Gold Star families call out 'heinous' statement from Harris about Arlington National Cemetery visit
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 3 months ago • 37 commentsBy: Andrea Vacchiano (Fox News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal blasted Vice President Kamala Harris over her attack on former President Trump for paying his respects at Arlington National Cemetery last week.
Harris accused Trump of playing politics with the visit, but in a series of short videos, eight families said they had invited Trump, and bitterly blasted the Biden-Harris administration over the disastrous pullout that left 13 U.S. service members dead three years ago.
The messages, each featuring different parents of service members killed by ISIS-K terrorists amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 26, 2021, were posted on former President Trump's Instagram account. .
The videos were released in the wake of a statement published by Harris on Saturday, where the vice president criticized Trump for taking photographs at a wreath-laying ceremony event on Monday. The Army said this week that an Arlington National Cemetery official was "abruptly pushed aside" while interacting with Trump's staff.
"As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times," Harris said. "It is not a place for politics. And yet, as was reported this week, Donald Trump's team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff."
"Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt," she claimed, before adding that she would "never politicize" such an event.
The Gold Star family members maintained that they had asked Trump for photographs, as opposed to Trump taking pictures to advance his campaign. In one video, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz called Harris' post "heinous, vile and disgusting."
"Why did we want Trump there? It wasn't to help his political campaign," Mark Schmitz said in the video. "We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe didn't get a call."
Darren Hoover, the father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, said that Harris lacks "empathy and basic understanding" about Monday's event, and stressed that Trump's appearance was respectful.
"In keeping with the reverence and respect that is given to all members of our military that are buried there, we invited President Trump," he said. "We are the ones that asked for the video and the pictures to be taken at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier."
Hoover also added that Trump has "been there for us from the very beginning," and criticized Harris for "playing politics" over the incident.
"You should be ashamed and embarrassed [about] your lack of empathy and decency as a human being," the father added. "You are only in this for the power and prestige. You don't care for our military or the citizens of this country.
"You should hang your head in shame at your actions or lack thereof."
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The one playing politics is Harris.
So the former president breaks the rules and it is somehow Harris that is playing politics. That is quite the stretch. But it's ok. He won't be around that much longer.
This is gonna cause some heads here to metaphorically explode. “We wanted a leader”. Perfect burn and the truth
She was "the last person in the room," and the last person we should ever want in that room.
trump is definitely the perfect leader for any veteran families that fucking stupid ...
Biden and Harris are nowhere to be found when it comes to communicating with these Gold Star families. They have no idea what leadership amounts to, and have exhibited none.
What a bunch of hateful morons disrespecting all the other soldiers buried there. So, they are as stupid as the former 'president' obviously. They disrespected everyone there by (if they actually did) inviting the convicted felon and draft dodger. They disrespected their own fallen soldiers and everyone else there at Arlington National Cemetery. Shameful. Deplorable.
All for a publicity/political/campaign photo-op stunt.
They all disrespected the fallen by smiling and thumbs-upping such a solemn place. They all pissed on their own fallen soldiers and everyone else interred there.
Who honors their fallen soldiers that way? Despicable.
Donald is a lying, cheating, thief and he is all 'theirs.' By all means, let him come trample on Army rules. I mean some deceased VETERANS might love to be trifled with by an insincere former leader who thinks that they are losers! /s
And it is worth noting, that some living veterans don't care about Army rules. . . when it suits their 'fancy.'
What's interesting is that the press and Harris campaign is portraying the incident as an assault on government. The gold star families are just props in the background.
Trump is being accused of somehow violating the rights of government. The government owns Arlington National Cemetery and, apparently, everyone buried there. The narrative, as stated by press and Harris, is that a government official issued an order and unquestioning compliance was required.
Kamala Harris has placed herself in the position of defending government as the victim. That is consistent with Harris' prosecutorial claim to fame. But it should serve as a warning that Kamala Harris will usher in an era of even bigger government. The question that should be raised is whether or not Harris will defend the rights of government by infringing on the rights of people?
More likely, the "official", was a volunteer or docent
Still there as an official whose function is to defend the rights of government. The claim that they're there to defend dead service members seems like big government taking credit for too little, too late.
Is the Harris campaign's concern over the dead only political pandering to get their vote? Doesn't the majority of dead voters already support Democrats?
The only volunteers that I know of at ANC are the Arlington Ladies. They are the wives or widows of service members or daughters of service members that volunteer to accompany the casket for of service members that have no one present for the entombment.
Has anybody seen any video or photographs from this visit used in any campaign ads? I have not but then I don't spend my time searching out campaign ads. The only photographs I've seen from this have been on news sites and not as campaign ads. Until footage is used in an actual campaign ad, this seems like normal partisan bullshit to me.
There are not just photographs, a video was made. Why would trump want a video? As a keepsake ?
See video Trump campaign posted of controversial Arlington visit | CNN Politics
And it’s still up.
if this isnt a campaign video I'll eat my Make America Normal Again hat.
Should have never happened. | Afghanistan Country | TikTok
Thanks. I don't do TikTok so have not seen that before. I did see the CNN report but it showed just a wreath laying ceremony and the only talking was from the CNN hosts so there was really nothing to go on.
I'll agree that the TikTok video should not have been released, that does indeed appear to be a campaign video. Had the campaign just released the video without the talk over in it I would have been more forgiving as the wreath laying ceremony was really no different than when the sitting president lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solder.
“…no different than when the sitting president lays a wreath…”
But in reality, as the law is written, a huge difference.
Perhaps, in his delusion, he figures his ill conceived ‘immunity’ somehow applies across the board.
Tom Cotton was on a show this morning denying it was a campaign video.
As I said, had the campaign just released the video WITHOUT TRUMP TALKING I would have been more forgiving. His talking is what makes it wrong as it's definitely a campaign ad due to what he says. Just laying a wreath can easily be seen as honoring the soldiers.
IMO there's no difference between a past president laying a wreath to honor the fallen vs a sitting president to honor the fallen. Both are political in nature.
Tom Cotton was wrong and is highly partisan. But is this any different than any other partisan voices we hear daily from both sides?
Since Cotton served in The Old Guard and led interments in Section 60, even as a partisan, on this topic, he should have kept his mouth shut.
“Both are political in nature.”
When a sitting president, as CIC, solemnly attends such an important observance it is part of his/her duty.
Trumps observance, as always, was less than solemn and entirely self serving, with a dose of violence on an innocent individual only trying to do her job…only confirming his ultimate lack of respect…for the young woman, for the law, and for the fallen.
Sadly typical.
Since he used his "voice of authority" to blatantly lie, yes he should shut the fuck up.
Except he’s not even doing that. He’s bragging about his record and criticizing Biden (really Biden and Harris because he says “they.”) Once he starts doing that, it ceases to be about the fallen, and all about him.
Nice cherry-picking so you can bitch about something. Once again, had they released the video WITHOUT TRUMP TALKING IN THE DAMN VIDEO it could have been acceptable. Now, where was he bragging about his record and criticizing Biden? Oh yeah ,it was in the video where he was talking.
Easy question, had Trump not said anything in the video and it was just a clip of him laying the wreath, would you have had any problems with that?
It’s not cherry picking to judge events as they actually happened, which is what I did.
If Trump did almost anything differently, it could be acceptable. But he has had years to be a decent person who respects the law, and he fails repeatedly to seize the opportunity.
I’ll answer your easy question with an easy question. Did it matter to the staff at Arlington, or to the relevant law, whether he would publish his campaign video with voice or not?
Let me help you. Precise details - i.e. minutiae - of the final presentation are irrelevant to the appropriateness and legality of Trump’s behavior and that of his entourage. However, it does make his intent crystal clear.
"Trumps shit eating grin with the thumbs up was absolutely galling"
Mike Lavigne - Former member of "The Old Guard"
Trump’s Arlington Stunt is Much Worse Thank You Think!
Don’t disagree with anything in the video.
The defense of Trump, to use that term in a pathetic way, is now that Biden was the cause of the 13 deaths, therefore , what?, Trump is allowed to make a campaign commercial at the cemetery ?
There is no real question that from Trump's perspective the entire thing was a campaign stunt. Does a single sentinent person in this country think Trump would have been there that day if he were not running for president?
Of course it was a campaign stunt.
Amazing. This is like a textbook example of projection. Did Harris go the cemetery with her campaign entourage, shoot photos, and get in a fight with cemetery staff? No, that was Trump. All she did was comment on it a couple days later, like many others.
But Trump and his supporters are during what they always do: behave horribly, and then when they are held accountable for it, accuse their critics of doing exactly what they themselves did. We see it over and over.
The Party of Projection
They really are. They say and do racist shit, misogynistic shit - basically anything that discriminates or infringes on someone’s liberty - and then if anyone complains they call the complainers “intolerant” and they start whining about their freedoms. I’m so tired of it.
+the endless defense of the indefensible
Sounds like trump threw the GoldStar families under the bus suggesting that they may have released the tape not his people.