Online fundraiser launched to ‘help Trump get a Purple Heart’

A Purple Heart recipient has launched a GoFundMe page online to raise money to “help Trump get a Purple Heart” by sending him to a war zone.

“On 2 August 2016, a veteran handed Donald Trump a Purple Heart medal at one of his rallies in Virginia,” Cameron Kerr wrote on the fundraising site later the same day. “As with seemingly everything else in his life, Mr. Trump got one handed to him instead of earning it.

{mosads}“That being said, as a Purple Heart recipient who earned one the old-fashioned way by returning from Afghanistan one leg lighter, I fully endorse his desire to earn one and would happily oblige his interest in doing so by being one of the first to chip in to fly him to the conflict zone of his choosing,” Kerr continued. “After all, you’re never too old to follow your dreams.”

During a rally Tuesday, a military veteran gave Trump a Purple Heart.

 “Man, that’s big stuff,” Trump said of the award given to those wounded or killed during military service. “I’ve always wanted to get the Purple Heart – this was much easier. I’ll tell you, it was such an honor.”

NBC’s Katy Tur, though, reported that the man said the Purple Heart was only a copy.

The man who gave Trump his purple heart told me earlier today, it was a copy of his purple heart.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) August 2, 2016

Kerr says his pitch to send Trump overseas is in jest and that the money he raises will actually go to help Syrian refugees.

“We’re not going to be able to help Donald realize his conveniently retroactive military fantasies, and based on precedent he could likely get a series of deferments to avoid going even if we tried,” said Kerr.

“All money actually raised will be distributed to vetted groups working with directly with Syrian refugees as well as refugees of similar conflict zones – the decent fellow humans who were unfortunate enough to be in one of those regions when everything around them collapsed, and whom Trump has broadly categorized as likely terrorists unworthy of resettlement.”

Kerr listed groups including the American Refugee Committee, the Refugee Welcome project and the International Rescue Committee as likely recipients.

Kerr also posted images depicting his own Purple Heart medal and prosthetic leg. His fundraiser has currently raised $950 toward its $5,000 goal.