team for a year in 2008,
His mother, speaking in Tulsa on Wednesday, one day after endorsing Trump, said her eldest son is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his Iraqi combat service, and said the root of his issues can be traced to the White House and Obama. She further called for the defeat of ISIS.
"There is a bigger problem," Scarborough said. "This has nothing to do with Obama or ISIS."
Commenter Donny Deutsch, sitting on the show's panel, called Palin's statements "one of the most offensive things I've ever heard a politician say," as her son "smacked his wife or girlfriend around."
"She needs to stop being a distraction to Donald Trump and stop trying to raise money and exploit Donald Trump for money," Scarborough said, with co-host Mika Brzezinski pointing to a
Politico article that reported Palin's super PAC, was using her endorsement of Trump's presidential campaign to raise money.
"SarahPAC plans to continue endorsing anti-establishment candidates who will not play politics as usual," an email from the organization said. "In order to get Sarah to political events to support endorsed candidates we need your help to fundraise her travel."
NBC News correspondent Willie Geist, saying that he was being careful not to insult either Palin's son or other veterans, commented that he spoke with many veterans who were offended by her statements, as "vets have been trying to fight this 'damaged vet' label . . . a lot of vets resent this implication."
Veterans on Wednesday told
NBC News that they found Palin's comments offensive, but suggested that she use her celebrity and position as a springboard to bring the issue of PTSD out into the open.
"It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD," Paul Rieckhoff, who heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) told NBC. "PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular."
But still, Rieckhoff, whose organization is nonpartisan, said that it is important to recognize that Palin's son may need help like other veterans.
"This is a great opportunity for Sarah Palin to sound the alarm about PTSD," he said. "Now that she has endorsed Mr. Trump, I would encourage her to talk with him about it. Mr. Trump's campaign is pretty light on specifics about what he would do for veterans."
Rieckhoff also called on Palin to "resist the urge to politicize" the issue, telling NBC that he hopes "this doesn't become a portable chew toy in a political campaign."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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