Josh Marshall says that Donald Trump's campaign event at Arlington Cemetery was even worse than you think:
The idea was to lay a wreath honoring the 13 members of the U.S. military who were killed during the evacuation of Kabul in 2021 and film a political ad. They would distribute the video and attack Vice President Harris and President Biden for not “showing up” for their campaign event, which they sought to portray was an established memorial.
Is this true? Josh doesn't cite a source, which was obviously deliberate. I wonder why? On the other hand, it sure sounds like something Trump would do, doesn't it?
The Trump team's response to being caught with their hands in the cookie jar has been pure Trump: Attack, attack, and attack harder. A Trump spokesperson berated the Arlington official who asked them to stop as having a "mental health episode." After the Army defended her, a Trump campaign advisor blasted them as a bunch of "hacks." Trump himself posted a campaign video of the event and then insisted that it wasn't a campaign event and that it was he who had been mistreated. And J.D. Vance furiously told Kamala Harris to "go to hell" even though she hadn't said anything.
Welcome to another day in the Trump campaign.
But, but, but...the FAMILY asked him to be there....the FAMILY asked for pictures...
That family is total shit. I mean who smiles and thumbs up for a photo above the dead remains of their loved one in any cemetery, with or without a “celebrity” with them? Totally fucking gross and their dead loved one should haunt them for the rest of their days.
After the El Paso massacre in 2019 where a MAGA gunman killed a bunch of people he thought were illegal immigrants in a local WalMart, Trump -- whose anti-immigrant/ethno-nationalist rhetoric inspired the murderer -- actually goes to the hospital and *poses with one of the babies orphaned by the killer* and gives that same fucking grin and thumbs up. (https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/president-trump-smiles-gives-thumbs-up-in-photo-with-baby-orphaned-in-el-paso-massacre)
There are no words...
Trump was just throwing the family under the bus so to speak....
And haven't they heard military service is for losers? And dying for your country is so much worse. Incredible he could even stand to be near them.
The families in question blame Biden personally and hate him for the deaths of their loved ones. What they don't get is that in war people die, and usually the deaths make no sense. In this case Trump is probably more responsible for their deaths than Biden, let alone Harris. Trump signed a peace treaty and cut our force level to the point that Biden had to ship more troops in to manage the withdrawal.
The family of the green beret buried next to the soldier in question were certainly not thrilled to see pictures of their loved one's grave site splashed all over the media. As to smiling and giving the thumbs up over a grave; it’s just goulash and weird.
Yes. The MAGA campaign is cynically taking advantage of both the public's ignorance with respect to military history AND the understandable grief of some of the families who lost loved ones.
The reality is large, complex operations in hostile zones can seldom be accomplished with zero casualties; and if tolerance for casualties is literally zero, there's not much sense in maintaining a military.
The casualty rate of that operation was less than 0.5%, and it constituted the largest airborne evacuation in history. In fact, by any reasonable standard, casualties were remarkably light. The country owes Joe Biden an immense measure of gratitude for his wide leadership on Afghanistan, not scorn. History will laud him for ending that cataclysmic quagmire. History will judge Donald Trump an obscene, evil pig.
just remember that 300 U.S. Marines were killed in Lebanon deployed there by Ronald Reagan and he didn't receive hardly the vitriol that Biden received for 13 deaths. Curious as to why?
There is a reason why federal law prohibits creepy weirdos like Trump from preying on Gold Star families for personal political gain.
And I wonder how the families of the 45 soldiers who died in Afghanistan’s on Trump’s watch feel about being ignored by him?
(Not to mention the fact that it was Trump who unilaterally surrendered to the Taliban, then sat on his fat ass for nearly a year doing nothing to prepare for our withdrawal—other than freeing 5,000 Taliban militants from prison.)
Trump truly is a putrid human being.
And now back to form---we're not talking about the Harris-Walz interview...
The man and his minions are literally shit.
Why isn’t a reporter trying to get the footage of this fucking outrage & put it on air. Where the fuck are actual reporters doing there job? This is literally the most sickening episode of this shitty bad reality show
You can not drive around Arlington National Cemetery without special permission, e.g. you are part of a funeral procession. One close family member can get a car pass to use when visiting (the ANC webpage about car passes is not available right now....hmmm....). Everyone else has to park, go through the visitor center and take a shuttle (or walk)--and follow the rules.
Trump's motorcade got permission--so this was planned ahead. Not sure how the family arrived--looks like more were there then would fit in a car. For families visiting a grave, you can make arrangements with a shuttle to take you to the grave. A reporter running through the cemetery trying to follow Trump would be stopped by employees. And Trump's team probably didn't want reporters to spill the beans early....
They weren't going to be let in, but then someone apparently got through to Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Michael McCaul who pulled strings and got them in the gates, so to speak. Then one of the cemetery officials saw that they were getting out cameras and other stuff to turn the ceremony into a photo op and tried to stop them and that's when they got into the altercation.
It was way worse than I thought...
There is no bottom for these people. They are literally infinite shitholes.
He shows up surrounded by campaign staff, including a campaign photographer. One of them shoves Arlington staff out of their way. They proceed to shoot stills and video which are used in not only his but others' campaign ads the next few days. I'm supposed to believe this was not a campaign event? Sheeyit.
The cite is 32 CFR 553.32; see sec. (c). Nobody gets to hold campaign events over our dead soldiers' graves.
Trump said he would use the US military to attack the United States.
Hey, fat man, that's not it's job, that's the Republican Party's job!
By the time Project 2025 is implemented the Republican party would be giving orders to the military.
How much more of this offal can we take from this too long tie empty suit? I’ve about had it! Can t-Rump and his minions do anything worse? Bet the minions called the family and asked if they could do this despicable event. Seems granddad is a trumpinista so he said yes. Pathetic!
Really hope when Trump dies we can just dump his carcass into the ocean and be done with it. Otherwise his gravesite is likely to become a urinal for millions of disgusted visitors.
That is, after all, what we did with Bin Laden.
The ocean is polluted enough. He'd probably poison any wild life unfortunate enough to feed off his corpse.
Hang him in a gibbet and let the birds pick him into oblivion.
You may be on to something....I'd pay money to piss on his grave.
What expect Trump to follow the.....rules? OMG who is surprised by this circus act? The Army was not impressed. Trump uses music with a copyright without permission, makes crude references to sexual acts while posting a picture of Harris and Clinton. And this was just the last 72 hours......it this fool is elected then the inmates are running the asylum. I cannot understand why any woman (or man) would vote for this weirdo and his Ivy League phony sidekick weirdo #2.
Trump never fails to reach another new low. And it seems Mr. Vance is giving him a run for his money in the race to see who's the bigger douchebag. How they have any support is fucking mind boggling, it truly is.
All the hallmarks of Trump and his band of MAGAs. Create a 'campaign event' by breaking norms and the law. Hurting a few 'little people' in the process just adds to the reputation for violence and ruthlessness. A small reminder of Jan6. Note how JD Vance relished his role of enforcer with gusto.
That is totally plausible. I've seen lots of comments like this on MAGA propaganda sites:
Which of course is completely at odds with the line that he accepted an invitation from the family to attend their little remembrance event, but consistency has never been a Trump characteristic.
It's notable that only two of the 13 families who lost relatives at Abbey Gate put their names to the lame justification afterwards, and they were an odd collection of parents, siblings and even an aunt. The families in question have been closely associated with the Republican Party since 2021; some were Speaker Johnson's guests at the State of the Union. The Hoovers have even built quite a nice little business out of their loss, soliciting "sponsors" and selling merch for various events.
Nobody exploits grieving relatives more skilfully than Republicans, provided they can find a way to blame Democrats for their bereavement.
Where was Trump last year on the second anniversary of Abby Gate? Or does he only honor fallen warriors when he is running for elected office?
From Josh Marshall's Post: ". . .the campaign’s hyper-aggressive co-chair Chris LaCivita gave an even wilder comment to the Times, calling the assaulted cemetery employee “a despicable individual” and “a disgrace” who “does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.”
This is wrong. LaCivita did not say "hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery". He said "hollowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery"
I noticed this error as well. This is the MAGA party in a peach tree dish. Let's declare marshall law and sic the gazpacho police on them.
I’d consider myself a leftist and would literally be ok with cheating to keep Trump out of office, but I don’t care about this at all. He took a picture that included markets indicating where dead people’s bones are? THAT’S what we’re getting worked up about?”
Eh. We give these people a special place of honor in order to make up for us sending them to their deaths, often for something that was not worth dying for. Allowing a MAGA rally there strips away the respect we have promised the families that these soldiers would have.
The point is that "support the troops" conservatives should be pissed about this. The same ones who lost their minds when some athletes were kneeling for the national anthem because it "disparaged the sacrifice of our troops" should be made to explain why Trump's campaign video and photographs at Arlington (something that is actually illegal) is somehow not disqualifying.
Personally I'm not worked up about anything. Just enjoying the chance to turn one of Trump's stunts back on him. I hope Democrats make the most of it.
While the criticism of Trump is (obviously) well deserved, this POS is still supported by more than ~40% of the population. That is the real problem that needs discussion.
Those deadenders that support Trump no matter what he does are not salvageable. Time will take care of them. And I include one of my kids in this category. It's truly sad.
Oh, I’m so sorry. Before we had kids, our friends were always asking if I was worried that they might grow up to be drug dealers or serial killers. Nope. I worried that they might grow up to be Republicans. So far, so good: 4 out of 4 for the good guys.
I most likely have a few Trump supporters in my family. Most of whom would be worse off if Trump was reelected and the GOP gained controll over the legislative branch.
Here’s an interesting tidbit about Trump’s “secret plan”, from Charlie Sykes in The Atlantic:
“ The event was supposed to be respectful and private; according to a press-pool note, the families of the troops had asked that there be no media coverage in the area where the service members were buried. ”
They asked for “no media coverage “, eh? So Trump was planning to stain soldiers’ honor in private. Again. No wonder they got so angry when somebody saw them.
It's puzzling how they planned to release the video without anyone knowing that they'd broken federal law.
Now's a good time for a (push) poll:
Should the federal government eliminate federal rules prohibiting "partisan political activities" at military cemeteries, or should it follow the rules and ban the Trump campaign from access to Arlington?"
Federal law? Trump has immunity from federal law.
My parents are buried in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. (My father served in combat in the Navy in World War II.) My wife's comment was, "I'm surprised your mother didn't rise up out of her grave." If you had known my mohter -- either her politics or her personality -- you would know what a threat that would be.
Over 2400 US military personnel died in the ill-advised invasion of Afghanistan, under four Presidents. The sacrifices of all of them are worthy of recognition. The focus on 13 of these is itself a political exploitation of their lives, which the media should not further.