2 months ago
21
WASHINGTON: Alarm bells are starting to go off in the US over a very public and potentially dangerous political schism among military families and veterans, following Donald Trump's visit to the
Arlington National Cemetery
last week, ostensibly to honor 13 personnel killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Under attack from the current administration, veteran groups and Kamala Harris for politicising the event for electoral gains, Trump lashed back on Sunday, posting videos from several families who said they had invited him for the commemoration on the third anniversary of the tragedy, and they were honored he came.
A member of one family said they had intimated the White House about the event but did not hear back from the Biden-Harris administration, while some others went so far as to blame the current dispensation for the death of their beloved.
At the same time, several military veterans and families of fallen soldiers excoriated Trump for turning a solemn occasion on hallowed ground into a political spectacle and releasing what they characterized as a "campaign video." The clash is now turning bitter, with questions ranging from who was responsible for the debacle in Afghanistan to what constitutes patriotism.
The disquiet among family members of the fallen and surviving veterans had been simmering for five days when Kamala Harris jumped into the fray over the weekend purportedly provoked by criticism that neither she not Biden went for the event.
"As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation," Harris said in a statement, excoriating Trump for turning a private event into a "political stunt."
"This is nothing new from Donald Trump. This is a man who has called our fallen service members “suckers” and “losers” and disparaged Medal of Honor recipients. A man who, during a previous visit to the cemetery, reportedly said of fallen service members, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” This is a man who is unable to comprehend anything other than service to himself," she lashed out, adding that someone who cannot show respect and gratitude to the military "should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America."
Several veterans also pilloried the former president on social media, with one group, VoteVets, releasing an ad showing Trump as a draft dodger "who ran to a quack doctor when the draft board called his number." On X, a former green beret tweeted, "I'm outraged beyond words at the despicable behavior of Trump ...We can't allow this convicted felon and draft dodger anywhere near the White House."
In one squalid interview, shock jock Howard Stern and Trump had joked that avoiding sexually transmitted disease during peccadilloes in New York was his "personal Vietnam."
Trump had frequently presented himself as a valorous supporter of the military despite a record of avoiding service during the Vietnam War and disparaging the sacrifice of soldiers living and fallen. On one occasion, he publicly mocked a fellow Republican, the late Senator John McCain, a decorated war hero, for being a prisoner of war in Vietnam, saying, “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
While a few families came out in support of Trump over the Arlington incident, the former President was also institutionally rebuked by the US Army, which has oversight of the Cemetery. "Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army said in the statement, implicitly confirmed a violation and a physical altercation.
Trump has also angered some veterans by frequently disparaging at least three senior military generals who served in his administration, including his former chief of staff John Kelly. He has called them "stupid," and has said if he wins a second term, he will fire "woke generals" and replace them with those who subscribe to his MAGA doctrine.
Trump often invokes "men and women in uniform" and praises them, ostensibly in an attempt to elicit support of the military and police in the country, while suggesting Democrats are "weak on law and order" and do not know how to use America's military might to keep world peace. But some of his own MAGA followers are isolationists and anti-interventionists who believe Democrats are war mongers.
