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VoteVets Statement on Ronny Jackson’s Withdrawal from Consideration to be VA Secretary

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“This appointment to the VA is going to affect the lives of veterans. In a very real sense, it is a life and death appointment, for many of us.  Donald Trump treated it with all the seriousness of deciding what to get for dinner.”

Washington, DC – Iraq War Veteran and Director of Government Relations for VoteVets, Will Fischer, released the following statement, upon Ronny Jackson’s decision to take his name out of the running to be VA secretary:

“It isn’t Washington that forced Donald Trump to nominate someone totally unqualified to run one of the largest Federal agencies.  It isn’t Washington that made Donald Trump forgo a rigorous vetting process, that could have uncovered all the red flags, before sending a name to Congress.  Donald Trump’s White House needs to stop blaming ‘Washington’ for their carelessness, laziness, and generally laxed attitude when it comes to naming people to head agencies that millions of Americans depend on.

This appointment to the VA is going to affect the lives of veterans. In a very real sense, it is a life and death appointment, for many of us.  Donald Trump treated it with all the seriousness of deciding what to get for dinner.  And that lackadaisical attitude towards a decision with such important consequences came back to bite Donald Trump in the rear.

As we move forward, we offer this advice.  First and foremost, find a nominee who understands the VA and is qualified to lead it.  Second, run a rigorous vetting process, to make sure you know everything about that nominee.  Third, choose a nominee who will defend and strengthen our VA, not destroy and privatize it.

If Donald Trump does all of those things, he’ll find someone outstanding to lead the agency, who will be unanimously approved by the senate.  But, if he wastes his time tweeting love letters to Kanye, playing golf every other day, and live tweeting Fox and Friends, instead of doing his job, and finding the perfect person to run the VA, he’s going to go through all of this again.”