On the third anniversary of the death of 13 of our troops during the Afghanistan withdrawal, Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a memorial wreath.
A report was filed of an alleged altercation between photographers and cemetery staff, which resulted in the Harris campaign pouncing and Senator JD Vance (R-OH) going nuclear at Harris.
Talking Points…
- The alleged incident at Arlington National Cemetery
- JD Vance responds
- Analysis
According to reports, when Trump arrived at Arlington National Cemetery, a staffer at the cemetery tried to block some of the Trump campaign staffers from accompanying Trump while he laid the wreath. The media immediately jumped all over Trump, calling it a "photo op." Now, let's be serious… any politician that does an event like this has it filmed and photos taken.
MSNBC ripped Trump over the incident, stating:
"I know a lot of military veterans were very uncomfortable with the idea that Trump was there at all and that he even at one point posed for a photograph with family members with a big smile and thumbs up on their face. Now we should note, some of the family members were doing the same, but that's their right.
"Donald Trump, seemingly, very strange that he would do the same. And yet, some of these veterans were sort of just aghast that even in any way, shape or form, Arlington National Cemetery, arguably the most sacred place in our country, was being used as a backdrop for a political purpose."
"Morning Joe" panel says Trump honoring thirteen service members was solely for political purposes. While Trump was at Arlington National Cemetery, Biden was on vacation. pic.twitter.com/T6ZKdkc4mk
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 28, 2024
Again, let's be serious. Every president and candidate who has gone to Arlington for an event has publicized the attendance, so this outrage is nonsense. You also have to love how a debunked narrative was tossed in at the end of that report for good measure.
After the alleged incident was reported, a spokesperson for Harris, Michael Tyler, called the incident "pretty sad" and "not surprising." I found that rather amusing, considering the number of photo ops this administration has taken in rather unfortunate circumstances. When Vance heard the comments coming from the Harris campaign, he literally stated that Kamala Harris "can go to hell." Vance added:
"The other thing that our veterans care more about is that three years ago, 13 brave, innocent Americans died. And they died because Kamala Harris refused to do her job and there hasn't been a single investigation or a single firing.
"Kamala Harris is disgraceful. We want to talk about a story out of those 13 braves, innocent Americans who lost their lives? It's that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won't even do an investigation into what happened. And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up?"
Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign spokesperson, also fired off an attack, stating:
"The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony.
"We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made."
For the record, I do not believe anyone should be able to film anything at Arlington National Cemetery, but we have seen this happen in the past, yet now, all of a sudden, it is an issue. And, of course, the media jumps all over it to trash Trump. Remember this report the next time you see photos of Harris or Biden at the cemetery, then ask yourself why the same outrage is not occurring.
One other point… the decision by Trump to take a picture with smiling faces and thumbs up at the cemetery is a bit idiotic. This is a solemn place, and when you consider the circumstances of the deaths of these troops, it is not something where you would want to take such a picture. I think Trump would have been far better served to take a photo with these family members at a different location rather than standing over their graves. But it just appears to be one more unforced error by a campaign that can ill afford to make any mistakes in such a close race. Remember, every single move made by Trump is examined with a fine-toothed comb by the media, so he just has to be smarter.
