Ex-Hillary volunteer tweets insult about Navy SEAL widow and immediately regrets it
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: Widow of Fallen Navy Seal, Senior
Chief William Owens, Carryn Owens, and Ivanka Trump attend a joint
session of the U.S. Congress with U.S. President Donald Trump on
February 28, 2017 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in
Washington, DC. Trump's first address to Congress focused on
national security, tax and regulatory reform, the economy, and
healthcare. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A former volunteer for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is in a lot of hot water after tweeting a very dismissive and insulting tweet about Carryn Owens, the widow of U.S. Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who was applauded at President Trump’s address Tuesday. The emotional moment was praised on all sides as one of the most remarkable in recent political history, but Dan Grilo believed it was a good idea to snipe at the widow and do it publicly on his social media account. While Grilo deleted the tweet soon after the public outcry, many had a screenshot of the offending message, which read, “Sorry, Owens’ wife, you’re not helping yourself or your husband’s memory by standing there and clapping like an idiot. Trump just used you.” It was in response to a tweet that he linked, which read, “Owens’ wife is crying, and she looks up at the ceiling, overwhelmed, as Congress gives her, long, sustained applause.” The tweet was even re-posted by Donald Trump Jr., as an example of the hatred from the left. “Hatred from the other side,” he remarked. “I would think this is beyond what a human is capable of saying to someone, but it’s not!” Grilo has since deactivated his account, but he is learning the consequences of thoughtlessly tweeting insults on social media. Trump supporters began bombarding his employer, Chicago-based Liberty Advisor Group. They posted a statement saying they had relieved Grilo of his duties.
The company said the tweet was inconsistent with their values of respecting members of the military.
Grilo was likely referring to the accusation by some that Trump was using the occasion of the widow’s grief to undermine criticism of the Yemen raid where her husband lost his life. Ryan Owens’ own father has called for an investigation into whether the raid was motivated by political reasons, as it was ordered in a country targeted by Trump’s travel ban just days after he declared the ban. Defenders of the administration had responded that the raid had been approved before the inauguration and was set for the earliest time available because of weather considerations.
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