Politicization of Trump phone call upsets Gold Star dad of MN soldier

(KMSP) - The White House is under fire for its handling of a recent sympathy phone call President Donald Trump made to a Gold Star widow, whose husband was killed in an ambush in Niger.

Ken Drevnick, the father of a fallen Woodbury, Minnesota soldier, explained given the current state of affairs and relatively low number of military deaths, he feels the President should reach out directly to fallen soldiers’ families.

Drevnick lost his son Dan in a 2009 attack in Iraq that claimed the lives of two other Minnesota soldiers.

"Dan used to say quite often, ‘I'm not fighting for our government's politics. I am fighting for our country,’” said Drevnick. “And that's what these guys and women do. They fight for the country. I don't think they care what Washington politicians are saying."

Ken Drevnick is turned off by the current politicization of what he believes should be a private, extremely raw, grieving period for the family of a fallen soldier. He saved his strongest disgust for the Florida congresswoman who apparently listened in to President Trump's recent phone call with a Gold Star widow.

Drevnick says there are no "right words" when a loved one comes home from service in a casket. But one thing he has despised people telling him over the last eight years, is that he and his family will "get over it."

"I get it now, they're floundering,” said Drevnick. “They don't know what to say because wrong or right, someone is going to take this word the wrong way. And someone will think that's the correct word. But to politicize it, to use it as a weapon against the other side is wrong.”

Drevnick never heard directly from President Barack Obama when Dan was killed, but eventually received a letter from the White House.

He recalls taking a private call from Senator Amy Klobuchar, who spoke to him from the heart, showing genuine interest in Dan's story and the family's well-being. Drevnick says he also received phone calls directly from the governor, other politicians as well as military brass and he appreciated them all.

As a retired state trooper who did fatal crash notifications, Drevnick says the words he found worked the best were simply "I'm sorry."

He also added that some of the wording that President Trump is getting blasted for by telling the Gold Star widow that her husband knew what he signed up for, is something his family takes great pride in. He says they were proud that Dan knew when he enlisted that he could die while serving his country.