I know there are those of you out there saying, “Toni has become a one horse pony. This is the third post she has written on Abbey Gate and the fourth from Victory Girls just this week.” Those of us who are military families are righteously furious and we are not letting this go. The Left won’t let us grieve without them moaning about everything. They were bitchy about President Trump participating in the Wreath Laying Ceremony. They are apoplectic about photos at the grave. Gah!
According to the Democrat Media Industrial Complex, the Trump staffers were out of line: “Trump campaign staff had altercation with official at Arlington National Cemetery”
Two members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony, NPR has learned.
A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried. The source said Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60.
When the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staff from entering Section 60, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, according to the source.
Trump participated in an event to mark the third anniversary of a deadly attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew from the country; 13 U.S. service members were killed in the attack. The Trump campaign has blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, for the chaotic withdrawal.
In a statement to NPR, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s spokesman, strongly rejected the notion of a physical altercation, adding: “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.
“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,” Cheung said in the statement.
Damn skippy, that we blame Biden and Harris for the “chaotic” withdrawal. Poorly planned and deadly would be more accurate. We would not be surprised to learn that the unnamed person was suffering a mental health episode commonly known as Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). TDS like Morning Joe’s Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle had when they talked about the “Trump Campaign” attending Arlington. President Trump attended at the request of some families. It would be too hard to be a journalist.
Oh, the horror! Smiling at a loved one’s burial place. I know a family that always puts the Tennessee Checkerboard on their Marine’s grave and smile about it. And then there is this:
U.S. Army veteran Lucas O’Hara, who was at Arlington Cemetery on Monday honoring those killed at Abbey Gate on the third anniversary of the bombing in Afghanistan.
“I have witnessed over 75 wreath laying ceremonies performed by politicians and conducted 524 funerals in this… pic.twitter.com/FmFlm87Eo3
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) August 28, 2024
The families themselves had something to say:
Thank you letter to President Trump for attending the memorial anniversary for the Abbey Gate fallen at Arlington. pic.twitter.com/pw0MdfdAzC
— Kat (@AlaskaDeho62035) August 28, 2024
Oh the brave keyboard warriors who dare to tell Gold Star Families how, when and where to grieve and who to grieve with. Tomorrow, they will be back to yelling “My body, My choice” or “Free, Free, Free Palestine”. Oops. I don’t want to leave out the True American Grinch-type thinking:
As bad as an altercation with staff is, seems to me that it's even scummier that Trump tried to use the men and women buried at Arlington National Cemetery as props.
To Trump all of us & all that we hold sacred belongs to him.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 28, 2024
Thank God the families pushed back on this utter shite. Don’t forget to vote Trump/Vance on November 5.
Featured Image: petermshane a/k/a petermshane/x/widely distributed
A reader says: Oooh the gaslighting it burns!!!
1. It doesn’t matter what the families say. They are not the only ones with family members buried in that section. The rules apply to everyone. And the rules, which you so clearly are ignoring in your quest to make this ok, are as follows: “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.” Yes, that’s a quote from the article but it’s also a quote from an official at Arlington. Families have to abide by those rules too.
2. The NPR reporter is a veteran war/military correspondent who is deeply respected among service members. Unsurprisingly, you do him a great disservice by demeaning his reporting.
3. The army is not a monolith. There are people of varying political views in it, as your son should be able to tell you. So to claim that this is ok by all veterans or to deign to assume that the Abbey Gate families represent everyone who is buried in that section is deeply insulting. Those families don’t speak for everyone. Did they get permission from the family of the soldier buried next to the grave used for the photo-op? I’m guessing not.
You can try to gaslight this all you want. But it looks bad. And people see that. Republicans lost any talking points with veterans when they refused to pass legislation in support of them, including burn pits. So you can just sit alllllllll the way down with your nonsense supporting your draft dodging candidate.
rbj1 says: You know what looks bad, “a reader?” You and your fellow travelers using a solemn ceremony to try and denigrate a leading political candidate. Especially one who’s prior administration was about trying to work for peace and avoid more of such ceremonies.
NPR is filled with marxists and is not non-partisan.
SFC D says: Where was your president and vice-president? Defend their absence. After all, these fine young Americans died on their watch, under the orders of their AWOL commander in chief. And while you’re defending our senile president, tell the readers why he didn’t serve, why he got multiple deferments. I don’t think you have the testicular fortitude to even attempt it. Take your seat.
Ah, Card Number 17 in the Leftist deck. I expected that to be played by one of you trolls.
Yes, the military is a human organization. It has human shaped trash in it, just like any other human organization.
Frequently, these creatures are discovered and ejected while they are in uniform. Some skate by, and even rise to high rank – see Milley and Austin. Some don’t show their true nature until they are out of uniform – see McCain and Walz.
Oh, by the way – NEITHER of the National Propaganda Radio “journalists” that broke this piece of partisan trash – Quil or Bowman have ANY military service in their biographies.
Now, one of them (Quil) was honored by IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) some years back. However, digging into their lobbying priorities (which, like every Leftist front group, is ALL that they do, not things like actually HELPING their supposed constituency), you will find a nice little gem on “diversity and equality.” Proudly exhibiting their early jumping on to the Floyd scam. (Just what relevance a drug addicted thug that never served in the military has to veteran’s issues completely escapes me.)
Oh, by the way, your last THREE Democrat Presidents were “draft dodgers” – by your definition of today (which will change when you get new talking points). In their favor, at least none of them joined the military and then turned tail and ran when the possibility of being shot at came up. That has unfortunately changed…
Scott says: “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”
Speaking of gaslighting.. I know you’re not very bright, so I’ll use small words reader.. President Trump and his staff were there supporting THE FAMILIES, not his campaign. So according to what you wrote above, they did nothing wrong.
As to the supposed physical altercation, as the saying goes, “pictures or it didn’t happen”.. so far, only one side is offering to produce video evidence, and not surprisingly, it’s NOT the side that you’re in favor of. But that being said, I’ll reserve judgment until there’s clear evidence one way or the other.
Its obvious that being a leftist, you can’t for even a second imagine a politician doing something because IT”S THE RIGHT THING TO DO, as opposed to advancing an agenda, so President Trump doing just that baffles you.
Once again, as in the joke, You’re not here for the hunting are you???
From the conditions that Arlington administrators sent to Trump: “Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool.”
He apparently had one of each, as approved. Even the Regime apparatchiks at National Propaganda Radio say “two people.” Which an unnamed (and therefore untraceable) source reportedly tried to block.
Everyone else, if they wanted media there, had to integrate them into the press pool that was not permitted into Section 60.
Scott says: So once again, a reader was spewing bullshit.. I’d put on a shcoked face if I had any left..
A reader says: It doesn’t matter whether they were there to support the families. The families had every right to invite them. What they couldn’t do was use their own photographer and use the photos and videos as a political stunt. And that’s exactly what they did. There’s media from the ceremony on Trump’s TikTok page. That’s against federal regulations regarding military cemeteries. Don’t believe me? Here’s the code: 32 CFR § 553.32(c) and here it is in text: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/32/553.32
And here it is in the official webpage. You have to scroll down to find it, but it’s there: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-32/subtitle-A/chapter-V/subchapter-D/part-553
So spare me. Also this was a private ceremony. Biden is frequently at Arlington both officially and unofficially as evidenced by many army photographs. (You know, the photographers that are there?) as Fred Wellman stated: “Google is your friend.” He’s also the one who provided the information about the photographer on site, though that’s probably found officially stated somewhere as well. He is a veteran, he has friends buried there, he should know.
To quote Fred: “ There was an official photographer there from Arlington. The campaign wanted their guys. Arlington does that to make sure other families aren’t caught up against their wishes. That’s on top of it being a campaign staffer which is literally against Federal law. They were told that and then assaulted an Army official when she wouldn’t budge. Do you see that grave on the left? Major Navas. His family didn’t get to approve his grave being included in Trump’s stunt. You see that family visiting their loved one way in the back? They didn’t get to approve being included in this ridiculous smiling picture as they mourned. That’s why they have the rules and official photographers. Because this family doesn’t get to over rule the others and use their families for this campaign stunt.” here’s the link: https://x.com/FPWellman/status/1828808313829499385
I’ll counter with: you’re not all that bright are you? I have family members that are veterans. While I don’t have family who are in section 60, I will agree with Fred that 2 of the 13 Abbey Gate families don’t speak for all of them, nor do they speak for the many families with loved ones buried in that section.
But please, by all means, don’t let facts get in the way of your feelings.
(And I’m a reader because I read, here and elsewhere. You should try it sometimes, it’s fun!)
SFC D says: Again, I ask. Where was the President, Vice President, and Secretary of Defense? We currently have a vacationer in chief, a cackling candidate, and a useless secretary of defense. Those three individuals got these 13 people killed. And you don’t care. Now let’s talk about Joe’s deferments. You still haven’t found your balls.
Cameron says: Wow…did you get paid extra to actually post more than once every few days? Good for you!
So when are you going to explain the absence of President Biden and Vice President Harris?
Scott says: Don’t have time to address all this right now, have to work, but one point ” I have family members that are veterans.”.. Good for you. I’m also a veteran, and my family has had someone serve in every armed conflict that this nation has been involved in, since the French and Indian wars…
Does that make ya feel better?
Bless your heart..
Did the families of Jessica Y Sarandrea, Severin West Summers III, Christopher James Sullivan, and Kevin Michael Witte give permission for a United Press International photographer to take pictures of their loved ones gravestones? For Propagandizing Bullshit Service to put it on their website? Kevin Dietsch is certainly not an “Arlington Photographer,” and never was. That, and other photos from the same visit by Hussein Obama are plastered ALL over Leftist political web sites (such as 3 Chics Politico).
(Can’t read the ranks that well – looks like Ms. Sarandrea and Mr. Summers were Sergeants First Class, and Mr. Sullivan was perhaps a Captain – but I can’t absolutely say.)
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TJ Jackson says: Dear A Reader:
You know what looks really bad, the devil quoting scripture. Defending the critters who killed these men, left thousands of Americans behind, abandoned 86 billion in American equipment to the sworn enemies of American against the advice of most advisors, and then insulted the memories of thousands of servicemen who were killed and maimed carrying out the directives of the US government because of the misguided whims and fantasies of the Biden posse, which have thrown the world in to a chaotic frenzy of violence and war.
It takes a cult to disrespect the wishes of the families of the dead and elevate the wishes of unseen bureaucrats above their wishes. Being a veteran, I am keenly aware of how caring civilian weenies are towards the needs of veterans. So tell us what your MOS is and where you served before you dare to lecture anyone about those buried at Arlington or any military commentary. Finally, given the respect the Democrats have shown these family members, and the military in general, especially those who refused the death jab, do not dare to pontificate to those who have served this nation, and have been insulted and abused by DEI warriors and blue falcons. Go back to destroy monuments to men who sacrificed for causes they believed in, whose feet you are not fit to lick, rename bases that have a long and historical past, which you choose to dishonor, and substitute those traditions that created the greatest military the world has ever seen that followed duty, honor and country and substitute-diversity, equity and inclusion. And we get the cancer we see in every agency and the likely result of a disastrous next war. In short you craven cretin, take a claymore and stick it up where the sun done shine. And tell your war hero buddies Walz, that amazing Kerry, the one that got 3 purple hearts and never spent a day in hospital, and those draft dodging assholes Biden, Clinton and Obama, to join the Red Guards.
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