A progressive veterans group called last week’s visit by Republican candidate Donald Trump to Arlington National Cemetery “disgusting” after a controversial incident that resulted in an altercation between campaign staff and cemetery officials.
“Now perhaps the greatest insult is to turn a visit to a military cemetery into a political stunt by bringing a camera,” the narrator said. In a harsh advertisement From the political action committee VoteVets.
The ad followed claims that Trump was “pushed back” when he visited the cemetery at the invitation of the families of soldiers killed in the 2021 Kabul airport attack after Arlington officials told campaign staff not to photograph parts of the cemetery where recently killed U.S. soldiers are buried.
According to a statement from the Army National Military Cemetery, federal law prohibits “political campaigning or election-related activities” within Army National Military Cemeteries.
Trump has since shared a campaign video of his visit, but a campaign spokesperson denied the staffers pushed the officials, saying they were “clearly suffering from mental health issues.”
Vice President Kamala Harris declared on Saturday that President Trump had “disrespected sacred ground” during his visit as a “political stunt.”
Trump used the Truth Social platform over the weekend to share clips posted by families of fallen soldiers, one of which portrayed Trump and his team as “respectful” and another that accused Harris of “playing politics.”
On Thursday, VoteVets criticized the Arlington visit after citing several instances of Trump insulting the military. The ad noted that Trump called Americans who died in World War I “fools” and “losers” and referred to avoiding sexually transmitted diseases as “personal Vietnam.”
“Disgusting. Donald Trump, the gravestones of veterans and military families kneeling on are not your political tools. They represent the heroes we served with. Men and women you could never match, friends who lived and died according to the oath we all swore to uphold,” the narrator declares.
The speaker continued: “(It) is something you will never understand, and it is why we will do everything we can to ensure that our soldiers never again salute you as their commander in chief.”
