Imagine if a Democrat did what Trump did at Arlington https://www.alternet.org/imagine-if-a-democrat-did-what-trump-did-at-arlington/ Try for just a moment to imagine the explosion of anger on the right if a Democratic presidential candidate -- or any Democratic candidate -- barged into Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign photo op. Imagine the fury on Fox News if such a Democrat had then posted video of herself, on TikTok, with an idiotic grin and thumbs-up pose over the grave of a fallen soldier. Imagine how Republicans in Congress would scream if the errant candidate's aides had not only ignored federal laws governing that sacred American space but even dared to physically assault an Army employee who tried to prevent their illegal invasion. Now we know with certainty that all of the above and worse transpired in a scheme by former President Donald Trump's campaign as it misused an especially hallowed part of Arlington to promote him and embarrass the Biden White House. And rather than apologize, as Trump never does, he is trying to blame others for his offenses and potential crimes, as he always does. This unsavory story is still unfolding, but what we know so far should surprise nobody familiar with the Trump pattern of tacky behavior, disrespect for service, and extreme belligerence toward anyone who objects to his depredations. It begins with the Trump campaign seeking to politicize the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed during the final departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021. (Never mind that the dismal conditions of withdrawal were set up by Trump himself when he appeased Taliban terrorists, even inviting them to the White House, and caved in to a "peace agreement" that enabled them to seize power.) Seeking to regain lost momentum against Vice President Kamala Harris following the Democratic convention, Trump aides ignored warnings from Arlington staff about using the cemetery as a partisan stage. They were told explicitly that the rules strictly regulate images from Section 60, where Trump appeared and where graves of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are located. They were also told that while Trump could accompany the families to a wreath-laying anniversary ceremony, his campaign staff should refrain from joining the event. According to Military.com, the Trump campaign received advance written guidance that "photographers ... or any persons attending for purposes, or in direct support, of a partisan political candidate's campaign are NOT permitted on the (Arlington National Cemetery) installation." The Trump staffers not only ignored those caveats but bullied their way in with typical jut-jawed arrogance. When a female cemetery official tried to dissuade them from violating the rules, a large male Trump staffer yelled at her and thrust her aside. (Why does that brutalizing behavior sound so familiar?) After National Public Radio first reported what happened, a thuggish campaign spokesman suggested that the Arlington employee was suffering from a "mental health episode." Then his thuggish boss, campaign manager Chris LaCivita, demanded that she be fired for her "despicable" conduct. The U.S. Army -- by now all too familiar with the former president known for his draft-evasion antics as "Corporal Bonespurs" -- firmly rejected this Trumpian response. Despite the military's general aversion to political controversy, the Army issued an official statement defending its standards and its abused employee -- which said she had "acted with professionalism" when she tried to enforce cemetery rules, noting that during the "unfortunate incident" she had been "abruptly pushed aside," and vowing that Arlington's dedicated staff "will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation's fallen deserve." Even as Trump tried to shift responsibility onto the Army, the families that invited him to Arlington, and anyone else except himself, his campaign doubled down. But veterans across the country, and indeed all Americans who honor military service, marked this disgrace as the latest in a long list of insults uttered by a man who should never have been this nation's commander-in-chief. No Republican hypocrisy or bullying bluster can excuse it.
He's reached the Denial stage. Trump Denies Arlington Cemetery Incident, Claims it Was ‘a Made Up Story’ By Kamala Harris https://dailyboulder.com/trump-deni...aims-it-was-a-made-up-story-by-kamala-harris/ Former President Donald Trump has issued a vehement denial of reports claiming his campaign staff were involved in a physical altercation with an Army caretaker at Arlington National Cemetery. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Trump dismissed the allegations as a fabrication orchestrated by Vice President Kamala Harris. “There was no conflict or ‘fighting’ at Arlington National Cemetery last week,” Trump asserted. “This is a made-up story concocted by Comrade Kamala and her misinformation team. She fabricated this tale to cover up the fact that she and Sleepy Joe have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS for the INCOMPETENT AFGHANISTAN Withdrawal—THE MOST EMBARRASSING DAY IN U.S. HISTORY!!! They should have been at Arlington, not on a beach or preparing for a Debate.” In his post, Trump expressed gratitude to “Gold Star families” for affirming that the day at Arlington was a “BEAUTIFUL DAY OF HONOR” with no incidents, contrary to the fabricated reports. “There were no fights or problems—only in the minds of those who are destroying our country!” he added, signing off with his campaign slogan, “MAGA2024.” The controversy reportedly began when Trump’s campaign attempted to stage a photo op in Arlington Cemetery’s “Section 60,” which is designated for troops who fell in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The planned event faced backlash from local staff who informed the campaign that such activities were prohibited by federal law. This led to an altercation involving a middle-aged female staffer who was reportedly manhandled by Trump’s aides. The incident has drawn sharp criticism from former defense officials and veterans’ groups. Retired Marine General John Kelly, a former adviser to Trump’s chief of staff, condemned the attempt to use Arlington Cemetery for a staged photo as “narcissism to the point of sociopathy.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/03/...decries-trump-arlington-appearance/index.html Exclusive: John McCain’s son decries Trump appearance at Arlington as a ‘violation’ that turned cemetery into campaign backdrop By Natasha Bertrand, CNN 5 minute read Updated 5:05 PM EDT, Tue September 3, 2024 When former President Donald Trump held a campaign event at Arlington National Cemetery last week, 1st Lt. Jimmy McCain says he viewed it as a “violation.” The youngest son of the late Sen. John McCain had already been moving away from the Republican Party — just weeks ago, he changed his voter registration to Democrat and plans to vote for Kamala Harris in November, he told CNN in an exclusive interview this week. But he is speaking out now for the first time about Trump because of the former president’s conduct at the hallowed ground where several generations of McCain’s family, including his grandfather and great grandfather, are buried. “It just blows me away,” McCain, who has served in the military for 17 years, told CNN. “These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice” of whether to be a backdrop for a political campaign, he said. “I just think that for anyone who’s done a lot of time in their uniform, they just understand that inherently — that it’s not about you there. It’s about these people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country.” McCain’s decision to speak out now is part of his broader shift away from the Republican Party and his family’s famously conservative roots. After years as a registered independent, he says he registered as a Democrat several weeks ago and plans to vote for Kamala Harris in November, adding that he “would get involved in any way I could” to help her campaign. It’s a significant move for the son of a former GOP presidential candidate and Arizona senator. While other members of the McCain family have distanced themselves from Trump — including Jimmy McCain’s mother Cindy, who endorsed then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020, and his sister Meghan — none except Jimmy have publicly abandoned the Republican Party. Despite her harsh criticisms of Trump, Meghan McCain indicated last week that she would still not endorse Harris. “I’m a lifelong, generational conservative,” she tweeted. Jimmy McCain, who enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 17 and now serves as an intelligence officer in the 158th Infantry Regiment, had until now deliberately sought to avoid entering the political fray. Trump’s attacks on his father — that he was “not a war hero” because he was captured in Vietnam, and his reported description of the elder McCain as a “loser” — were deeply hurtful on a personal level, but not out of bounds politically, Jimmy McCain believes. “One thing about John McCain is that he chose a public life,” McCain said. “So to attack him is really not out of the realm of his job description.” For the younger McCain, though, the Arlington episode and how the campaign has reacted to it represents a whole new level of what he perceives as Trump’s disrespect for the fallen. And he believes it stems from Trump’s own insecurities about not having served. “Many of these men and women, who served their country, chose to do something greater than themselves,” McCain said. “They woke up one morning, they signed on the dotted line, they put their right hand up, and they chose to serve their country. And that’s an experience that Donald Trump has not had. And I think that might be something that he thinks about a lot.” McCain emphasized that he is speaking on his own behalf and his views do not represent those of the US Army. McCain received his commission and became an officer in US Army intelligence in 2022. McCain’s anger over the Arlington episode was also particularly acute because when it happened, he had just returned from a seven-month deployment to a small US base on the Jordan-Syria border known as Tower 22. He arrived there just weeks after three US service members were killed on the base in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants, and he says he thought of them when he saw Trump posing last Monday in front of gravestones. “It was a violation,” McCain said. “That mother, that sister, those families, see that — and it’s a painful experience.” Trump visited the cemetery last Monday following a wreath laying ceremony honoring the 13 US military service members who were killed at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in Afghanistan in 2021. His campaign filmed the visit, leading to an altercation with a cemetery staffer who attempted to prevent Trump’s team from photographing and filming in the area where recent US casualties are buried. According to the Army, doing so violates federal law, Army regulations and Defense Department policies. Trump is not the first politician to violate a ban on political activity at Arlington. In fact, more than 20 years ago, John McCain said he made “a very bad mistake” when he released a campaign ad that featured a clip of him walking through the cemetery. Trump and his campaign, however, have not issued such a mea culpa. Instead, according to the US Army, they ignored and “abruptly pushed aside” a cemetery staffer who protested the activity and published footage of the event later anyway. One of Trump’s campaign managers, Chris LaCivita, called the Army “hacks” and said it was “100% a manufactured story.” Over the weekend, Trump’s campaign released taped statements from family members of some of the service members who were killed at Abbey Gate, who said they invited Trump to their loved ones’ graves. But the campaign’s video of the event, which they put on TikTok, showed other gravestones, too — including that of an Army Special Forces soldier who died by suicide, and whose family said they did not give the campaign permission to film it. McCain, for his part, is now bracing to get more involved in this election cycle. While he has been involved in veteran advocacy work for years, he acknowledges that his own recent political shift has been deeply personal. “John McCain was my father, and a lot of people lose that in the minutia,” McCain said. “He wasn’t ‘John McCain’ the way he is to the world. He was the man who loved me. And the one thing I’ve known about my dad since the moment I could think, was that he was a good man and that he had done his part. And for me to be with him towards the end of his life, hearing things [from Trump] like, he was a loser because he was captured—I don’t think I could ever overlook that.”
On Service and Trump’s Complete Disdain of It Trump never understood John McCain’s heroism because he didn’t understand its source: the oath McCain took to support and defend the Constitution. https://factkeepers.com/on-service-and-trumps-complete-disdain-of-it/
Pulling Rank on Donald Trump Retired four-star Admiral Mike Mullen, the Military's former top officer slams Trump for 'intruding' and 'visiting politics' on Arlington National Cemetery. https://factkeepers.com/pulling-rank-on-donald-trump/
Let's catch up with the latest where the two Trump staff members in a conflict with an Arlington Cemetery worker are identified as Deputy Campaign Manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of the former president’s advance team. Of course, the Trump campaign told them not to speak to the press as the media digs further into the story. As expected, Trump does not want the truth to get out, just his lies. Naturally Trump's Deputy Campaign Manager, Justin Caporale, is a January 6th organizer. Trump Staffers Who Reportedly ‘Pushed Aside’ Cemetery Worker Identified https://www.mediaite.com/trump/just...edly-pushed-aside-cemetery-worker-identified/ Trump aide involved in Arlington cemetery worker scandal was Jan. 6 organizer: report https://www.rawstory.com/trump-aide-caporale-arlington-jan-6/