Why Trump's Arlington Debacle Is So Serious

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/08/trump-arlington-cemetery/679659/

No paywall link
https://web.archive.org/web/20240830154819/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/08/trump-arlington-cemetery/679659/

The section of Arlington National Cemetery that Donald Trump visited on Monday is both the liveliest and the most achingly sad part of the grand military graveyard, set aside for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Section 60, young widows can be seen using clippers and scissors to groom the grass around their husbands’ tombstones as lots of children run about.

Karen Meredith knows the saddest acre in America only too well. The California resident’s son, First Lieutenant Kenneth Ballard, was the fourth generation of her family to serve as an Army officer. He was killed in Najaf, Iraq, in 2004, and laid to rest in Section 60. She puts flowers on his gravesite every Memorial Day. “It’s not a number, not a headstone,” she told me. “He was my only child.”

The sections of Arlington holding Civil War and World War I dead have a lonely and austere beauty. Not Section 60, where the atmosphere is sanctified but not somber—too many kids, Meredith recalled from her visits to her son’s burial site. “We laugh, we pop champagne. I have met men who served under him, and they speak of him with such respect. And to think that this man”—she was referring to Trump—“came here and put his thumb up—”

She fell silent for a moment on the telephone, taking a gulp of air. “I’m trying not to cry.”

For Trump, defiling what is sacred in our civic culture borders on a pastime. Peacefully transferring power to the next president, treating political adversaries with at least rudimentary grace, honoring those soldiers wounded and disfigured in service of our country—Trump long ago walked roughshod over all these norms. Before he tried to overturn a national election, he mocked his opponents in the crudest terms and demeaned dead soldiers as “suckers.”

*snip*

[PSPS]

1. "'And to think that this man'--she was referring to Trump--'came here and put his thumb up--'"

What was even more remarkable is that some of the human props he used for that shot had their thumbs up too. Just one big happy celebration!!111!!11!

[Bayard]

2. Defiling

I like that word. He has been defiling patriotism, honesty, normalcy, and regular people for years.

[Cha]

3. TY.. It looks like TSF knows he's in deep shit doing what he did..

the way he's trying to Weasel out of it.

He incited Storming the US Capitol Building and Now he's personally Stormed Arlington Cemetery

[Bucky]

4. How do you get no-paywall news links?

Inquiring minds want to know

[Nevilledog]

5. It's really easy.

Take the link to the article and enter it on https://archive.ph/ or https://web.archive.org/

[Bucky]

7. 😌

Thanks! 📰🖤

[wolfie001]

8. Thank you Democratic Angel!!!

I'm not religious but this is the next best thing!!! Kudos!

[Nevilledog]

10. There are a few publications it can't crack, but it's really useful.

[markpkessinger]

27. Another way to do it is to go into your brower settings , , ,

I use Chrome. Under Site Settings->Customized Behaviors->Javascript, I add the following entry:



It doesn't work for all sites, but it definitely works for The Atlantic!

[Skittles]

6. it's such an utter lack of respect

Trump is self-serving scum with zero awareness of the feelings of ANYONE else.

[2naSalit]

9. Another sick thing...

About this event is that his shithead cult followers will do the same at national parks and other places where respect is warranted. I can see it now, someone at a bear jam in jellystone decides to push the one ranger on hand around and a gang forms and bad shit goes down. Bound to happen in coming tourist seasons. People have already shown they have no respect for these places, it was obvious when I was a ranger back several years ago now. It was so bad I had to get away from the park not just stop working there.

This will trickle down through the minions, sadly.

[BattleRow]

19. Trickle down..

Fish rots from the head.

[Sky Jewels]

11. And if he were aware of their feelings

he wouldn’t give a flying fuck!

[erronis]

16. Another perspective: If he was aware of anyone elses feelings, he wouldn't be trump.

Amazing how there are so many unempathetic people, especially in that party.

[usedtobedemgurl]

20. I think people like JD

Are dark empaths.

[twodogsbarking]

12. Every day is something new that makes me wonder what the fuckin' fuck.

I miss Ruth.

[Cha]

13. Kick

[mwb970]

14. Pure evil.

[Botany]

15. Trump and company were told it was illegal to film @ the grave site but they did it anyway and

…. then released a video of it on Tik Tok. From The Atlantic:


A cemetery employee politely attempted to stop the campaign staff from filming in Section 60. Taking campaign photos and videos at gravesites is expressly forbidden under federal law. The Trump entourage, according to a subsequent statement by the U.S. Army, which oversees the cemetery, “abruptly pushed” her aside.

Trump’s campaign soon posted a video on TikTok, overlaid with Trump’s narration: “We didn’t lose one person in 18 months. And then they”—the Biden administration—“took over, that disaster of leaving Afghanistan.”

Trump was unsurprisingly not telling the truth; 11 soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in his last year in office, and his administration had itself negotiated the withdrawal. But such fabrications are incidental sins compared with what came next. A top Trump adviser, Chris LaCivita, and campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung talked to reporters and savaged the employee who had tried to stop the entourage. Cheung referred to her as “an unnamed individual, clearly suffering a mental-health episode.” LaCivita declared her a “despicable individual” who ought to be fired.

There was, of course, another way to handle this mistake. Governor Spencer Cox of Utah had accompanied Trump to the cemetery, and his campaign emailed out photos of the governor and the former president there. When challenged, Cox did what is foreign to Trump: He apologized. “You are correct,” Cox replied to a person criticizing the event on X, adding, “It did not go through the proper channels and should not have been sent. My campaign will be sending out an apology.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20240830154819/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/08/trump-arlington-cemetery/679659/

[CrispyQ]

26. Don't forget Speaker Mike's part in making it happen.

These guys are so bereft of decency it's boggling. My opinion of people who still support the Republican Party has changed forever.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

33. Yeah, but Cox still did it to be seen with one of

the most disgustingly dishonest & disrespectful persons ever to walk the earth. He had to have known of the previous anti-military personnel comments Felon 45 made. Not to mention the insurrection.

And did Cox actually ever send an honest & true apology to those to whom he sent the initial "Look at me with the great Trump" email?

[RANDYWILDMAN]

17. This better be in the news for weeks !

otherwise the MSM is not doing their job !

Trump is such a piece of garbage, but he has been talking shit about soldiers for years including Mccain and his freaky followers don't care, BUT THEY SHOULD !

[DENVERPOPS]

21. Absolutely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Dem Party should make this the center of attention every day until Nov 5th. Showing Trump and the Republican Party for their blatant and flagrant disrespect for the Military and the countless of them that have died for OUR DEMOCRACY.......

[liberal N proud]

18. If you do not feel the solemness when at Arlington

There is something wrong with you.
There is a special feeling when on those grounds and it does not require any connection to anyone who sacrificed and is resting there.

[COL Mustard]

22. I have friends and former colleagues who are

Buried there. What Asshole 45 did is far beyond the pale. He should be ashamed, but he has no shame.

[DallasNE]

23. "He Was My Only Child"

That is what Trump desecrated. And that is what you can't forgive.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

24. Makes me mad every time I read about it. They didn't have to go.

[BComplex]

25. I WANT THE NAME OF HIS GROUP THAT PUSHED THE FEMALE OFFICER!

I want that assholes name to be spread far and wide, and I don't want him to have another moment of peace in this lifetime.

[Botany]

28. Steven Cheung. Trump's campaign spokesperson.

[BComplex]

34. Thank you, Botany! He needs to face the shame of the nation. What a creep.

Just another trump asshole.

[Botany]

35. He played H.S. football ... total punk

Last edited Sat Aug 31, 2024, 09:15 PM - Edit history (1)

I wish the woman would have filled charges against him and then the D. o J. could
keep an eye on her and bust any MAGA coward who tried to get at her.

[BComplex]

36. I hope that the DOJ under Harris will be more pro active about that kind of threat.

It's time to put the domestic terrorists on notice that the rules have changed.

[OhioTim]

29. Trump Has Done This Before

He finds a grieving family and uses them as props, promising that he will give their plight some national attention. Of course, he doesn't give a crap about anyone else, only his demented mind.

[Blue Owl]

30. The Dump of the highest Dishonor

Time to lock his fat egomaniacal ass up and give him some time to contemplate what a hideous, horrible human being he is.

[krkaufman]

31. 5000 Taliban prisoners freed

Yet another article discussing our exit from Afghanistan without mentioning the 5000 Taliban prisoners that the Trump Admin released merely to get to the peace table with the Taliban, and with no discussion of their becoming part of the force that overthrew the Afghan government.

[Postal Grunt]

32. After the Doha Agreement was signed

it couldn't have taken very long for both civil and military leadership to realize that the rules of doing business were going to change and not for the better. When the US troops and contractors started to leave, the Afghan officers and officials knew what they had to do for their families and themselves to survive.The collapse of the Afghan government and military was predictable. The Trump administration just refused to admit it to themselves and the public that it was more than possible.

[DallasNE]

37. That Was Negotated With The Taliban

The Afghanistan government was not even in the room and had no say. The 5,000 prisoners Trump released while in office were the core of the Taliban army that routed the Afghanistan military.