kenneth ballard, it lands differently. which is why lieutenant ballard's mother responded to an ad. >> my son is not a loser. my message to the president is this, you have no right to be commander in chief. >> thank you very much for joining us this evening. i know it is a difficult time. >> it is, good evening, rachel. >> when you heard a about these reports, and what the president said about american troops and specifically of those who are killed in battle. what was your reaction? >> i was not surprise because it does seem to be a pattern going back to even before trump announced running for president. but, it is always kind of a pinprick to the hart that gist kind of pulling the scab off. for me after 16 years you would think i would be pretty used to it. those are harsh words coming my son's commander in chief, that he's a sucker or a loser. i don't feel that way and none of the parents who did the video feel that way. >> can i ask you how the video came together? there must have been collusion and with other gold sta

she's the mother of lieutenant kenneth ballard. thank you for joining us this evening.now it's a really difficult time. >> it is. good evening, rachel. >> when you first heard these reports a little bit more than 24 hours ago now about what the president has said about american troops and specifically about troops hurt or killed in battle, what was your reaction? how did that land with you? >> well, i wasn't surprised because this does seem to be a pattern going back to even before trump announced running for president. but it's always kind of a pin prick to the heart, that it's just trying to pull the scab off. and for me after 16 years, you'd think i'd be used to it. but those are pretty harsh words coming from my son's commander in chief, that he was a sucker and/or a loser. and i don't feel that way, and none of the parents who did the video feel that way. >> karen, can i ask you how the video came together? there's been some sort of conspiracy theorizing on the right and with the trump campaign today saying that there must have been collusion. there must have been

lieutenant kenneth ballard was awarded a purple heart and three bronze stars, two with valor for hiseroism. his mother has set up a website to keep the memory of her son and his sacrifice alive. and there is the post office in their town. the current president calls americans who have died for their country losers and suckers. however broadly he might mean that, for some individual americans like the family of lieutenant kenneth ballard, it lands differently. which is why his mother chose to respond directly in an ad released today by vote vets. >> my son is not a loser. my message to donald trump is this. you have no right being commander-in-chief. >> joining us live is gold star mother karen meredith the mother of kenneth ballard. thank you so much for joining us this evening. i know it is a really difficult time. >> it is. good evening, rachel. >> when you first heard these reports, a little bit more than 24 hours ago now about what the president has said about american troops and specifically about troops hurt or killed in battle, what was your reaction? how did that land with yo

. >> that's karen meredith in ath lieutenant kenneth ballard, was killed in action in 2004. spoke with msnbc's rachel maddow this evening. >> it's always kind of a pin prick to the heart that it's just trying to pull the scab off. for me after 16 years, you'd think i'd be used to it, but those are pretty harsh words coming from my son's commander in chief. >> meredith says several gold star families got together to make the video and that they made it right after that story in "the atlantic" was published yesterday. >>> still ahead, their job is to keep people safe during the pandemic, but should that make them the target of death threats? the bay area health officials on alert tonight. >>> how close we'll get to an all-time heat record of 109 degrees. i'll show you that and more in about seven minutes. >>> people are getting stacks of up expected letters and debit cards from the state unemployment office. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. we investigate next. give you my world ♪ ♪ how can i, when you won't take it from me ♪ ♪ you can go your own way ♪ ♪ go your own wa