Gold Star Mom Rebukes Trump's Arlington Video: 'It Makes Me Sick' - Newsweek
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
CLOSE X By Andrew Stanton Weekend Staff WriterFOLLOW
A Gold Star mother named Karen Meredith rebuked former President Donald Trump for posting a video of a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery this week.
Trump was invited to the Monday ceremony to honor 13 service members, who were killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, by the families of some of the deceased.
However, Trump has drawn criticism after posting a video of the ceremony to TikTok, along with a narration criticizing the Biden administration for the withdrawal, despite a federal law prohibiting "partisan political activities" at military memorial services. Critics say the video was inappropriate and disrespectful to the more than 400,000 service members buried at the cemetery.
Meredith, whose son First Lieutenant Kenneth Ballard was killed in Iraq in 2004 and was laid to rest in Section 60 of the cemetery, responded to Trump's video in an interview with Forbes published on Friday.
Former President Donald Trump speaks in New York City on January 11. Trump has been rebuked by a Gold Star mother for his post of a video of a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery...Former President Donald Trump speaks in New York City on January 11. Trump has been rebuked by a Gold Star mother for his post of a video of a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery this week. More Spencer Platt/Getty Images
She said the "most important thing" about ceremonies in Section 60, which is largely reserved for soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, is that there is "no politicization involved at all, ever."
"You can go, you can take pictures. My family takes plenty of pictures when we go visit my son on the anniversary, but you cannot use it for political purposes," she said.
The ceremony itself "was fine," she said, but she took issue with videos from the ceremony being used in the post to social media.
"It makes me sick. I've been distraught all week," she said.
She also criticized past remarks Trump has made about the military, saying, "Going back to former President Trump's comments about John McCain, was his first shot across the bow with how he feels about the military. Then all of the comments going further, when he attacked Captain Khan's father and mother when they appeared at the [Democratic National Convention]. When he accused Gold Star families of giving him COVID, when it was the day after the Amy Coney Barrett celebration."
Newsweek reached out via email to the Trump campaign for comment.
On Thursday, the U.S. Army released a statement saying that participants of the wreath-laying ceremony were "made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and [Defense Department] policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds."
"An [Arlington National Cemetery] employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside," the statement reads. "Consistent with the decorum expected at the ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further interruption."
Steven Cheung, Trump's campaign communications director, told the Associated Press that Trump's team was allowed to have a photographer and denied the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.
"The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and, for whatever reason, an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony," Cheung said.
Meanwhile, Trump posted a letter to his social media platform, Truth Social, signed by five family members of the deceased service members. It said that he and his team "conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children."
He also discussed the Arlington visit during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Friday. He said that the families of the soldiers asked him to go with them to the graves and that he agreed to it because "those people are the loves of our lives."
"They said to me—I'm not surprised, I never even thought of it—'Sir, would it be possible for you to have a picture with us by the tombstone of my son?' You know, the beautiful white tombstones, marble, beautiful things. Carved, engraved with the names on it? I said, 'Absolutely.' "I wasn't doing it for...I don't need publicity. I get a lot of publicity."
Trump said he later heard that the campaign was "using the graves of those soldiers for public relations purposes."
"And I didn't," he added.
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Meanwhile, back here in reality, Harris' lead over Trump continues to grow.
Seems 13 families don’t share her views.
Millions of voters, especially veterans, found it disgusting, and WEIRD!
We Even Impress Respectable Democrats
WEIRD
Weird is MAGA not knowing what MAGA are doing isn't working...
And what about the rest of the families? If Trump truly respected people who are interred there, he would have followed protocol. Since he is Trump, playing political games is all he does.
"Trump was invited to the Monday ceremony to honor 13 service members, who were killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, by the families of some of the deceased".
They invited him there. The Biden administration, which includes Kamala, is directly responsible for these deaths, and no matter how hard they scrub and deflect to Trump, they can never rid themselves of this stain of incompetent leadership
They are...not the terrorist that denotated the bomb? Who's side are you on Greg?
'stain of incompetent leadership'
The projection - the former 'president' convicted felon and rapist is the 'shitstain of incompetent leadership'
Trump and his cohorts violated the rules of Arlington, simple as that and it is sad that it now has gold star families fighting over this.
traitor trump has a long list of unamerican firsts...
Including attacking Gold Star family,
The end of MAGA is reminiscent of the end of McCarthyism...
"They said to me—I'm not surprised, I never even thought of it—'Sir, would it be possible for you to have a picture with us by the tombstone of my son?' You know, the beautiful white tombstones, marble, beautiful things. Carved, engraved with the names on it? I said, 'Absolutely.' "I wasn't doing it for...I don't need publicity. I get a lot of publicity."
Like Tacos said - that takes a 'special kind of asshole'
Trump's team was using our dead heroes in his ugly unfair game of gotcha, "Why wasn't Harris there too?" False Grace!
It blew up in MAGA'S face!
So, someone actually said to him - 'you know, the beautiful white tombstones, marble, beautiful things. Carved, engraved with the names on it?'
Someone actually said 'by the tombstone of my son, you know...........
Where was trump on the first and second anniversary? Oh that's right, there wasn't an election around the corner, so no need for the photo-op.
Typical Republican Dirty Tricks! Trump learned this shit from Roy Cohn!
Morning...
If I was a rellie of a fallen soldier any politician would be the last bloody person I would want to see at such a personal ceremony...
And if Trump was invited should have had the courtesy and respect to refuse knowing it would create yet again another circus in such a sacred place...
I doubt that Trump see anyplace as sacred except perhaps for an international bank.
you've hit the nail on the head. this event was created by trump and his campaign henchmen...
Of course it was. His thugs reached out to the maga and then staged this campaign stop photo-op.
Trump needs to have more respect for any cemetery regardless of it being Military or Civil he may visit..
He may end up in it quicker than he thinks...so you don't want to brush the authorities up the wrong way...
Wouldn't be the first to be buried up side down..
trump has no respect for any american institution, tradition, law, or decorum...
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