Democrats just do not want to give up on a storyline they think is really going to take down Donald Trump’s popularity a few notches.
For weeks the party and its PR wing, the mainstream media, has claimed that Trump violated some rule or regulation by visiting with Gold Star Families and posing for pictures at Arlington National Cemetery. The families, all of whom lost loved ones in the botched pull-out from the decades-long war in Afghanistan, specifically invited Trump to the memorial they held in Section 60 of the nation’s most famous burial ground for war dead.
Almost all mainstream media are repeating the claim that Trump and his staff had an “altercation” with cemetery staff who tried to prevent him from taking pictures or recording video. NPR, for example, is running with the claim, seeming to imply that there may even have been a physical confrontation. Most media coverage has simply repeated the dubious claim that Trump violated a regulation by posing for pictures for “campaign purposes,” but it is not clear how attendance at a memorial by invitation of the families constitutes a Trump campaign event.
More, many prior presidents, including Joe Biden and Barack Obama, have posed in pictures at Arlington. Leftist organizations like the journalism think tank the Poynter Institute are running cover for Biden, saying his appearances in footage at Arlington don’t break the rules because they contained a disclaimer saying the footage was not an endorsement of his campaign. It seems like a stretch.
Now, three House Democrats have put out another statement, this time calling on the Army to chastise Trump over the appearance. The letter was signed by Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and Mark Takano (D-Calif.). It asks the Army dramatically to “properly investigate this egregious incident in a timely manner.”
The letter uses a sweeping, disapproving tone, and claims Trump was “in flagrant violation of regulations, traditions, and norms,” and claims that his appearance “dishonored the memory” of soldiers buried at Arlington.
Trump’s team and the family members of the 13 slain soldiers, who invited Trump, deny there was any fight with cemetery staff. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to the latest letter by reminding the public that the families invited Trump; it was not a campaign event. He also reminded people that the Army has already said the matter is closed.
Another group of Democrats have sent yet another letter to the Army demanding that it release a full report on the alleged altercation.
