An MSNBC guest questioned during a segment on MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle on Thursday whether President Donald Trump would send the military to bring aid to Muslim-majority countries after a natural disaster.
Host Stephanie Ruhle asked VoteVets.org vice chairman Peter Kauffmann about what veterans think of Trump's repeated claim that the rest of the world has taken advantage of America's generosity.
"I think those who have actually served have actually served with other service members from other countries," Kauffmann said. "We have operated, my friends that have fought and served in Iraq and Afghanistan, have fought alongside the Brits, the Canadians, our NATO partners. When I worked on tsunami relief in 2005 on the ground in Indonesia, it was every country. The U.S. was doing the heavy lifting. We were running the show. We had the aircraft carrier and the helicopters and the personnel but the Australians were doing plenty of heavy lifting. The Brits were there. Name a country, they were there helping, and it was natural, right, that the U.S. would be leading an effort like that."
"And I find myself reflecting, when I see Trump walking down in Normandy at the 75th anniversary, I wonder, if there were—if there were a tsunami that wiped out 150,000 people in Asia, would Trump send an aircraft carrier to save people? Would he care that it was a Muslim nation and not a Christian nation?" Kauffmann continued.
Just last year, the U.S. sent millions of dollars in aid, as well as the support of the Air Force, to Indonesia after an earthquake and tsunami. In addition to sending $3.7 million and "2,210 rolls of heavy-duty plastic sheeting" for constructing emergency shelters, the US. deployed three C-130J Super Hercules cargo planes.