Trump’s Latest Fundraising Email Is the Most Disturbing One Yet

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What to Know

01 President Donald Trump's Never Surrender PAC sent out a fundraising email promoting the "National Security Briefing Membership."
02 The email included a photo of Trump saluting a fallen soldier's casket, sparking widespread criticism.
03 Trump has defended the email even though he claims he hasn't seen it.

Another fundraising email from President Donald Trump’s PAC is going viral, and it’s because people are seriously disgusted by it. Some of his previous emails have also gotten a decent amount of attention, but mostly because they seemed pretty cringe-worthy or just absurd. The recent email, on the other hand, has been criticized for seeming “heartless” and “inhumane.”

The email, which was sent out by Trump’s Never Surrender PAC on Thursday, March 12, promises supporters who make a donation that they will get access to “private national security briefings.” And while that offer sounds concerning enough on its own, that’s not the only reason people are upset about the email.

The email includes a photo of Trump at a dignified transfer ceremony.

In the photo, Trump is wearing his controversial white USA baseball cap and saluting a fallen soldier’s casket. The photo is from the March 7 dignified transfer of six American soldiers who were killed in the Iran war. Less than a week later, the photo was included in a fundraising email. People found this appalling.

On X, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office shared and reacted to the email. “Donald Trump is fundraising off of dead soldiers,” Newsom’s team wrote. “He is a deeply SICK and DISGUSTING MAN!”

The Democratic lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee also reacted to it. “Trump never misses a chance to make a quick buck off the backs of the American people, even if it means turning a dignified transfer of fallen service members into a fundraising opportunity,” their X post read. “Deeply shameful.”

The message was written in Trump’s voice.

“This is President Donald J. Trump,” the email starts. “I made a special announcement to the public an hour ago. For the very first time ever, I’m opening up spots on the National Security Briefing Membership.” What is “the National Security Briefing Membership?” According to the email, it’s a special membership for Trump’s “strongest supporters.” By signing up for the membership, supporters are expected to receive “private national security briefings,” “unfiltered updates on the threats facing America,” and “the straight truth on border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides.”

The email also claims that these updates come directly from Trump himself. “You’ll get the inside scoop DIRECT from me, President Trump, the leader who’s rebuilt the greatest military in history, and put America First like no one else,” the email reads. “I’m the strong commander who stares down tyrants, obliterates terrorists, and never backs down. This is for patriots ready to stand with that kind of unbreakable strength. Not for the weak or the wavering.”

A reporter questioned Trump about the email and he defended it.

An ABC News reporter pointed out that some critics find the email inappropriate. The reporter said, “Mr. President, your PAC put out a fundraising email a couple of days ago, and it’s being criticized for using official White House photos of you at the dignified transfer. And the PAC is also promising access to secret briefings—”

Trump then said, “Well, I was at the dignified transfer, unlike a lot of other people.” The reporter asked Trump if he thought it was an appropriate email to send out to people. He claimed that he did not see it before it went out, as he has a lot of people working for him. However, he also asserted that he thought the email was appropriate. “Yeah, I do,” he responded. “I didn’t see it…There’s nobody that’s better to the military than me. All you have to do is look at the election results. Look at kind of votes that we get. Look at the poll numbers. There’s nobody who’s ever been higher as a president than me with the military. Who are you with?”

Trump proceeded to criticize the news outlet and the reporter instead of addressing the controversy. He immediately described ABC News as “one of the worst, most fake, most corrupt” news outlets and also said, “You know what ABC News, I think it’s maybe the most corrupt news organizations on the planet. I think they’re terrible. I don’t want any more from ABC.”

People were even more disgusted by the way Trump defended the email.

Reacting to a clip of the interaction with the ABC News reporter on X, one critic wrote, “He attended the dignified transfer. Then his PAC fundraised off the photos. Then he defended it by citing election results.” Someone else said, “I think its appropriate but I didn’t see it… good grief.” But others pointed out that Trump often responds this way. “Whenever he gets asked about an obvious screw up it’s always ‘I didn’t see that,'” another person said.

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Paige Sheffield (she/her)