Trump Campaign Staff had Altercation with Official at Arlington National Cemetery

[wing2000]

This all could have been avoided if the Trump team could just follow rules that were explicitly spelled out for them well in advance.
Army officials hoped clear rules would avoid a damaging public spat with Trump. He gave them one anyway.
Earlier this month, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign contacted military officials about visiting Arlington National Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Islamic State bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members during the evacuation from Afghanistan.

Officials said they wanted to respect the wishes of grieving family members who wanted Trump there, but at the same time were wary of Trump’s record of politicizing the military. So they laid out ground rules they hoped would wall off politics from the final resting place of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.

Instead, they got sucked into exactly the kind of crisis they were hoping to avoid.

In advance of the event, cemetery officials told Trump’s team that he could come in his personal capacity and bring personal aides, but not campaign staff. Campaign advisers went anyway.

The first part went according to plan. With full media coverage, Trump and two Marines injured in the bombing, Tyler Vargas-Andrews and Kelsee Lainhart, laid a wreath at the tomb, a monument dedicated to deceased U.S. troops whose remains have not been identified or recovered. The press then returned to a holding area, specifically instructed that reporters and cameras would not accompany Trump and bereaved families to Section 60.

[This is why there is no media footage of the altercation -- everyone else was obeying the rules.]

But Trump officials said they did not view the campaign’s own photographer and videographer as subject to the same restrictions, so they continued on to Section 60. Their arrival there prompted the standoff with the cemetery employee over the rules.

“If the campaign feels the need to defend their team’s actions — which include bullying and physically pushing out of the way a longtime public servant and member of the team at Arlington working to protect the sanctity of the sacred spaces — then that’s on them,” one defense official said. “The rules were made clear to participants, and these two chose to disregard those rules. End of story.”

Trump has repeatedly defied restrictions on using federal property for campaign purposes by staging a political speech at Mount Rushmore, participating in a television interview inside the Lincoln Memorial, and holding the 2020 Republican National Convention at the White House itself.

IMO, the US Military shoud ban the Trump campaign from visiting *any* military cemetery for the remainder of the campaign.

 

[essentialsaltes]

IMO, the US Military shoud ban the Trump campaign from visiting *any* military cemetery for the remainder of the campaign.

Maybe just provide him with an 'honor guard' of 20 Marines to chaperone.

 

[public hermit]

It's amazing how consistently horrible this guy is. In my experience, the folks at Arlington National Cemetery are all top-notch; everything there functions like clock-work. They provide such an honorable service, and they succeed! For Trump's staff to act like they were the problem is hardly credible. "Mental health crisis" translates into "someone making it clear they are being very disrespectful."

 

[essentialsaltes]

US Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery​

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

“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,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday. Section 60 is an area in the cemetery largely reserved for the graves of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC 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,” the statement said.

 

[wing2000]

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.

I think an US Army punishment is in order.....Mr. Cheung and Chris LaCivita are ordered to each clean 1,000 gravestones at Arlington and issue an apology to the ANC employee. [yes, I realize the US Army has no authority to do so....]

 

[WolfGate]

Trump has no respect for the military or for us veterans. His own comments and actions have made that clear. I am totally not surprised by his actions here or his attempts to recreate and alternate reality of what happened. He only uses the military where it can help him politically.

 

[essentialsaltes]

X declares the NPR story to be 'unsafe'.

I assume this is due to some mass-action of Trump fans flagging it.

A representative for NPR told The Hill Thursday afternoon the outlet had changed the story’s URL when it noticed the blockage. The company said Bobby Allyn, one of its Tech reporters, had received a response from X saying the link’s blockage was a “false positive,” and the issue had been corrected.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump Campaign advisor and COO of the RNC doubles down on attacking the Army.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Hopefully I can prebunk the other thing I'm seeing on X.

There's a picture of Biden at Arlington, but the date in the upper corner of the photo clearly says 2010 -- an image of Biden at a Memorial Day event in the middle of Obama's first term -- not a 2020 campaign ad.

[I gather it was used in a Memorial Day video Biden shared in 2020, but again the photo was not taken by non-existent 2010 campaign staff.]

 

[iluvatar5150]

Trump Campaign advisor and COO of the RNC doubles down on attacking the Army.

View attachment 354003

Boy, he’s got some real pieces of work on his team. How bad is it that they make Trump look like the one with manners?

 

[wing2000]

...there are reports the US Army rejected the initial request for Trump to visit Arlington over concerns it would be used for political purposes. Speaker Johnson allegedly pressured the Army to allow the visit to go forward....to be verfied.

 

[RileyG]

The resulting photograph shows Trump and staff smiling and giving a big thumbs-up while standing on the grave of a Marine. I'm sure the right will be objecting any minute now over the blatant disrespect.

View attachment 353920

Ick!

 

[RileyG]

Gov Spencer Cox should distance himself from Trump at this point, and never hang with Donald ever again. It is good that Mr. Cox apologized for his actions like a genuine adult should.

Good for him! A little maturity goes a long way.

 

[Ana the Ist]

This all could have been avoided if the Trump team could just follow rules that were explicitly spelled out for them well in advance.
Army officials hoped clear rules would avoid a damaging public spat with Trump. He gave them one anyway.
Earlier this month, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign contacted military officials about visiting Arlington National Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Islamic State bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members during the evacuation from Afghanistan.

Officials said they wanted to respect the wishes of grieving family members who wanted Trump there, but at the same time were wary of Trump’s record of politicizing the military. So they laid out ground rules they hoped would wall off politics from the final resting place of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.

Instead, they got sucked into exactly the kind of crisis they were hoping to avoid.

In advance of the event, cemetery officials told Trump’s team that he could come in his personal capacity and bring personal aides, but not campaign staff. Campaign advisers went anyway.

The first part went according to plan. With full media coverage, Trump and two Marines injured in the bombing, Tyler Vargas-Andrews and Kelsee Lainhart, laid a wreath at the tomb, a monument dedicated to deceased U.S. troops whose remains have not been identified or recovered. The press then returned to a holding area, specifically instructed that reporters and cameras would not accompany Trump and bereaved families to Section 60.

[This is why there is no media footage of the altercation -- everyone else was obeying the rules.]

But Trump officials said they did not view the campaign’s own photographer and videographer as subject to the same restrictions, so they continued on to Section 60. Their arrival there prompted the standoff with the cemetery employee over the rules.

“If the campaign feels the need to defend their team’s actions — which include bullying and physically pushing out of the way a longtime public servant and member of the team at Arlington working to protect the sanctity of the sacred spaces — then that’s on them,” one defense official said. “The rules were made clear to participants, and these two chose to disregard those rules. End of story.”

Trump has repeatedly defied restrictions on using federal property for campaign purposes by staging a political speech at Mount Rushmore, participating in a television interview inside the Lincoln Memorial, and holding the 2020 Republican National Convention at the White House itself.

I'm guessing that Trump came close to breaking the same rules Biden broke during his 2022 midterm speech.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/04/politics/home-front-biden-marines-philadelphia-speech-reaction

Of course, the difference is that Trump was invited by people who had a legitimate reason to be there....Biden's handlers just grabbed some marines to place on stage to help him look presidential.

I don't think these people at Arlington were under any illusion about the people who asked Trump to be there wanting some photos. It seems rather obvious they would be expecting to have some video or some photos taken. This was done to try and make him look bad....instead of respectful, liked, and presidential.

Rather petty.

 

[AlexB23]

Good for him! A little maturity goes a long way.

Amen to that. In the past, I used to be not very mature, and was slow to admit my mistakes. Since praying to God more, and growing older in my mid-20s, now I admit my mistakes more often, and typically apologize in a matter of minutes to a day or two, cos my mistakes weigh on my mind. That might be God telling me something, or Him giving me discernment, but I am not sure.

 

[essentialsaltes]

...there are reports the US Army rejected the initial request for Trump to visit Arlington over concerns it would be used for political purposes. Speaker Johnson allegedly pressured the Army to allow the visit to go forward....to be verfied.

CNN

The office of House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN on Thursday that he’d “had to intervene to get former President Donald Trump into Arlington National Cemetery.” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul also told CNN that he’d reached out to Johnson’s office about the issue after being contacted by Darin Hoover and Kelly Barnett, the parents of Marine Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, who was killed at Abbey Gate. McCaul said Arlington had given the family members “a hard time about coordinating a ceremony on the anniversary of their children’s death with President Trump.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

Former president Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, doubled down Wednesday on telling Vice President Kamala Harris to “go to [heck],” falsely repeating that she had feigned outrage over an altercation between Trump’s campaign and an Arlington cemetery worker when she had not.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Vance defended his attack on Harris — saying “go to [heck]” is “a colloquial phrase”

Asked if the campaign should apologize to the worker, Vance said no.

 

[Arcangl86]

Former president Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, doubled down Wednesday on telling Vice President Kamala Harris to “go to [heck],” falsely repeating that she had feigned outrage over an altercation between Trump’s campaign and an Arlington cemetery worker when she had not.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Vance defended his attack on Harris — saying “go to [heck]” is “a colloquial phrase”

Asked if the campaign should apologize to the worker, Vance said no.

You know, amazingly enough, Donald has managed to find a running mate even more classless then he is.

 

[RileyG]

Amen to that. In the past, I used to be not very mature, and was slow to admit my mistakes. Since praying to God more, and growing older in my mid-20s, now I admit my mistakes more often, and typically apologize in a matter of minutes to a day or two, cos my mistakes weigh on my mind. That might be God telling me something, or Him giving me discernment, but I am not sure.

We learn as we get older. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[AlexB23]

We learn as we get older. Life is a marathon, not a sprint.

That is true. For instance, patience is a virtue that I am learning, and is a skill that I will work on for the rest of my life. The marathon is a perfect analogy for life, especially during the 2024 Paralympics.