5 Things to Understand About Trump’s Visit to Arlington
Politico Magazine
By BEN KESLING
09/03/2024 02:00 PM EDT
The campaign has been confusing the issue. Here’s some clarity.
The debate around Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery has been confusing to many Americans. What’s the big deal with taking photos in a cemetery? Didn’t Trump have a right to pay a visit, especially accompanied by the family of someone buried there?
In this case there’s confusion over not only what happened, but what norms were upended.
A quick recap: Trump and his team were invited to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony by families of troops killed in the last days of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. His team included people who took photos and filmed at the cemetery in ways that violated Army regulations and federal law, including using the cemetery for political purposes. When an Arlington staffer tried to intervene, members of Trump’s team reportedly pushed the staffer aside and continued to photograph.
In the aftermath, Trump’s team released political material using the photos and footage and said it was acceptable because the families had invited him. Those families have defended Trump, with one saying “we invited him to be there.” (That statement was posted on Trump’s social media account along with footage gathered at Arlington which closes with the Trump-Vance campaign designation.)
Why does Arlington have those rules? How badly did Trump break them? And does the families’ defense matter?
Here are five facts about Arlington that can help provide some clarity.
1. Arlington is a special kind of cemetery — even more than you might think.
America has no national religion, but there are a few things in our country that the vast majority of Americans understand as sacred. If death in combat is considered the ultimate civic sacrament, then Arlington is our cathedral.
Visitors to Arlington are welcomed by signs noting the cemetery is “America’s most sacred shrine” and admonitions to “conduct yourselves with dignity and respect at all times.” Army directives say the cemetery aims to “represent the American people for past, present and future generations by laying to rest those few who served our nation with dignity and honor while immersing guests in the cemetery’s living history.”
That means the cemetery is governed by a broad mandate that’s bigger than anything happening in the current moment. The cemetery represents the American people as a whole, not just certain political factions. This unity of mission across the ages is conveyed by the simplicity and conformity of the headstones, showing how each individual sacrifice is part of a larger landscape that unites Americans who served their country from the Revolutionary War to the present.
Arlington isn’t just a monument to past wars. A visit to the cemetery’s 639 acres is an exercise in active remembrance. Though it commemorates the dead, Arlington is a living place that conducts about 30 funeral services and 12 wreath-laying ceremonies a day. That’s nearly 3,000 ceremonies each year that are conducted without incident, according to an Army spokesperson.
2. Arlington does not allow the grounds to be used for politics.
Long-established rules govern who can take photos and film at the cemetery. Those rules are written into federal law and Army directives.
Army regulations state: “Filming or photographing will not be permitted if it conveys the impression that cemetery officials or any visitor or family member is endorsing any product, service or organization. Additionally, ANC will not authorize any filming for partisan, political or fundraising purposes.”
It’s not just blatant partisan activity that is forbidden but anything that gives the impression of partisan or political activities. That means you can’t film an ad for your favorite cola, personal-injury lawyer or politician on those sacred grounds. It’s not just Army regulations that govern the matter, but the Hatch Act, which is federal law. And these rules and laws apply to everyone — including vice presidents and former presidents.
Those rules are drawn up with military exactitude. Every media engagement is coordinated with cemetery staff and officials well in advance, and the staff makes sure people know the rules before events begin.
Arlington officials said they informed all participants in Trump’s visit of the long-standing rules and regulations.
3. Trump’s team violated the rules.
Trump’s visit was part of a wreath-laying ceremony organized by the family of a service member killed by a suicide bomber during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Family members of those killed in war are known as Gold Star families. Family members of those serving in the military are known as Blue Star families.)
After the wreath-laying ceremony, Trump went with Gold Star families to a part of the cemetery called Section 60. At some point, according to Arlington officials, a cemetery staffer intervened to make sure Trump’s team was adhering to media rules. Neither the Army nor Trump’s team has made clear what prompted the intervention but Army officials have said a member of Trump’s team pushed the cemetery staffer aside when she attempted to “assure adherence to these rules.”
Rather than continue to actively enforce the rules, the staffer who’d been pushed chose to minimize disruption to the cemetery. Her mandate was to respect not only the families hosting the president, but also everyone else visiting the cemetery and the overall dignity of the place.
As a presidential candidate, Trump currently travels with a pool of press photographers. Those photographers did not take pictures of much of his visit in accordance with the cemetery’s rules. That’s why there’s no readily available video or photographs of the altercation.
Trump’s campaign also has its own photographer. In an email, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump’s photographer was authorized by Arlington officials to accompany Trump on the visit, and a post he published on X said Trump’s team could include a “photographer and/or videographer.”
Trump’s campaign has said it is prepared to release video that will exonerate it. However, Cheung did not respond to requests to provide video of the altercation and instead provided videos of military family members supporting Trump and a link to a Trump social media post with the former president saying there was “no conflict or ‘fighting’ at Arlington,” despite the campaign’s previous acknowledgment that some sort of incident took place.
Any argument the Trump team could have made that the campaign photographer wasn’t filming for political purposes was belied when the Trump campaign posted the photos and video on social media and other sites affiliated with his campaign after the event.
Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita insulted the Army further by sending out a social media post of footage from the ceremony with the note that he was “hoping to trigger the hacks” in the Army.
The Army spokesperson, who responded to emails on condition of anonymity, said the service considers the matter closed.
4. Gold Star families can’t change the rules.
Nobody has the power to change or bend Arlington’s rules — not even the family members of the fallen.
Arlington is a place to honor those who have died — people who can no longer voice their beliefs, opinions or preferences. We can’t know whether those men and women buried at Arlington would support any particular political candidate. This is one of the reasons the rules are in place.
If a single family can grant permission for Trump to campaign today in the cemetery then there’s nothing to stop a family from giving permission for another candidate to do the same thing tomorrow. Who’s to stop a family from saying they give permission to do just about anything they want in the cemetery?
Gold Star families can bury their loved ones anywhere. When they choose Arlington they make an active decision to adhere to the rules, regulations and laws of the place. In fact, the reason families choose to bury their kin in Arlington is, in large part, because of those long-established rules and norms. To be interred in Arlington Cemetery is to become part of something larger than oneself and one’s family.
When a family chooses to break established regulations and to use their loved one’s headstone as part of a political exhibition, they’re betraying the very reasons they chose to have their service member buried in Arlington. They’re ignoring the graves to the left and right of their loved one. They’re disregarding all the other people who are visiting the cemetery.
5. These rules matter most in Section 60.
Section 60 is where the war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. It’s the section in Arlington where the most recent generation of troops is memorialized.
When you go to Arlington you find all sorts of people visiting on a given day. You see tourists looking for history, visitors from other countries and Americans who are just interested in seeing the famous cemetery.
But in Section 60 you find wives, husbands, mothers and fathers. You’ll find sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and comrades who fought in conflict alongside those who now lie beneath the white-marble headstones.
Arlington’s Section 60 is where you find people who come to the cemetery not to reconnect with a lost and distant memory, but to make sure their own recent memories remain alive.
In Section 60, any unauthorized photo op likely includes headstones of someone whose immediate relatives still remember them as a living, breathing person. It includes visitors and the headstones of troops who might not want to be in a political photo op.
For this reason, in addition to the ban on using photos for political purposes Arlington regulations require organized media to get permission from the next of kin before photographing headstones. The family of at least one deceased service member has objected to his headstone appearing in the photos distributed by the Trump campaign.
Cheung did not respond to questions about whether the campaign sought or received authorization to film headstones, including in Section 60.
Confusion is a hallmark of the Trump campaign apparatus: Create a hubbub, raise questions about what actually happened and in the fog of it all get away with an unprecedented breaking of long-held norms. The confusion over Arlington isn’t a byproduct of that effort, it’s at the center of it.
For a former president who received multiple draft deferrals during a time of war, reverence for Arlington cemetery and the Americans buried there might not make sense. This is the man who reportedly referred to the war dead as “suckers and losers” and recently said the Medal of Honor, the nation’s top medal for combat valor, wasn’t as good as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian honor that’s been turned into a bauble that any president can confer on his supporters.
The continued fallout from the Arlington visit shows that many Americans feel differently, that they want to ensure America’s war dead are honored and Arlington’s sanctity preserved.
Ben Kesling is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal where he covered military and veterans issues for more than a decade. He served as a Marine Corps infantryman and deployed both to Afghanistan and Iraq. He is the author of Bravo Company, a book about an Army unit’s deployment to Afghanistan.
By BEN KESLING
09/03/2024 02:00 PM EDT
The campaign has been confusing the issue. Here’s some clarity.
The debate around Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery has been confusing to many Americans. What’s the big deal with taking photos in a cemetery? Didn’t Trump have a right to pay a visit, especially accompanied by the family of someone buried there?
In this case there’s confusion over not only what happened, but what norms were upended.
A quick recap: Trump and his team were invited to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony by families of troops killed in the last days of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. His team included people who took photos and filmed at the cemetery in ways that violated Army regulations and federal law, including using the cemetery for political purposes. When an Arlington staffer tried to intervene, members of Trump’s team reportedly pushed the staffer aside and continued to photograph.
In the aftermath, Trump’s team released political material using the photos and footage and said it was acceptable because the families had invited him. Those families have defended Trump, with one saying “we invited him to be there.” (That statement was posted on Trump’s social media account along with footage gathered at Arlington which closes with the Trump-Vance campaign designation.)
Why does Arlington have those rules? How badly did Trump break them? And does the families’ defense matter?
Here are five facts about Arlington that can help provide some clarity.
1. Arlington is a special kind of cemetery — even more than you might think.
America has no national religion, but there are a few things in our country that the vast majority of Americans understand as sacred. If death in combat is considered the ultimate civic sacrament, then Arlington is our cathedral.
Visitors to Arlington are welcomed by signs noting the cemetery is “America’s most sacred shrine” and admonitions to “conduct yourselves with dignity and respect at all times.” Army directives say the cemetery aims to “represent the American people for past, present and future generations by laying to rest those few who served our nation with dignity and honor while immersing guests in the cemetery’s living history.”
That means the cemetery is governed by a broad mandate that’s bigger than anything happening in the current moment. The cemetery represents the American people as a whole, not just certain political factions. This unity of mission across the ages is conveyed by the simplicity and conformity of the headstones, showing how each individual sacrifice is part of a larger landscape that unites Americans who served their country from the Revolutionary War to the present.
Arlington isn’t just a monument to past wars. A visit to the cemetery’s 639 acres is an exercise in active remembrance. Though it commemorates the dead, Arlington is a living place that conducts about 30 funeral services and 12 wreath-laying ceremonies a day. That’s nearly 3,000 ceremonies each year that are conducted without incident, according to an Army spokesperson.
2. Arlington does not allow the grounds to be used for politics.
Long-established rules govern who can take photos and film at the cemetery. Those rules are written into federal law and Army directives.
Army regulations state: “Filming or photographing will not be permitted if it conveys the impression that cemetery officials or any visitor or family member is endorsing any product, service or organization. Additionally, ANC will not authorize any filming for partisan, political or fundraising purposes.”
It’s not just blatant partisan activity that is forbidden but anything that gives the impression of partisan or political activities. That means you can’t film an ad for your favorite cola, personal-injury lawyer or politician on those sacred grounds. It’s not just Army regulations that govern the matter, but the Hatch Act, which is federal law. And these rules and laws apply to everyone — including vice presidents and former presidents.
Those rules are drawn up with military exactitude. Every media engagement is coordinated with cemetery staff and officials well in advance, and the staff makes sure people know the rules before events begin.
Arlington officials said they informed all participants in Trump’s visit of the long-standing rules and regulations.
3. Trump’s team violated the rules.
Trump’s visit was part of a wreath-laying ceremony organized by the family of a service member killed by a suicide bomber during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Family members of those killed in war are known as Gold Star families. Family members of those serving in the military are known as Blue Star families.)
After the wreath-laying ceremony, Trump went with Gold Star families to a part of the cemetery called Section 60. At some point, according to Arlington officials, a cemetery staffer intervened to make sure Trump’s team was adhering to media rules. Neither the Army nor Trump’s team has made clear what prompted the intervention but Army officials have said a member of Trump’s team pushed the cemetery staffer aside when she attempted to “assure adherence to these rules.”
Rather than continue to actively enforce the rules, the staffer who’d been pushed chose to minimize disruption to the cemetery. Her mandate was to respect not only the families hosting the president, but also everyone else visiting the cemetery and the overall dignity of the place.
As a presidential candidate, Trump currently travels with a pool of press photographers. Those photographers did not take pictures of much of his visit in accordance with the cemetery’s rules. That’s why there’s no readily available video or photographs of the altercation.
Trump’s campaign also has its own photographer. In an email, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump’s photographer was authorized by Arlington officials to accompany Trump on the visit, and a post he published on X said Trump’s team could include a “photographer and/or videographer.”
Trump’s campaign has said it is prepared to release video that will exonerate it. However, Cheung did not respond to requests to provide video of the altercation and instead provided videos of military family members supporting Trump and a link to a Trump social media post with the former president saying there was “no conflict or ‘fighting’ at Arlington,” despite the campaign’s previous acknowledgment that some sort of incident took place.
Any argument the Trump team could have made that the campaign photographer wasn’t filming for political purposes was belied when the Trump campaign posted the photos and video on social media and other sites affiliated with his campaign after the event.
Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita insulted the Army further by sending out a social media post of footage from the ceremony with the note that he was “hoping to trigger the hacks” in the Army.
The Army spokesperson, who responded to emails on condition of anonymity, said the service considers the matter closed.
4. Gold Star families can’t change the rules.
Nobody has the power to change or bend Arlington’s rules — not even the family members of the fallen.
Arlington is a place to honor those who have died — people who can no longer voice their beliefs, opinions or preferences. We can’t know whether those men and women buried at Arlington would support any particular political candidate. This is one of the reasons the rules are in place.
If a single family can grant permission for Trump to campaign today in the cemetery then there’s nothing to stop a family from giving permission for another candidate to do the same thing tomorrow. Who’s to stop a family from saying they give permission to do just about anything they want in the cemetery?
Gold Star families can bury their loved ones anywhere. When they choose Arlington they make an active decision to adhere to the rules, regulations and laws of the place. In fact, the reason families choose to bury their kin in Arlington is, in large part, because of those long-established rules and norms. To be interred in Arlington Cemetery is to become part of something larger than oneself and one’s family.
When a family chooses to break established regulations and to use their loved one’s headstone as part of a political exhibition, they’re betraying the very reasons they chose to have their service member buried in Arlington. They’re ignoring the graves to the left and right of their loved one. They’re disregarding all the other people who are visiting the cemetery.
5. These rules matter most in Section 60.
Section 60 is where the war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. It’s the section in Arlington where the most recent generation of troops is memorialized.
When you go to Arlington you find all sorts of people visiting on a given day. You see tourists looking for history, visitors from other countries and Americans who are just interested in seeing the famous cemetery.
But in Section 60 you find wives, husbands, mothers and fathers. You’ll find sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and comrades who fought in conflict alongside those who now lie beneath the white-marble headstones.
Arlington’s Section 60 is where you find people who come to the cemetery not to reconnect with a lost and distant memory, but to make sure their own recent memories remain alive.
In Section 60, any unauthorized photo op likely includes headstones of someone whose immediate relatives still remember them as a living, breathing person. It includes visitors and the headstones of troops who might not want to be in a political photo op.
For this reason, in addition to the ban on using photos for political purposes Arlington regulations require organized media to get permission from the next of kin before photographing headstones. The family of at least one deceased service member has objected to his headstone appearing in the photos distributed by the Trump campaign.
Cheung did not respond to questions about whether the campaign sought or received authorization to film headstones, including in Section 60.
Confusion is a hallmark of the Trump campaign apparatus: Create a hubbub, raise questions about what actually happened and in the fog of it all get away with an unprecedented breaking of long-held norms. The confusion over Arlington isn’t a byproduct of that effort, it’s at the center of it.
For a former president who received multiple draft deferrals during a time of war, reverence for Arlington cemetery and the Americans buried there might not make sense. This is the man who reportedly referred to the war dead as “suckers and losers” and recently said the Medal of Honor, the nation’s top medal for combat valor, wasn’t as good as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a civilian honor that’s been turned into a bauble that any president can confer on his supporters.
The continued fallout from the Arlington visit shows that many Americans feel differently, that they want to ensure America’s war dead are honored and Arlington’s sanctity preserved.
Ben Kesling is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal where he covered military and veterans issues for more than a decade. He served as a Marine Corps infantryman and deployed both to Afghanistan and Iraq. He is the author of Bravo Company, a book about an Army unit’s deployment to Afghanistan.
