"Yesterday, the U.S. Army issued a stern rebuke to the Trump campaign over his visit on Monday to the Arlington National Cemetery...
The incident has blown up into a big issue, but not because the Trump campaign erroneously held a political event at the Arlington National Cemetery."
~ Robert Reich
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/1
"It’s blown up because it’s a microcosm of Donald Trump’s moral squalor. ...
What happened at Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week was much more than an erroneous photo op. It was Trump on full display."
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/2
"The Army said that the cemetery hosts almost 3,000 public wreath-laying ceremonies a year without incident and that Trump and his staff 'were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and [Department of Defense] policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds'.”
~ Heather Cox Richardson
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/3
"It went on to say that a cemetery employee 'who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside…. This incident was unfortunate, & it is also unfortunate that the… employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. [Arlington National 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 & respect the nation’s fallen deserve.'”
#Arlington
/4
“'I don’t think I can adequately explain what a massive deal it is for the Army to make a statement like this,' political writer and veteran Allison Gill of Mueller, She Wrote, noted. 'The Pentagon avoids statements like this at all costs. But a draft dodging traitor decided to lie about our armed forces staff, so they went to paper.'”
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/5
Below is a screenshot of the headline for Josh Kovensky's report today at Daily Kos about the Army's statement re: Trump's desecration of Arlington National Cemetery:
"Army: Thousands of Events Are Held at Arlington. Only Trump Caused an Incident."
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/6
"The law aside, only a gross lack of manners, decency and humility could incline a person to film a fundraising appeal over the resting places of dead men and women who cannot decline to participate in the coarse spectacle. The photo of a grinning Trump giving a jaunty thumbs up over these patriots’ graves is an indelible image of narcissism risen to the point of sociopathy."
~ Kevin Carroll
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/7
"At Arlington, it’s not a controversy. It’s a crime.
Who are we going to believe, Trump or the United States Army? ...
Assault is a crime, but the criming didn’t stop there."
~ John Stoehr
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/8
https://www.editorialboard.com/at-arlington-its-not-a-controversy-its-a-crime/
"There’s nothing funny about Trump’s desecration of Arlington National Cemetery. Except perhaps the image of clueless Trump smiling like a moron giving the thumbs up in front of row upon row of the grave markers of fallen warriors. I mean, it’s deeply offensive. Repugnant in the extreme."
~ David Rothkopf
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/9
https://davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/nature-is-sending-you-a-message-about
"But it’s also the kind of dark cutting commentary on Trump’s zero I.Q. vileness that the best parodists in the world would be hard-pressed to imagine. He does this kind of thing alot, by the way. It’s because he is a monstrous person."
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/10
"It took real courage for the Arlington National Cemetery employee to try to enforce the rules in the face of Trump campaign threats and bullying. It’s understandable that she wasn’t willing to file a police report. It’s very possible that wouldn’t have ended well for her."
~ Mary Trump
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/11
"And that’s the real story—that private citizens are afraid to do the right thing because the Republican nominee to be president of the United States is a low-life criminal who doesn’t care what happens to anybody but him—as long as he gets his way."
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/12
"You know who I’d like to hear from on Arlington Cemetery Controversy? Senator Tom Cotton, who wrote in his book that Arlington 'transcend[s] politics' and that the ANC Reps are 'some of the most respectful, professional public servants.'"
~ Jim Swift
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans #TomCotton #Republicans
/13
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-manages-to-spoil-one-of-our
Mike Luckovich commenting on Trump's foul political stunt exploiting the graves of deceased soldiers.
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/14
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/29/2266624/-Cartoon-The-foulest-photo-op
"The nation’s honored dead did not die for this."
~ Greg Olear
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/15
Don Moynihan's optic on the gross stunt pulled at Arlington National Cemetery:
"Arlington is a small moment that offers a big insight into what a second Trump administration might look like."
Moynihan sees five takeaways here:
1. Public service as a koke; public servants as props.
2. Responsiveness to the President = lawbreaking.
3. The Purpose of schedule F is to enable impunity.
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/16
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trumps-arlington-debacle-shows-us
4. Media can get past both sides coverage.
5. The future is terror.
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/17
Noah Berlatsky thinks that, though there's strong resistance in some quarters to the use of the term "fascism" to describe what Trump and his minions are about, the Arlington drama shows us that "we are actually at the point where fascists are silencing people."
It shows us that fascism is already here in Trump and his thugs.
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/18
https://www.everythingishorrible.net/p/trumps-arlington-photoshoot-shows
"Is this the worst thing Donald’s ever done? Not by a long-shot. But the combination of selfishness, thuggery, menace, and his willingness to bring the entire weight of his power to bear on a private American citizen is a pretty good encapsulation of everything that is wrong with and disqualifying about him.
It's time for corporate media to catch up and refuse to let this one go."
~ Mary Trump
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/19
"We go to cemeteries for all sorts of reasons. To pray. To honor the dead. To commune with the souls of the departed. Cemeteries are solemn places. We instinctively whisper when we visit them.
You do not often see people smiling in cemeteries, though that does happen from time to time.
But I have never seen someone give a thumbs-up over a grave. Until now."
~ Jonathan V. Last
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/20
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/thumbs-up-the-story-of-no-context
"I really want you to think about this for a minute. Do you know anyone in your life who would pose for a photo in a cemetery giving the thumbs-up?
I do not.
So the question is: What’s going on inside Trump’s mind here? What makes him do this? I think I have an answer."
Last then walks through photos of Trump spanning years, same smile, same thumbs up, never varying.
#Trump #Arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #military #veterans
/21
He concludes:
"Normal people are context-dependent. They behave differently depending on the situation.
That’s because they feel differently in different contexts. …
For Trump, he is the context. …
Trump isn’t standing over a grave. The tombstone is a piece of his campaign for president.
And that’s why, in every one of these pictures, Trump is wearing the exact same smile and giving the exact same thumbs-up. Because to Trump, there is no context but Trump."
#Trump #Arlington
/22
When I see a "Veterans for Trump" sign I'm going to be attempted to add a print out of this to the side...but then I realize that anyone who would put that sign outside their home would be honoured if that ass posed with a thumbs up over their grave.
Extra weird is that looking closely (to do the outline) made me realize that neither of the people on either side of him are actually in contact with him. There's a few inch gap on both sides. Contrast that with Harris & Walz and their joy when interacting with constituents.
@Oldfartrant I have seen commentators suggesting this, and a friend of mine on Facebook asked me that same question. As you know, they have a habit of doing this and then ridiculing anyone who points out what they're doing, pretending that people are seeing what's not there.
But I suspect that's what she's doing.
"We suddenly discovered we had already surrendered."
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