Veterans Condemn Trump’s Arlington National Cemetery Campaign Stunt

After members of Donald Trump’s campaign were allegedly involved in a physical altercation with staff at Arlington National Cemetery, veterans are stepping forward to condemn the former president’s use of the hallowed burial ground as a campaign backdrop.

On Tuesday, Trump attended an event at the cemetery honoring servicemembers who were killed in the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. NPR reported later that afternoon that during the visit staffers attempted to stop members of Trump’s campaign entourage from taking photographs and videos in Section 60, a section of the cemetery where servicemembers who were killed in the post-9/11 wars in the Middle East are interred.

According to NPR, when staffers attempted to prevent Trump’s staff from entering the area, they were verbally abused and physically pushed aside.

In a statement, Arlington Cemetery officials noted that “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,” adding that the rules are enforced on all visitors.

The incident is drawing widespread condemnation, particularly because Trump’s campaign did in fact use content filmed at the cemetery in a video posted to his official TikTok account and on other social media platforms.

VoteVets, a progressive veterans non-profit, condemned the stunt.

“He called them suckers and losers. He refused to visit their fellow fallen, in Europe. But today, with an election coming up, Donald Trump pretends to care about all those who died in service to America,” the organization wrote on X, formerly Twitter, referencing a past incident where Trump allegedly referred to deceased servicemembers as “suckers” and “losers” during a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in 2018.

Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a nonpartisan nonprofit, wrote on X: “Real veterans know how gross this is. This is a new low.”

“Trump and his team have no respect for those who have given everything for this country. Using them as political props in a campaign is despicable,” the group wrote in a separate post. “Trump knows nothing of real service. Veterans deserve better! America deserves better!”

Several members of Congress who served in the armed forces also condemned the stunt.

“The hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery are the final resting place for American heroes,” wrote Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who served in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “Trump defiled Arlington National Cemetery by doing a crass campaign stunt over the grave of a fallen soldier. And his campaign staff acted like bullies. Trump should apologize.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), a former Marine, wrote on X that “Trump’s disrespect at Arlington National Cemetery is part of a pattern: he’s a draft-dodger who called American war dead ‘suckers & losers’, attacked a Gold Star family & POW, & wants to cut veterans’ benefits.”

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served in the Air National Guard, called Trump “ a disgrace to our nation, and to Arlington National Cemetery.”

“To politicize that visit without regard for the rules is just par for the course from this sick man and his tiny minions,” he wrote.

Trump’s former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper called for an investigation into the altercation between Trump’s cohort and cemetery staff. “I think the bottom line is that no person or party on either side should ever use Arlington National Cemetery — or any of our cemeteries or battlefields — for partisan political purposes,” he said.

This isn’t even the first time this month that Trump has angered veterans and veterans groups. In mid-August, the former president stated during a campaign event at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that the Presidential Medal of Freedom — a civilian honor — is “much better” than the military Medal of Honor, “because “everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.”

Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), a bipartisan organization that advocates for improved support and benefits for former servicemembers, condemned Trump’s remarks..

“These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty,” VFW National Commander Al Lipphardt wrote in a statement. “When a candidate to serve as our military’s commander-in-chief so brazenly dismisses the valor and reverence symbolized by the Medal of Honor and those who have earned it, I must question whether they would discharge their responsibilities to our men and women in uniform with the seriousness and discernment necessary for such a powerful position.”

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