What did a 34-count felon call a federal official enforcing a law at Arlington National Cemetery?
Donald Trump has exhibited his disrespect for US soldiers on several occasions, e.g. calling their dead and wounded "suckers" and "losers" in November 2018, according to reports multiply confirmed from highest level sources, including John Kelly, a four-star general who served in Trump's cabinet.
On another occasion in 2017, as Trump and Kelly stood in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery at the graves of US soldiers killed in action, Trump told Kelly, "I don't get it. What was in it for them?" Trump also said on record on August 15, 2024, that the Medal of Honor, the most distinguished honor for service to the US, was overrated because its recipients were "either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets, or they're dead." The Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief, Al Lipphardt, offered this blistering response to Trump's remarks: "These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation's highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty."1
On August 26, 2024, Trump returned to Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, accompanied by a team of photographers who filmed him there.2 Video from that film was later released by Trump's campaign in direct violation of a longstanding, absolute prohibition of the use of still or video photography from section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery in any political context.3
When an employee of Arlington National Cemetery informed Trump's campaign team of the law against filming in that restricted area, she was "abruptly pushed aside," according to a subsequent US Army statement, and the team then proceeded to carry out the prohibited filming.4 It was predictable how Trump, the 34-count convicted felon with extensive underworld ties, would react to that employee's enforcement of the law against filming there.
A Trump campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, released a statement saying that the federal official who tried to enforce the law was "clearly suffering from a mental health episode," and Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita called her a "despicable individual."5 In a statement of August 29, the US Army said that the Arlington National Cemetery employee "and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked," and that this cemetery "is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation's fallen deserve."6
In a statement on August 31, Vice President Kamala Harris said, "the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt." She added: "If there is one thing on which we as Americans can all agree, it is that our veterans, military families, and service members should be honored, never disparaged, and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude."7
The late senator John McCain's son, Jim, said that he viewed Trump's actions as a "violation," adding "these men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice" of whether to be fodder for a political campaign.8 The director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America commented:
When I visit Section 60, it is to honor the fallen and remind myself that I was one of the lucky ones who made it home. There are plenty of places appropriate for politics—Arlington is not one of them. Any aspiring elected official, especially one who hopes to be Commander-in-Chief, should not be confused about that fact. Nor should they hide behind members of our community to justify politicking on such sacred ground.9
Admiral Mike Mullen, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 to 2011, commented that to violate strict rules forbidding partisan activity at Arlington National Cemetery, including campaign photography, as Trump did, was "a travesty." Admiral Mullen said that this violation "is to mock the apolitical nature of our military and to dishonor the sacrifices made by those who rest there."10
Trump's response to the attempt of a federal official to enforce the law, calling it, through his campaign representatives, "a mental health episode" by "a despicable individual," summarized the contempt of this underworld-tied felon for both US soldiers and the US law.
- Newsweek, "Donald Trump's Veteran Problems Keep Growing," August 31, 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-veteran-problems-keep-growing-1947021.
- The Washington Post, "How a Trump visit sparked turmoil at America's most sacred cemetery," August 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/28/trump-arlington-cemetery-section-60/; NPR, "Trump campaign staffers have run-in with Arlington National Cemetery official," August 28, 2024, https://www.npr.org/2024/08/28/nx-s1-5091278/trump-campaign-staffers-have-run-in-with-arlington-national-cemetery-official; The New York Times, "Trump Campaign Filming at Arlington Cemetery Dismayed Family of Green Beret," August 29, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/us/politics/trump-arlington-cemetery.html; The New York Times, "Others Have Politicized Arlington, but Trump's Approach Has No Precedent," September 1, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/01/us/politics/trump-arlington-cemetery-army.html; The Washington Post, "Army defends Arlington Cemetery staffer 'pushed aside' by Trump aides," August 29, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/08/29/trump-arlington-cemetery-altercation/; Politico, "5 Things to Understand About Trump's Visit to Arlington," September 3, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/09/03/5-things-trump-arlington-cemetery-00177067.
- The New York Times, August 29, 2024, op. cit.;The Washington Post, August 29, 2024, op. cit.; Politico, September 3, 2024, op. cit.; The Washington Post, August 28, 2024, op. cit.; The New York Times, September 1, 2024, op. cit.
- The Washington Post, August 29, 2024, op. cit.
- The Washington Post, August 29, 2024, op. cit.; NPR, August 28, 2024, op. cit.
- The Washington Post, August 29, 2024, op. cit.
- Barron's, "Harris Says Trump 'Disrespected Sacred Ground' At US Military Cemetery," August 31, 2024, https://www.barrons.com/news/harris-says-trump-disrespected-sacred-ground-at-us-military-cemetery-20d462d9.
- CNN, "Exclusive: John McCain's son decries Trump appearance at Arlington as a 'violation' that turned cemetery into campaign backdrop," September 3, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/03/politics/jimmy-mccain-decries-trump-arlington-appearance/index.html.
- Newsweek, August 31, 2024, op. cit.
- The Washington Post, "Opinion | Adm. Mike Mullen: Politics has no place at Arlington's Section 60," September 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/09/04/mullen-arlington-politics-trump-afghanistan/.
