Guess Who Thinks He was the Real Arlington Victim!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

In an article posted two days ago for The New Republic entitled "Trump's New Rant Over Arlington Scandal Should Wake Up Dems," staff writer Greg Sargent focused on remarks Trump gave at a Michigan rally this past Thursday in which he went on an "extended rant" about what had occurred during his visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.  That incident involved Trump campaign staffers allegedly pushing a park official and shoving her aside while they filmed Trump laying a wreath and then giving a short speech to Gold Star family members in commemoration of the fallen during the final days of the Afghanistan War.

The cemetery official who was assaulted by members of the Trump campaign team was doing her job of trying to prohibit filming at the cemetery for political purposes - which is a violation of federal law.  She filed a report regarding the incident with military authorities.   Arlington National Cemetery is managed by the Army through the Office of Military Cemeteries.   The female employee, who Trump campaign staffers referred to as "unpatriotic" and "mentally unstable," declined to press charges out of a fear of retaliation by over-zealous Trump supporters.

Trump denied that he was at the cemetery for political purposes, saying that he does not need the publicity.   He said that he was there to pose for pictures with the families of the soldiers who had died during the final evacuation from Afghanistan, but members of his campaign staff were there making a professional video, and it appeared on TikTok as part of the election campaign soon afterward. 

Now Trump is using the incident to further his ad nauseam complaint of being a victim, and to tie it all in with the "deep state" paranoia that he tries to gin up among his followers.

Greg Sargent, in his article for The New Republic, had this to say:

"At a rally in Michigan on Thursday, Donald Trump released an extended rant about the confrontation this week between his campaign staff and Arlington National Cemetery officials.  Shockingly, he offered a highly distorted account of the scandal and painted himself as one of its victims.  Trump even linked this to a bigger lie about the Deep State being out to get him, backhandedly illustrating a big reason why all this matters in the first place:  It reveals a level of contempt for the law and public service that's incompatible with democracy."

Mr. Sargent argues, rightfully, I believe, that the public has a right to an accounting of what actually took place at Arlington National Cemetery last Monday.  The cemetery employee who was physically confronted by the Trump campaign staffers may have been intimidated into not pressing charges, but she did file a report with her superiors, and now Senator Tim Kaine and Rep. Gerry Connolly, members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committee, respectively, are calling on the Army to release information that it has on the incident - information that should include the report filed by the cemetery employee.

A campaign video was made in a national cemetery in violation of federal law, that video has already been aired as a part of a political campaign, and now all Americans should be allowed to hear the facts as to why and how this desecration of hallowed ground took place.

It's our cemetery, and we have a right to know!