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“Two members of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign staff had a ‘verbal and physical altercation’ with an Arlington National Cemetery official during a visit by Trump this week, NPR reported [last] Tuesday. Trump [last] Monday participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery honoring the 13 servicemembers killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021…
“Citing an unnamed source, NPR reported that when a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staffers from filming and photographing in an area where servicemembers are buried, the Trump staff ‘verbally abused and pushed the official aside.’ Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung disputed the report. ‘There was no physical altercation as described and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,’ Cheung said.’” Reuters
“U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Republican presidential rival Donald Trump on Saturday over [the visit] that was later used in campaign video footage… ‘Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,’ Harris wrote.” Reuters
The left criticizes Trump, arguing that he violated cemetery rules by politicizing his visit.
“He wasn’t there just to pay his respects; he was there to exploit the tragedy that occurred at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in 2021… That very day, the Trump campaign released a video showing the former president at Arlington… In a voice-over, Trump says, ‘We didn’t lose one person in 18 months,’ a self-regarding and entirely bogus claim…
“If Trump was referring to the time period in which he negotiated the withdrawal agreement, 15 American troops suffered what the Defense Department called ‘hostile deaths’ in Afghanistan. If he was referring to the last 18 months of his presidency, 12 members of the military died in Afghanistan…
“The Army, which oversees the cemetery, forbids any sort of political activities on the grounds. It is, as the Trump campaign was informed, against federal law… He said the soldiers’ family members, some of whom disparaged President Biden at the Republican National Convention, invited him. I have no doubt that’s true. But even the grieving families of fallen soldiers do not have a right to trash Arlington‘s protocols.”
Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times
“When a cemetery staff member tried to prevent Trump campaign aides from taking photographs and filming near servicemembers’ graves, a Trump aide physically pushed her aside. Furthermore, once word of this incident leaked out, Trump’s campaign aides viciously insulted the cemetery staffer in startlingly personal terms. In one fell swoop, Trump’s team managed to violate norms against politicizing veterans’ sacrifices, shoving people, and ugly personal attacks.”
Andrew Prokop, Vox
“Trump began his adult life dodging the draft for Vietnam… He later told Howard Stern that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was ‘my personal Vietnam.’… In 2015, responding to criticism from Sen. John McCain, a former POW, Trump claimed, ‘He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.’…
“When [General Mark Milley] invited a wounded, wheelchair-bound soldier to sing ‘God Bless America’ at Milley’s welcoming ceremony as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, Trump admonished him. ‘Why do you bring people like that here?’ Trump asked, according to Milley. ‘No one wants to see that, the wounded.’… Trump’s disregard for military tradition and his disdain for military service members is well documented.”
Brandon Friedman, MSNBC
The right argues that the incident is overblown, noting that the families of the servicemembers thanked Trump.
The right argues that the incident is overblown, noting that the families of the servicemembers thanked Trump.
“The only people who matter are the families who invited him, and they issued a statement of ‘heartfelt thanks and appreciation’ to Trump Wednesday. ‘We are deeply grateful to the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief,’ they said…
“They didn’t need to point out the conspicuous absence of Biden and Harris, who have never met with the families or even uttered the names of their loved ones. In fact, in his disastrous debate with Trump in June, Biden forgot all about the 13 fallen and boasted — falsely — that he was the ‘only president this century’ not to have troops die on his watch.”
Miranda Devine, New York Post
“[Trump] posed for pictures with the [Gold Star] families. This was apparently in technical violation of a federal Park Police regulation that says you cannot take photographs in one specific area (‘Section 60’) where recent U.S. war dead are buried. Only federal staff members are allowed to do so — and they have done so frequently for Biden, Harris, Trump, Pence, Obama, Clinton, and many other political eminences (and for their reelection campaigns as well) over the years…
“But Trump, of course, is (currently) not president, just a nominee. So what Biden or Harris can do, he cannot. That is the sum total of the purported scandal…
“This happened last Monday. Why put a week’s worth of effort into making this a story? And the reason for that is because the Harris campaign is clearly beginning to stall out in the polls without nearly enough altitude above Trump to glide in for a safe landing.”
Jeffrey Blehar, National Review
“If the Democrats were smart, they would avoid like the plague any reference to Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was universally, and correctly, seen as a debacle, and the Afghanistan fiasco precipitated a drop in Biden’s approval ratings from which he never recovered. Normal observers see that the current controversy was stirred up by the Democrats in hopes of political gain…
“[But] The controversy, kept alive by Democrats, mostly serves to remind voters of one of the Biden/Harris administration’s worst failures, and to tie that failure more securely to Kamala Harris… The Democrats’ attacks on Trump for his Arlington visit constitute political malpractice. We can only hope that they keep it up.”
John Hinderaker, Power Line
