Absolutely Shameless

[Content Note: Domestic violence; disablism.]

On Monday, Track Palin, the oldest son of Sarah Palin, was arrested and charged with domestic violence after, according to the police statement, their investigation revealed Track Palin had committed a domestic violence assault on a [woman], interfered with her ability to report a crime of domestic violence, and possessed a firearm while intoxicated."

The Palin family, via their attorney, "declined to comment on the matter other than to say in an email that respect for the family's privacy is appreciated."

Except: The next day, while campaigning for Donald Trump, Sarah Palin then attributed her son committing violence against a woman whom he was dating to having PTSD from his military service—and then blamed President Obama for that:

—talk about a commander-in-chief who will never leave our men and our women behind. Lemme get a little bit personal on this. Um, I'm talkin' about not leaving our wounded warriors behind also. Our wounded warriors who come home from the battlefield bringing new battles with them. Our wounded warriors, sometimes in body and in mind, coming back different than when they left for the warzone.

I can talk personally about this—I guess it's kinda the elephant in the room—because my own family going through what we're going through today, with my son, a combat vet, having served in a striker brigade, fighting for you all, America, in the warzone. But my son son, like so many others, they come back a bit different; they come back hardened; they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country.

And that starts from the top, and it's a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder if they have to question if they're respected anymore. It starts from the top. The question, though, that comes from our own president, where they have to look at him and wonder, 'Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we're trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?'

So when my own son is going through he what he goes through, coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kinda feel these ramifications of some PTSD, and some—some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with. And it makes me realize more than ever: It is now or never, for the sake of America's finest, that we have that commander-in-chief who will respect them and honor them

Now, I have no idea if Track Palin has been diagnosed with PTSD, or if he has even sought diagnosis and treatment, and, if so, whether he was turned away and denied care. I also don't know if PTSD played any part in this act of domestic violence.

What I do know is that people with PTSD, including myself, are accountable for harming other people, even if we've been triggered, and need to get treatment to manage their PTSD, and I also know his family, unlike many other veterans' families, can afford to pay for private care.

It is a shame on this nation that we don't provide better services to returning combat veterans. That is certain.

But it is shamless of Sarah Palin to lay the blame on President Obama. It was not President Obama who launched the wars of choice in which her son and other servicemembers fought. And it was not President Obama, nor his party, who has refused to robustly fund services for those veterans.

It was her party.

And the man she just endorsed has spent his entire campaign talking about using US military might to police the world, to continue endless war and endless gutting of the social safety net.

If Palin is looking for someone to blame, she should try finding a fucking mirror.