Former President Donald J. Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery and his campaign’s attempt to film gravesites there last week reignited questions surrounding his politicization of the military. Liberal outlets criticized Mr. Trump for turning his visit into a photo opportunity, while conservative ones falsely suggested that an altercation with a cemetery official hadn’t happened — a line that Mr. Trump echoed on Tuesday, contradicting his campaign’s original account.
Mr. Trump visited the cemetery on Aug. 26 for a wreath-laying ceremony in honor of 13 American service members who were killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. When members of Mr. Trump’s team moved to film and photograph other gravesites on the grounds, a cemetery official tried to stop them, citing a law that prohibits political activity at Arlington.
That incident was first described in an Aug. 27 article from NPR, which reported that two members of Mr. Trump’s team “had a verbal and physical altercation” with the cemetery official. That day, the cemetery said in a statement that “there was an incident, and a report was filed,” and that it had “reinforced and widely shared” the law banning political activity. Two days later, the Army said in a statement that a cemetery official trying to enforce that prohibition had been “abruptly pushed aside.”
Liberal outlets argued that Mr. Trump’s campaign had broken the law by filming at the cemetery, calling it a “scandal,” “repulsive” and evidence that Mr. Trump does not respect the military. They also interviewed veterans who were critical of his campaign.
Conservative outlets and commentators attacked the story as false, suggesting without evidence that the president’s team didn’t clash with anyone at Arlington. Several promoted Mr. Trump as a strong defender of the military and conducted interviews in which families of dead U.S. service members defended him.
Mr. Trump has often made statements that have widely been viewed as anti-military. He called American soldiers who died in war “suckers” and “losers,” according to John Kelly, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, and The Atlantic. He belittled Senator John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, for being captured and held as a prisoner of war. In 2016, he disparaged a pair of Gold Star parents — whose son had died in the Iraq war — after they criticized him at the Democratic National Convention, and in 2020 he suggested that Gold Star families had infected him with the coronavirus.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump’s campaign released a statement of support from a number of the families of the service members who were killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Here’s how a selection of outlets covered the news:
FROM THE LEFT
MeidasTouch
Liberal outlets have long criticized Mr. Trump for how he has spoken about the military. A flood of news articles, essays and podcast episodes from liberal outlets over the last week have followed that trend.
Several, including MeidasTouch, a liberal news network, interviewed veterans who disapproved of Mr. Trump’s actions, like Bobby Jones, a former Navy commander.
“Each one of those white limestone markers would be what he would consider a loser and suckers,” Mr. Jones said on an episode of “The Ken Harbaugh Show,” referring to Mr. Trump’s reported remarks about dead U.S. soldiers.
An article by J.D. Wolf, a contributor and researcher for MeidasTouch, said the Trump’s campaign’s use of footage from the Arlington visit on TikTok was “weaponizing the tragedy” of the deaths of U.S. service members as “an attack on political opponents.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Wolf wrote, Mr. Trump “turned footage of his trip to Arlington National Cemetery into a TikTok video.”
FROM THE LEFT
The New Republic
The New Republic, a liberal news and commentary site, described the incident as a “messy fight” in one headline, while another referred to the “true horror” of Mr. Trump’s visit. Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, an associate writer, called the Trump team’s photography “criminal behavior.”
Hafiz Rashid, an associate writer for The New Republic, wrote that “however Trump wants to try and cover up the incident, it won’t help his reputation towards veterans.”
“One can be sure that Kamala Harris’s campaign will seek to highlight this incident and as an example of Trump’s disrespect,” Mr. Rashid wrote. She did.
FROM THE RIGHT
Newsmax
Conservative outlets reacted to the news by baselessly attacking the veracity of the reporting on the altercation, and by discounting past reporting on Mr. Trump’s disparagement of soldiers.
Commentators on Newsmax, a conservative news outlet, expressed incredulity over the story. Carl Higbie said it was the latest attempt by Democrats and media outlets to “pull military support away from Trump.”
If members of Mr. Trump’s staff had pushed aside the cemetery official, “they would have been arrested immediately,” Mr. Higbie said. “I know Trump. He wouldn’t have anyone on his staff who would do that.” The Army said in its statement that after the altercation in the cemetery, “consistent with the decorum expected at A.N.C., this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.”
The network also interviewed a number of families of dead U.S. service members, and the families were supportive of Mr. Trump. On Thursday, Rob Schmitt, the host of “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” interviewed Kelly Barnett, the mother of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, who was killed during the Afghan withdrawal. Ms. Barnett, who attended the ceremony, said she had not witnessed any altercation.
“Everything went so smoothly,” Ms. Barnett said. “Trump’s team was completely respectful. The Arlington staff was completely respectful. I heard nothing.”
FROM THE RIGHT
Breitbart
Breitbart, a conservative news outlet, attacked the initial report from NPR as false.
A headline referred to the reporting as “fake news” and suggested without evidence that media outlets were launching a “hoax” against Mr. Trump’s campaign. That article, written by the reporter Elizabeth Weibel, included a statement from Cheryl Juels, an aunt of a Marine who died, who said Mr. Trump’s appearance was an “unprecedented show of presidential respect.”
In another article, Breitbart interviewed members of dead service members’ families who attended the ceremony at Arlington and who disputed that there had been any altercation between cemetery officials and Mr. Trump’s staff.
The post How Media Outlets on the Left and Right Covered Trump’s Arlington Cemetery Visit appeared first on New York Times.
