Andrew Pollack, who lost his daughter, Meadow, during the Parkland shooting in 2018, praised President Donald Trump’s response to the tragedy while warning that the safety of children across the country depends on making sure that the president wins re-election.
After retelling the events from the Valentine’s Day tragedy, Pollack said that he met with the president and that “he’s a good man and a great listener” who “cuts through the BS.”
“Then, the President did what he said he said he would do: he took action. He formed a School Safety Commission that issued dozens of recommendations to make schools safer. But I’ll bet you never heard about that. Instead, the media turned my daughter’s murder into a coordinated attack on President Trump, Republicans, and the Second Amendment,” Pollack said. “In fact, when President Trump asked me to sit next to him when he announced the Commission’s findings, the media’s first question wasn’t about protecting kids. It was about the government shutdown. President Trump turned to me and said, ‘can you believe these people, Andy? We’re trying to talk about school safety, and this is what they do?'”
“But I could believe it. After my daughter’s murder, the media didn’t seem interested in the facts. So I found them myself. When I learned that gun control laws didn’t fail my daughter. People did,” he continued. “The gunman had threatened to kill his classmates before; he had threatened to rape them; he had threatened to shoot up the school. Every red flag you can imagine. But the school didn’t just miss these red flags—they knowingly ignored them.”
“Far-left Democrats in our school district made this shooting possible because they implemented something they called ‘restorative justice.’ This policy—which really just blames teachers for student failures—puts kids and teachers at risk and makes shootings more likely. But it was billed as a pioneering approach to discipline and safety,” he continued. I was just fine with the old approach to discipline and safety—it was called discipline and safety. But the Obama-Biden administration took Parkland’s bad policies and forced them into schools across America. When President Trump rescinded Obama’s guidance on ‘restorative justice’ policies, he put an end to that.”
WATCH:
"My name is Andrew Pollack. His name, isn't worth saying."#RNC2020: Parkland parent @AndrewPollackFL describes how he felt when his daughter became a victim of the deadly school shooting, and how @realDonaldTrump responded to the story, and the families. https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/Ag9BV6VFaH
— Newsmax (@newsmax) August 25, 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
In 2018, a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and changed my life forever. My name is Andrew Pollack. His name isn’t worth saying.
One of the seniors walking the hallways that day was my daughter, Meadow. She was just months away from graduating and beginning a new life. We were so proud of the woman she had become.
But in the hallway on the third floor, the gunman saw Meadow and shot her four times. After she was shot and on the floor, she crawled over to another student, a freshman girl, to protect her. She draped her body over her. And then the gunman—the animal—shot Meadow five more times.
She had her whole life ahead of her. And in that life, she could have done anything and been anything. So many moments that I’d waited so long for were taken from me. I didn’t get to drop her off at college. I didn’t get to walk her down the aisle. But every moment was taken from her, and for what?
I never wanted this to become a political spectacle but it did. And I never wanted to meet the President like this but I did.
I was invited to the White House. The truth is—I had just buried my daughter—I wasn’t really interested in public event like a tour or a photo-op. I was interested in answers and solutions, so if the president wanted to meet me personally, I said I’d go. They said, “of course, that was his plan.”
At the White House, my family and I told him about Meadow. I told him what we knew. I told him that his administration needed to take a closer look at what went wrong and why.
And I got to see who he really is. He’s a good man and a great listener. And he cuts through the BS.
Then, the President did what he said he said he would do: he took action. He formed a School Safety Commission that issued dozens of recommendations to make schools safer. But I’ll bet you never heard about that. Instead, the media turned my daughter’s murder into a coordinated attack on President Trump, Republicans, and the Second Amendment.
In fact, when President Trump asked me to sit next to him when he announced the Commission’s findings, the media’s first question wasn’t about protecting kids. It was about the government shutdown. President Trump turned to me and said, “can you believe these people, Andy? We’re trying to talk about school safety, and this is what they do?”
But I could believe it. After my daughter’s murder, the media didn’t seem interested in the facts. So I found them myself. When I learned that gun control laws didn’t fail my daughter. People did.
The gunman had threatened to kill his classmates before; he had threatened to rape them; he had threatened to shoot up the school. Every red flag you can imagine. But the school didn’t just miss these red flags—they knowingly ignored them.
Far-left Democrats in our school district made this shooting possible because they implemented something they called “restorative justice.” This policy—which really just blames teachers for student failures—puts kids and teachers at risk and makes shootings more likely. But it was billed as a pioneering approach to discipline and safety.
I was just fine with the old approach to discipline and safety—it was called discipline and safety. But the Obama-Biden administration took Parkland’s bad policies and forced them into schools across America.
When President Trump rescinded Obama’s guidance on “restorative justice” policies, he put an end to that.
It’s hard to tell how much Mr. Biden understands about what happened at Parkland. Mr. Biden has campaigned on bringing back “restorative justice,” as part of his “Unity Platform” with Bernie Sanders, and has pledged to implement it in school districts across America.
But he doesn’t even seem to know when this shooting happened—he said that he was Vice President when it happened. But he wasn’t.
Mr. Biden may not know when my daughter was murdered. But I do—February 14, 2018. Mr. Biden may not know that these policies make shootings more likely but I do.
Mr. Biden may not know who was Vice President that day but I do. It wasn’t Joe Biden. It was Mike Pence, thank God. And I know who the President was too. It wasn’t Barack Obama. It was President Donald J. Trump. And he took action.
I truly believe the safety of your kids depends on whether this man is re-elected. I hope you’ll join me in helping to make that happen. Thank you.