Given the devastating news out of Afghanistan and Madison Cawthorn’s callous, appalling stunt in response, I wanted to share my thoughts with you:

Yesterday 13 U.S. troops and estimates of more than 170 Afghans were killed in a suicide attack at the Kabul airport. At least 200 more people were wounded. I am heartbroken for the families of all who were lost and injured, and with the August 31 evacuation deadline approaching we need to focus on helping as many people as possible safely evacuate.

This is a time when our communities and nation need to be pulling together. Instead Madison Cawthorn chose to launch an outrageous call for our Vice President to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Biden from office.

And he’s doing this at a time when Western North Carolina desperately needs steady, compassionate leadership.

Families across Western NC have been devastated by the recent flooding, and hospital beds across the region are filling up yet again due to the spread of the Delta variant. In response to these crises, we are seeing tremendous resilience, grit and compassion on display - and that’s exactly what we need more of. We need elected leaders at every level helping community members access emergency assistance and the resources to stay healthy, recover and rebuild.

That’s why I am so deeply troubled that Madison Cawthorn is using this moment to pull an immature, outlandish partisan stunt attacking President Biden. I don’t want to give what he is doing even more attention, but he is once again betraying the people and values of Western North Carolina.

To use the tragedy in Afghanistan as a way to try to generate headlines on Fox and Newsmax is an abuse of the power and platform of his elected position. We deserve leaders who will show up to help in a crisis and who understand the gravity and sorrow of this time, not a representative who saw the loss of life and unspeakable grief and chose to play-act for the cameras.

-- Jasmine