The Trump Arlington National Cemetery controversy, explained

A controversy over the Trump campaign’s behavior during a visit by Trump to Arlington National Cemetery last Monday has stretched for days with no end in sight.

In part, the controversy is about the law: Federal law prohibits campaign or election activity at military cemeteries. In a larger sense, it’s yet another example of Trump flouting longstanding norms of decorum and ethical conduct — to the outrage of many, but not all.

Trump’s team, it seems clear, wanted to use the military cemetery visit for political benefit. When a cemetery staff member tried to prevent Trump campaign aides from taking photographs and filming near servicemembers’ graves, a Trump aide physically pushed her aside. 

Furthermore, once word of this incident leaked out, Trump’s campaign aides viciously insulted the cemetery staffer in startlingly personal terms.

In one fell swoop, Trump’s team managed to violate norms against politicizing veterans’ sacrifices, shoving people, and ugly personal attacks.

The Trump campaign has defended itself by pointing out that the family members of the servicemembers being memorialized that day have not protested his actions. Several of them have defended Trump, and they’re the ones who invited Trump to the cemetery in the first place, in part because they blame Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal for their loved ones’ deaths. 

What exactly happened with Trump at Arlington National Cemetery?

Monday was the third anniversary of the August 26, 2021, Kabul airport attack — a suicide bombing during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 US service members dead. 

Some family members of those killed have blamed the attack on the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal, and have aligned with the Trump campaign — including by appearing at the Republican national convention in July. And when planning an Arlington cemetery event to mark the attack’s third anniversary, they invited Trump.

Since it is the height of the presidential campaign season, and since Trump has long criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, US defense officials were concerned that the event could become inappropriately or even illegally political, the Washington Post reports — that it was a campaign event in disguise. 

So, officials laid down some restrictions. One was that Trump wasn’t supposed to bring his campaign staff. Another was that, after an initial ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that was open to the press, Trump’s visits to individual veterans’ graves, in a section of the cemetery reserved primarily for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, would be private.

But Trump brought campaign aides anyway. And two of those aides — a campaign photographer and a videographer — tried to go with Trump to the individual graves. An Arlington cemetery staff member tried to stop the aides, but, per the Post, “a larger male campaign aide insisted the camera was allowed and pushed past the cemetery employee, leaving her shocked.” According to NPR, Trump campaign staff also “verbally abused” the official.

After the ceremony, the Trump campaign organized a press call in which several family members of the servicemembers killed at Kabul praised Trump and criticized Biden and Harris.

What has happened since then?

News of the altercation became public on Tuesday, when NPR reported on the incident. Trump campaign spokespeople claimed they had permission to bring a photographer. 

They also claimed the cemetery staff member wasn’t pushed — but viciously derided her anyway. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung asserted that she was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” and co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita called her “despicable.” (Her name has not been made public, and the New York Times reported that military officials “feared that the employee would face retaliation from Trump supporters if her identity became known.”)

Trump’s team also posted a statement from several family members of two of the soldiers who died in the Kabul attack. “We had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event,” the statement says. (The permission of the families, however, has no bearing on the federal law prohibiting campaign activity at the cemetery.)

“The president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity,” the family members’ statement continues.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican who was also in attendance, posted a photo in which Trump stood with some veterans and family members by a grave, giving a thumbs-up. 

Trump’s team subsequently made a TikTok video including footage from the grave visits, with a voiceover from Trump blaming the Biden administration for the veterans’ deaths — clearly using the event for political purposes. 

Family members of one Green Beret whose grave was seen in these photos and videos (but who was not killed in the Kabul attack) issued a statement expressing concern that Trump aides did not follow cemetery rules on filming and taking photos.

On Thursday, the US Army — which manages Arlington National Cemetery — issued its own statement backing the cemetery staff member and asserting that she was indeed “abruptly pushed aside” for attempting to assure adherence to the ban on political activities on cemetery grounds. 

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the statement said. However, it went on, the employee decided not to press charges, so the Army now “considers this matter closed.”