Trump tries to clean up mess from possibly illegal cemetery photo op

just_another_person@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 507 points –
Trump tries to clean up mess from possibly illegal cemetery photo op
rawstory.com

It wasn't "possibly illegal", it was just plainly illegal.

81

Trump's campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung flatly denied the physical confrontation allegation, saying his team was prepared to release footage to refute the "defamatory claims,"

The claim is you were filming in Arlington, you dipshit. You're going to refute that by... releasing the footage?

I wish Repubs were somehow forced to view Donald with the same lens as they viewed Obama's salutes and whatever else.

I mean, unfortunately they are, the lens is white supremacist theocratic fascism. But I think you all understand what I am trying to get at.

Conservativism is not an ideology, it's a social disease. It is codified narcissism, where the values and policies of the group are perpetually redefined to conform with whatever is best for the group. It's malignant identity politics. They didn't hate Obama because he did things they didn't like. They hate him because he is their opponent. Obama is bad, so anything he does is automatically bad. Plenty of them are racist, but it isn't necessarily racism. Ben Carson is OK because he's on the inside of the line. He's a member of the group, and as long as he is loyal, they will tolerate his existence as a minority.

Trump is good, so therefore anything Trump does is good. Anything that helps Trump is good. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, if it helps Trump, it is justified by the identity of the self.

To deny Trump is good is to change the definition of the self. It won't happen until another Conservative takes it away from him and makes him an outsider, or he dies and becomes a martyr. The former would be more satisfying, but I don't know that there exists a Republican with the stones to achieve it.

Well said.

This is a reactionary movement who thinks Ayn Rand was an intellectual match for Karl Marx.

They imitate the language and demeanor of the oppressed as a way to entrench their power and to deny freedoms to others.

They want to control society; to return it to a past when there was no diversity, equity, or inclusion. They don't intend to share power or negotiate.

That's not how reactionaries do things.

I hope they do, and then Arlington goes after them for it.

They already have the incident report. I don't think anyone gets prosecuted for that sort of crime, though. It's more of a "show some respect and basic human decency" thing to which Trump is immune.

They could pursue legal action. America does have civil courts for such things.

Yeah but this is Trump. He's going to delay, delay, delay, delay until whomever is suing him runs out of money.

Or he'll settle and never pay.

The only way we're going to see Trump face any consequences is when our judiciary grows a fucking pair.

He’s also immune from prosecution it seems, so shrug

This shit is fucking WILD. Smiling with thumbs up at GRAVE SITE. This is absolutely bonkers.

That's a weird way to pose in a cemetery, unless you were happy the person is dead. Bunch of weirdos.

They are, remember? Trump said only suckers and losers go to war.

Since security will be tight around Trump's grave, being a former president and all, happy expressions and poses is all people will have.

The kid on his mother's hips has the right emotion.

All the kids in there look like they don’t want to be in this.

these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever," the families' new statement added. "We are deeply grateful to the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief, offering his unwavering support during such a difficult time. His compassion and respect meant more than words can express."

So gross in so many ways.

If this is supposed to be a shot at Biden/Harris for releasing the bomber, as they like to do with the previous "Bigrant Crime" initiative, the Dept of Defense seems to disagree:

"With access to analysis from across the intelligence community, we were able to identify the Abbey Gate person-borne IED bomber as [Bomber], an [ISIS-K] member since 2016," said one Army official on the 12-person, joint supplemental review team.

[Bomber] was one of thousands of ISIS-K members the Taliban released from a pair of detention centers in mid-August 2021, according to another Army team official.

The same official also pointed out that the supplemental review team determined ISIS-K would have still been able to conduct the attack regardless of whether [Bomber] had been released, because the terror organization already had multiple suicide bombers available.

"This supports the conclusion that the attack at Abbey Gate was not preventable at the tactical level," the official said.

Yeah they're just going to ignore that. And the fact that Trump obliterated any chance to maintain the Afghan government by cutting them out of the negotiations. The fact that Trump made no effort to remove local allies even though he was drawing forces down and knew we would leave within a few a years.

The situation at Abbey Gate could not have been avoided by anything short of a divine act during Biden's presidency. That stuff had to be done by Trump and it wasn't.

Guy towards the left's smile fading after he realized Donald didn't want to be seen anywhere near him. Donald is truly despicable.

He's a goddamn sociopath.

I guarantee he thought to make sure they looked like they were having a good time meeting him and said "put a grin on and a thumbs up because your sheeple and if you don't I'll have my guys put their guns up your butt until you do."

If they're the types of people who would willing pose with Trump by their dead family members' graves, I guarantee they needed no coercing to do that. Except for the poor kids, of course.

Look at the veteran with the prosthetic arm in the back, he is not giving the thumbs up 🤦‍♂️

With 5 other people doing the thumbs up. America has a major cult problem. The founding fathers probably never imagined a cult taking over a major political party.

Slightly off topic, but doesn't Trump claim to be 6'3"? Dude behind him on the left must be a fucking giant.

Besides the obvious problems, those are some weak ass thumbs up from everyone who has the poor taste to even try.

Oh, and the guy off to the left who can't give a thumbs up with his right hand anymore, even if he was so inclined.

There's just so much to this picture.

Doesn't Trump always gave secret service with him? How did nobody know this wasn't allowed there?

That's not their job. They just make sure he does not get shot... Oh...

The man on the end at the far right is Utah Governor Spencer Cox-R.

Claims to hang out for photo ops with Weird Convict 34 and not campaigning here. Rrrright. Cox must not know that campaigning is the only thing Sleepy DonOLD knows to do. Sad!

Trump's campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung flatly denied the physical confrontation allegation, saying his team was prepared to release footage to refute the "defamatory claims,"

"We have proof, but you can't see it. Trust me bro"

But it sounds like the families said they gave trump permission...

Which does not change the law against literally using dead soldiers for campaigning.

It doesn't matter how many families say they're ok with it, filming an election ad in an Army national cemetery is illegal

I mean, if you want permission to film in the cemetery, you gonna need a necromancer

Yes, but it would still be illegal

Sure? But i am merely invoking the spirit of the law, and not the letter… which is that filming there puts words in the mouth of venerated dead.

The dad is as much of a moron, thinking that his family can personally authorize Trump to shoot a campaign video at a national cemetery.

The former president and Republican nominee posed for photos and videos alongside the families of two service members killed in an August 2021 bombing attack, and many critics questioned why Trump posed with a grin plastered on his face and his customary thumbs-up gesture.

What the actual fuck.

A source with knowledge of the incident said the official tried to enforce a federal law prohibiting political campaigns or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, which Cheung insisted was an individual experiencing a "mental health episode."

Oh, that's awesome. I'm a person with a diagnosed mental health issue (bi-polar). It's really cool how you're shitting on people like me and others who have similar issues. I bet a lot of soldiers have PTSD, which would also be a mental health issue. Fucking cool, right?

Fascists gonna fascist.

The average dumbass American probably doesn't know that Hitler didn't just kill Jews, and that their dumb, social-anxiety ridden ass will be one of the first against the wall.

I doubt the guy had any mental health issues. That's just the trump shithead trying to insult the employee for doing their job.

Reread. Cheung said the guy trying to enforce the rules was having mental issues....

No not only disrespecting dead military members but mocking conditions their military experience may leave them with.

I read it. I think he's just a liar.

It can't possibly be that the Trump campaign were in the wrong, so the insults start. That asshole is always calling people names and blaming them for bullshit the Trump campaign pulls.

And so, what we have here is a man who has made clear he has no use for dead soldiers, except when he can use them as political props (and even then, it can't be raining). In my view, it does not matter one bit that some of these soldiers' relatives are willing to be accessories to Trump's performative "patriotism"

His compassion and respect meant more than words can express

I find it very hard to believe anyone described the turnip as “respectful and compassionate”.

every word drips with "here - the campagn wrote this for you, now sign."

Let's hear JD Vance fail in his next interview to defend this dispicable campaign stunt.

I wouldn't want to pose with this felon. Can Judge Merchan haul in Weird 34 to be thrown in jail now for violating the terms of his bail release, let alone being convicted?

Cheung is a fucking sycophant nut job, not enough people tune in to him as the enforcer thug next to trump. Dangerous fucking piece of the shit puzzle, Randy.

He's like trump's hate/strength translator now. Trump incoherently babbles and dog whistles weakly and then Chueng steps in with press and clarifies to, "People without both arms are cunts and they should be drown publicly. And you, reporter covering this, your mom fucks horses. Next stupid question!"

PSA that one of trumps attorneys (joe digenova) said that chris krebbs (after having said that the 2020 election was the most secure election in history) should be "taken out at dawn and shot"

It's the democrats that are using violent rhetoric guys, please calm down things like "defund the police" and "my body my rights" are violent and offend my feelings.

Why were they allowed there at all? Angry orange is not a government employee anymore. If it was for just a photo op, can just anyone go there for that?

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Why is Raw Story's credibility listed as "high" lol

I've completely stopped paying attention to this bot. It's pretty bad imo.

I agree with most of its other ratings though. TBF I never thought to check their rating for RawStory, but the only other rating I disagree with is their rating for Fox News.

Do you agree with the hits to credibility because outlets run stories about anti-zionism too?

There are very good reasons not to trust this bot, and rather few to trust it.

It depends. I haven't seen those stories. There's a massive gamut of anti-zionists, from reasonable skepticism and criticism of Israel and its actions to full-on antisemitism. I have seen someone else here state that one organization got bad marks for claiming that Israel is engaging in a genocide, which is completely fair since that hasn't been proven.

I don't disagree on the whole. But I think that putting 'trust' in any bot would be silly. However, knowing how right-skewed the bot is and using its blurb as a single data point with that in mind, is better (to me) than just not having it at all.

MB/FC is extremely biased and mostly reflects a single American "centrist" (really a right winger because America has two right wing parties)'s assessment of media. Largely MB/FC stands to normalize right leaning media coverage. This is particularly problematic when looking at topics like the Gaza Strip

Even then its POV is absolutely right of center in the US.

If one is going to look at politics through a "the center doesn't exist" lens, that's not functionally better than if MB/FC was biased in favor of the left.

The center does exist. But the center of American Politics is right wing globally

Yeah that's true, I've seen international liberal spout rhetoric I'd normally associate with centrists.

But trying to map international overton windows with America's doesn't always work. Left wing and right wing liberal parties in the UK for example don't map perfectly with the purported values of the Democrat and Republican parties in America.