In addition to the #campaign’s TikTok video, #Trump posed for photos on Monday at the graveside of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee w/her family [in #Section60], including 1 where he is giving a thumbs-up & others are smiling. Eaton called the gesture “appalling.”
The campaign also defended itself w/a joint statement from the 2 injured Marines who appeared w/Trump & the families of some of the #ServiceMembers killed, saying they wanted Trump & his cameras there [irrelevant & illegal].
…Other #veterans & bereaved families viewed #Trump’s visit as #disrespectful to a sacred space that also belongs to them & to the nation. #Section60 is a place where young widows can be seem trimming grass w/hand scissors, sharing comfort w/other #GoldStarFamilies, & decorating graves w/flowers & beads. Visitors have long taken graveside photographs there, & sitting presidents have visited before, but not as part of #campaign events.
“That’s not the time or place for it,” said Karen Meredith, a #VoteVets board member whose son, 1st Lt. Ken Ballard, is buried in the second row of #Section60. “They had to #bully themselves into this thing. The lack of #respect for the rules or the norms or the #laws at #Arlington — there’s just no respect.”
#law #disrespect #military #ServiceMembers #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #USpol
#HarrisWalz2024
#Trump’s running mate, Sen #JDVance, turned the incident into a #political attack during a #campaign speech in Erie, PA, on Wednesday. “We’re going to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives,” he said. He then falsely accused #Harris of criticizing Trump’s visit to the #cemetery, which she hasn’t commented on. A Harris campaign spox called it “pretty sad.”
#law #disrespect #military #ServiceMembers #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #USpol
#HarrisWalz2024
#Trump has repeatedly defied restrictions [#law] on using #federal property for #campaign purposes by staging a #political speech at #MountRushmore, participating in a television interview inside the #LincolnMemorial, & holding [some of] the 2020 #RepublicanNationalConvention at the #WhiteHouse itself. As president, he pushed unsuccessfully for a *European-style* [nazi-esque] #military parade down Pennsylvania Ave.
#disrespect #Arlington #USpol
#HarrisWalz2024
https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-election-2020-ap-top-news-republican-national-convention-politics-54b27b22c8d4d5472f7ccfaeb0bb87ea