Democrats and left-leaning veterans groups see an opening to attack former President Trump on his record with service members after an altercation between an Arlington National Cemetery staffer and members of the Trump campaign earlier this week.
Several Democratic lawmakers have already taken aim at Trump for the incident, which took place during a visit for a wreath-laying ceremony Monday, framing it as the latest example of the former president’s lack of respect for the military and those killed in war.
The dispute also gives Democrats a chance to flip the script after Republicans have hammered Vice President Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on his military record for the past few weeks.
“Arlington National Cemetery isn’t a place for campaign photo-ops. It’s a sacred resting place for American patriots,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), a former Navy helicopter pilot, wrote on the social platform X. “But for Donald Trump, disrespecting military veterans is just par for the course. It’s an absolute disgrace.”
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) called for the immediate release of materials related to the incident, saying it was “sad but all too expected that Donald Trump would desecrate this hallowed ground and put campaign politics ahead of honoring our heroes.”
And Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), a former Marine, said Arlington is “sacred ground and all visitors should take the time to learn the rules of decorum that ensure the proper respect is given to the fallen and their families,” as reported by Axios.
An Army spokesperson confirmed Thursday that a cemetery employee was “abruptly pushed aside” while trying to enforce a political activity ban that prohibits campaign photography at the cemetery.
Trump was visiting to commemorate the third anniversary of the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghan citizens.
Trump was there at the invitation of families of several of the service members killed in the attack. His campaign said it was granted permission to have its photographer in a heavily restricted area of the cemetery known as Section 60, meant for those killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
But filming or photographing the gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery for political purposes is banned as it is a violation of federal law, according to cemetery officials.
Trump has previously come under fire for several instances of disparaging those who have served.
Democrats frequently point to comments he made during a trip in 2018 to a World War I cemetery in France, when his then-chief of staff John Kelly said he called the hundreds of Marines buried there “suckers” and “losers” for getting killed. Trump has denied the claims.
Trump was also criticized for not calling then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam; and he said earlier this month the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is better than the highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, because recipients of the military honor have “been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.”
In addition, Trump reportedly stressed during his presidency that no disabled veterans were to appear in a planned military parade that never took place, noting he didn’t want “any wounded guys” as it “doesn’t look good for me.”
Richard Kohn, a civil-military relations expert and professor at the University of North Carolina, said the Arlington incident is “in keeping” with Trump’s past treatment of the military and his “attempt to politicize the military since he came into office.”
“It’s not a surprise he doesn’t respect the protocols and the restrictions put on these kinds of things,” he said. “He has no inherent understanding of the military, of its historic effort to avoid being associated with domestic and partisan politics, and he doesn’t care.”
“He enjoys blowing past the normal behaviors that have governed American civil-military relations for almost our entire history,” he added.
Former NATO supreme allied commander, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, said it was “totally inappropriate” and “deeply offensive” for Trump to use Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery for partisan political purposes.
“In private, he doesn’t respect service; he doesn’t respect sacrifice. He’s never done it for anybody, and so this was a stunt,” Clark said Wednesday on CNN. “It’s particularly distasteful for those of us who have lost friends in these conflicts to see this kind of manipulation on Arlington National Cemetery. That’s hallowed ground for us, and he should know better.”
While the incident has riled Trump’s critics, few Republicans have criticized the ex-president, and John Feehery, a GOP political strategist, predicted it “will have no effect on the election.”
Matt Bennett, executive vice president for public affairs of center-left think tank Third Way, took a similar view.
“This should be disqualifying for anyone seeking federal office, especially the presidency. But it won’t be, as it is likely to be lost in the swirl of outrages that Trump and his team commit daily,” he said.
The incident, since confirmed by the Army and Arlington National Cemetery, involved a dispute between two members of Trump’s campaign staff and an employee at the grounds, which is managed by the Office of Army Cemeteries.
While a police report was filed, the Army spokesperson said the employee decided not to press charges, and the case was closed. Still, the spokesperson said the staffer’s “professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”
Trump campaign officials Steven Cheung and Chris LaCivita were quick to bash the cemetery worker in two separate public statements released Tuesday. Cheung said the employee was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” while LaCivita said she was a “despicable individual” who “does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.”
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), also criticized the media for reporting on the altercation.
“Apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member had a little disagreement with somebody,” Vance, a Marine veteran, said at a campaign rally in Erie, Pa., on Wednesday. “And they have turned — the media has turned this into a national news story.”
Trump’s team members claim they have video to back up their account, but they have not yet released any such documentation.
The incident has already sparked backlash from several veterans groups.
“This whole episode is sickening and affront to all those hundreds of thousands of families who never agreed to allow their deceased loved ones to be dragged into politics,” VoteVets, a progressive group, wrote in a post on X.
“Arlington Cemetery is sacred and hallowed ground where those who paid the highest price for our collective freedom should be able to rest in peace without being trampled on for a cheap campaign photo op,” Jacob Thomas, communications director for Common Defense, another left-leaning veterans group, said in a statement.
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the oldest combat service organization, said it “unequivocally supports federal law, Department of Defense policy, and Army’s regulations concerning the conduct of visitors to Arlington National Cemetery and expect visitors to behave with the same measure of dignity and respect given to those buried there.”
“We also support families of our fallen inviting whomever they chose to join them at those hallowed grounds in grieving and honoring their loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation,” the VFW added in a statement to The Hill.
Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when she visits Section 60, “it is not only to pay my respects to and honor the sacrifice of the fallen, but to also humbly remind myself that I am one of the lucky ones who made it home from war when so many of my fellow Americans suffered a different fate.”
“There are plenty of places appropriate for politics — Arlington is not one of them,” she said in a statement. “And any aspiring elected official, especially one who hopes to be Commander in Chief, should not be confused about that fact. Nor should they hide behind members of our community to justify politicking on such sacred ground.”