A Despicable Individual: On Using Graves As Billboards

Even by "seditionist crapsack standards," Trump's grotesque fuckery at Arlington Cemetery, where he and his henchmen used dead soldiers as a campaign prop, has been reviled as "repugnant," "nauseating," and "Too Damn Much," especially after news they shoved aside a female employee to do it. The desperate "hole-in-the-soul" stunt pissed off veterans, their families, the Army and many others; some said they've never grinned thumbs-up at a grave, but now they hope to live long enough to get to do it.

Trump's latest loathsome move is part of a long, inglorious slide to the bottom. As his numbers drop and his crimes resurface - thank you Jack Smith - he's ever more incoherent, vindictive, preposterous, often babbling on crumbling Truth Social. On Kamala Harris: her "FAKE NUMBERS VERSUS MY NUMBERS," how she "HAS TO PAY FOR HER FAKE ENGAGEMENT," how "WE'RE BEATING HER 'LIKE A DRUM.'" (Harris campaign: "Rent free.") Trashing Walz - RIP Minnesota! - he mourned a "state in shock, the city burned down and it was never built back, it was terrible." He says Dems want to kill newborns, Biden sleeps too much, Kim Jong Un doesn't, Hillary and Kamala gave (many) blow jobs, crime is down worldwide because the perps come here. Asked in Wisconsin what he'd do to "make life more affordable," he said, "Some people don't eat bacon anymore...This was caused by their horrible energy - they want wind all over the place." One comment: "Operation let him talk is going exceedingly well."

For a five-time-draft-dodger who's heedlessly savored his escape from hell by calling those who didn't "suckers and losers" - and who famously said of wounded warriors, "Nobody wants to see that" - his imbroglio at Arlington National Cemetery was both shocking and not. Having assembled "all the assholes somehow compelled to find their way to the side of the one silver-spoon failson asshole who would reign supreme over them all" - thank you Uncharted Blue - he decided the best way to troll enemies was by "decorating your campaign with their fallen friends" on Arlington's hallowed ground. The central irony of his hope to highlight the flaws of Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan by joining with family members of a soldier killed in the Kabul airport attack: It was Bone Spurs himself who approved the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters in a widely panned deal he negotiated, ignoring warnings from sidelined Afghan president Ashraf Ghani that the move would lead to deadly chaos, which - surprise! - it did.

So it was that he and his gang of thugs turned up at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the attack's third anniversary. Then, per the Army, they "abruptly pushed aside" a female public servant who tried to stop them, lumbered into Section 60's home to fallen veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan - so heavily restricted that any filming at a grave site for political purposes is a violation of federal law - and stood at a grave with his leering goon smirk and teeny thumbs-up to have his fucking gruesome, gaudy picture taken at a grave next to several others whose denizens and their pain-filled families were not consulted. Hours later, having loudly denied they were using the solemn occasion to make cheesy "badly edited propaganda for their hellscape vision of America," they released a TikTok video of cheesy badly edited propaganda for their hellscape vision of America. Several classy MAGA pols also appeared, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, now under fire for using the images for fundraising.

After military police were called and wrote up a report, the Army issued an angry statement about the "unfortunate" incident - a rare move, because normal people largely obey the rules of common decency. In what was called "a stern rebuke," they said Trump staff were "made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds"; they also confirmed the woman was physically shoved, praised her "professionalism...consistent with the decorum expected at ANC," and noted they conduct nearly 3,000 public wreath-laying ceremonies a year "without incident." Calling ANC "a national shrine to (our) honored dead," they declared "its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve." Deep down, though, they probably know anything involving Cadet Orange Slimebag and his horde of scuzzy minions render the likelihood of dignity or respect pretty slim. And so it went.

Responding with typical restraint and grace, Trump staffers quickly lashed out. Spokesman and piece of work Stephen Cheung sneered the worker "was clearly suffering from a mental health episode," denied any "altercation," and threatened to release video proof "if such defamatory claims are made." In a real shocker, they haven't, except for the mewling TikTok video in which a pious Trump lies, "We didn’t lose one person in 18 months, and then they took over, and that disaster, leaving Afghanistan.” Campaign co-chair Chris LaCivita called the woman they assaulted "a disgrace" and "a despicable individual"; later, "taking the team on a death spiral against America’s military," he said he hoped to "trigger the hacks" at the office of the (female) Army Secretary. After the woman employee declined to press charges, reportedly because she feared retaliation by vengeful MAGA-ites, the campaign called her fear "ridiculous," adding, "It sounds like someone who has Trump Derangement Syndrome." They seem nice.

Still, it kept getting worse. There were emails confirming the campaign was told about the rules, but barged in regardless. Federal law § 553.32 was cited: "Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities." The "ripples of outrage" swiftly spread to veterans and their families, incensed at a tawdry effort to "borrow their valor." A pained, plaintive protest came from the family of Green Beret Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano, a father of three who earned Silver and Bronze Stars in eight combat tours before dying by suicide in 2020 after enduring PTSD; his grave, clearly visible in the video, is adjacent to that of Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover, killed in the Kabul bombing, whose family had invited Trump. "Staffers did not adhere to the rules," wrote Marckesano's sister of their trespass on "this sacred site." "Understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom," she wrote, "and that they are honored and respected accordingly."

Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, whose father is buried in Section 60, called the stunt "nauseating" and "repugnant": "Someone who'd do that should never be Commander-in-Chief." A Vote Vets ad echoed him. After clips of Trump saying execrable things, they vow, "We are doing our damnedest to make sure no service member ever has to salute you as commander-in chief ever again." "Unforgivable," wrote a "pissed-off old Army wife" of his "self-aggrandizing behavior on hallowed grounds." She went on, "Every time I turn around and am virtually certain there's no more room beneath contempt for any more of Drumpfenfuehrer's egregious behavior, that malcontent motherfucker proves me wrong." Another: "I have not been able to shake the memory since that disgusting piece of sidewalk scum politicized the sacrifices (made) by those brave enough to do what his cowardice prevented him from doing." And, "If he wants to film a campaign ad at a cemetery, he should do it on the 1st hole at Bedminster."

People stayed pissed when the Army said it "considers this matter closed." They noted "assaulting a federal employee in the performance of her duties is a felony (18 USC 111)." Some felt higher-ups, quoted anonymously praising the woman for keeping things from "escalating," were making her a scapegoat to avoid confronting MAGA mania. "He’s a public menace" who'd only be more menacing in power, noted a critic who cited the Army's "Be All You Can Be" boast. "Maybe try being a little more dedicated to enforcing your own friggin' RULES." They had a point, made clearer after Jack Smith re-indicted him and Trump went on a full-on fascist, bonkers, delirious QAnon social media bender with a deluge of over 50 rabid posts: Dems in orange prison jump suits, Obama tried in public military tribunals, "The World Will Soon Understand" what all these glowing orbs, lights, soldiers, lightning and fat, old, white guy in baggy suit and clown make-up mean: "Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming!"

Hmm. If it is, they better get their lame act together; so far, J.D. Hillbilly isn't yet up to the task. After Arlington he tried to deflect, dismiss - "Apparently, somebody (had) a little disagreement with somebody” - and go on wildly misfired offense, telling Kamala she could "go to hell" for criticizing what she hasn't mentioned. Then, hilariously, "You guys in the media are acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite." LOL. Also: "Abbey Road!" "Hulk Hogan!", booing firefighters! Trump still yammers: "Who's Harris?", "Joe Biden killed their children." "I really don't know anything about it," he prattled on the cemetery video backlash. "We have alotta people, you know we're leading the Internet...It coulda been the parents, it coulda been somebody. If somebody did it, this was a set-up by the people in the Administration. This all comes out of Washington, just like all of these prosecutors come out of Washington...These are bad people we’re dealing with." Huh. Please just keep talking.