At Townhall, Guy Benson rightly criticized the media’s response to the Gold Star families’ backlash against Vice President Kamala Harris. These families, who lost loved ones in the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, invited former President Trump to Arlington Cemetery for the bombing’s third anniversary. Trump accepted, but Harris accused him of politicizing the event. The families defended Trump and condemned Harris, accusing her of ignoring their grief and failing to take responsibility for the decisions that led to their loved ones' deaths. Benson pointed out that the media, which had harshly criticized Trump for past controversies involving Gold Star families, is now either ignoring or downplaying the current families’ criticism of Harris. Additionally, the media is ignoring that both Harris and Trump were invited. One Gold Star mom said on CNN, “We invited both President Trump and the administration, and we didn’t hear back from the White House. We were happy to welcome Trump… when he came to Section 60, it was at our request.”

Benson wrote:

When the families stated that Trump had come at their behest, and that they'd explicitly requested and approved cameras, much of the media just pretended as if these clarifications never happened.  But what turned a relatively low-decibel controversy into a full-blown firestorm was Kamala Harris' decision to wade into the morass in order to attack Trump.  Keep in mind, this is the woman who signed off on the series of catastrophic choices that got these service members killed.  She's the woman who has never given the resulting Gold Star families the time of day.  She's the woman who had her team put out a press release on the anniversary of the Abbey Gate bloodbath.  And she became the woman who decided to assail Trump for accepting the Gold Star families' invitation to Arlington Cemetery, while she herself was nowhere to be found that day[.]