[Photo from Corey Lewandowski on X.]
Demeaning the sacred
Donald Trump gets his campaign photo-op at Arlington National Cemetery and provides video coverage for Fox News ("Trump lays wreathes at Arlington National Cemetery honoring 13 US service members killed at Abbey Gate bombing") to boot.
Nothing is sacred to Donald Trump. Grinning, thumbs-up, he is (as is often observed) shameless. Deliberately violating established federal regulations to politicize laying a wreath in Section 60, an area regarded as hallowed ground at this military cemetery, is just another illustration of Trump's disregard for anything that obstructs whatever he sees as advantageous to himself. His four years in the White House demonstrated his indifference to the Constitution, the rule of law, and democratic norms. That goes for federal law related to the Defense Department.
Donald Trump has no respect for the men and women who have served their country in the military, as shown again and again and again. Moreover, he is plainly ignorant of the Gospels, his life reflects no principles remotely resembling Christian teachings, he has steadfastly shunned religious practice, yet the Religious Right is central to his political fortunes and Trump has begun to speak of God and to mouth words that might advance his prospects on the November ballot. The photo-op is a cynical pose in a ceremony traditionally implying veneration for military service and often imbued with religious meaning.
Thuggish bullying
Yet, that's hardly the most disturbing aspect of this sordid episode at Arlington. Pentagon officials explained the cemetery's policy in advance of the visit: "What was abundantly clear-cut was: Section 60, no photos and no video." Trump's campaign chose to defy the regulations. When an official attempted to stop campaign staffers from entering Section 60, she was verbally abused and two men pushed her aside. Then the campaign smeared her as someone "clearly suffering from a mental health episode" and said it was "prepared to release footage" that proved there was no physical altercation. It hasn't done so.
The U.S. Army, which has jurisdiction over Arlington National Cemetery, responded by noting first: "ANC conducts nearly 3,000 such public ceremonies a year without incident." The statement continued: "Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption."
And then the lies
JD Vance responded to questions about the incident by blaming the press and adding:
Kamala Harris is disgraceful. We’re going to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives? It’s that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened.
As the Washington Post notes, there have been several investigations of the incident. Vance continued, falsely accusing Kamala Harris of criticizing Trump's visit to Arlington: "And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can — she can go to hell.”
Although his accusation regarding Harris is false, Vance doubled down later when questioned about it: “Don’t focus on Donald Trump showing up to grieve with some people who lost their children. Focus on your own job. Don’t do this fake outrage thing. If Kamala Harris was really outraged about what happened, then she would do her job differently, start a real investigation, and fire some of the people who are involved.”
The aftermath
A woman who works at the cemetery filed an incident report with the military authorities over the altercation. But the official, who has not been identified, later declined to press charges. Military officials said she feared Mr. Trump’s supporters pursuing retaliation.
So ... the Army decided to drop the matter, even though it is a felony under federal law to assault, resist, impede, intimidate or interfere with a federal employee performing official duties. The Trump campaign's brazen conduct, followed by intimidation, has succeeded. No one will be held accountable.
So ... Trump has exploited the deaths of 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Biden's watch. To put this into context, Trump has also claimed, “When I was in charge, in 18 months, we didn’t lose one American soldier.” That is a lie. The 18-month span with no casualties included the end of Trump's term and the beginning of Biden's.
During Trump's term in the White House there were 46 combat deaths among U.S. service members and 18 "non-hostile" deaths. Don't expect Trump to memorialize those service men and women, nor his campaign to run roughshod over federal law to record such a memorial.