NPR
Trump campaign staffers have run-in with Arlington National Cemetery official
“The former president’s demeanor was criticized online as many were puzzled—and others outright offended—that he’d give his signature smirk and hand gesture at such a sensitive site.
“Smiling thumbs up at the grave is unusual to say the least,” posted Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker who’s a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard…
Trump’s campaign has recently tried to pin the U.S. military’s bloody exit from Afghanistan as an attack line on Harris. This is despite Trump being the president who struck the deal that led to the withdrawal, with him going as far as planning to host members of the Taliban at Camp David on Sept. 11, 2019, to finalize it.
Arlington National Cemetery has strict rules about partisan events on its grounds and denies entry to anyone who tries to “gain publicity or engender support for any cause,” but presidents and politicians regularly attend memorials there that are typically covered Trump has a checkered past with the military and veterans. He was accused by those formerly close to him of dodging the Vietnam War draft by making up an injury. He’s also disparaged the intelligence of service members and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, The Atlantic reported during his presidency.
Among the most damning alleged comments revealed in that report was that Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood—a deadly WWI battle—as “suckers” for getting killed. In a separate conversation on the matter, he reportedly referred to soldiers killed in action as “losers.”
“Why should I go to that cemetery?” he was accused of saying. “It’s filled with losers.”
Trump has claimed the allegations made in the bombshell report aren’t true. Those once close to him confirmed the quotes’ veracity, however. That included the retired four-star Marine general John Kelly, who was Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff.
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Trump Flashes ‘Unusual’ Thumbs Up and Smile at Graves of Fallen Marines
Josh Fiallo
Mon, August 26, 2024 at 6:51 PM EDT
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