Trump's Arlington stunt should be a campaign-ending disgrace

Members of Donald Trump’s campaign engaged in an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday that, in any normal year, would be a wall-to-wall scandal. It was part of a political stunt staged to help Trump blunt Vice President Kamala Harris’ surging momentum, but not only did this disgraceful farce go wrong in a way that’s still unfolding, but also the very idea of it is sickening.

To create a photo op showing that Trump supports the military, his staff broke the rules of the military cemetery, verbally and physically quarreled with a cemetery official, and filmed in an area where photography is not permitted. They also seem to have violated federal law.

Compounding the incident, Trump’s campaign has refused to apologize. Instead, spokesperson Steven Cheung called the cemetery official “an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” and top advisor Chris LaCivita tried to reverse the blame, calling for the official to be fired.

With retired Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster’s recently published book reminding Americans of how Trump regularly demeaned service members, Trump’s team clearly hoped to engineer an event through which Trump could be seen as pro-military. They also wanted to make a slap at Harris.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/28/2266259/-Trump-s-Arlington-stunt-should-be-a-campaign-ending-disgrace