Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

Let’s finish the job.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Cole is on a roll !

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Excellent Reads: What Happened At Arlington Cemetary

Excellent Reads: What Happened At Arlington Cemetary

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Mr. Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire:

…When the former president* of the United States profaned this place the way he did this past week, he didn’t merely commit an unconscionable breach of simple humanity, something we are used to coming from him by now, but he also defied one of the last conventions in our politics that he hadn’t yet broken. Electioneering is forbidden within a certain distance of a polling place in every state in the Union. This is not only to give the voter a quiet place to make a decision, but also to avoid having adherents to one campaign or another attempt to persuade the voter with baseball bats. If you can’t bum-rush voting booths in firehouses and elementary schools, you shouldn’t be able to use Arlington National Cemetery as a campaign prop. Nevertheless, because he wants what he wants, the former president* ignored not only the cemetery’s policy, but also clearly stated federal law, to grab some video at gravesites in Section 60. To do so, he had his entourage rough up a female cemetery worker, whom they slandered as mentally ill in the aftermath…

If he cared, he’d apologize publicly to the woman, to the Army, to every family of everyone buried at Arlington. He’d track down the relatives of William Howard Taft and apologize to them. He would apologize to the families who’d invited him to be there for how his thuggish compatriots threw them and the memories of their fallen loved one into this kind of media jackpot. If he cared, he’d be embarrassed, but he doesn’t, so he isn’t.

Arlington is where it is because of the indomitable patriotism of one man, General Montgomery Meigs, the Army’s quartermaster during the Civil War. Meigs was a brilliant engineering student from Georgia who went to West Point because that really was the only top-flight engineering school in the country at the time. Secession infuriated Meigs and, when the federal government seized Robert E. Lee’s mansion and estates in 1864, Meigs was tasked with building a new national cemetery on the grounds. One of Meigs’ first acts was to raise a 12-foot high monument over a grave containing the undifferentiated body parts gathered from battlefields around Washington in the middle of Mary Lee’s rose garden. Montgomery Meigs had a gift for grand gestures of contempt…

Arlington belongs to all of us, but it is not ours to do with what we will. We give ourselves permission to visit, but it is the moral witness of those interred there who make the rules by which we all must abide. The official rules for visitor etiquette make this plain.

Enjoy the space appropriately. We encourage you to explore the cemetery (you may walk on the grass to find a grave) and attend a public ceremony. However, activities such as running, climbing, bicycling, playing sports or picnicking are not allowed. Leave your pets at home. Only approved service animals and military working dogs are permitted. Respect the property. Do not damage or sit on monuments, gravestones, plants or other property. They are historic features of this sacred site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The former president* likely would argue that “shameless huckstering” is not specifically named on the list of prohibited activities, although it can be argued that having his goons rough up a cemetery worker may violate that rule about leaving your pets at home.

We agree to give ourselves permission to be there. The decent among us all recognize this. Hell, the human in us all recognizes this. From the Kennedy plot to the mass grave of the undifferentiated dead of Bull Run who lie in what once was Mrs. Lee’s rose garden, we hold their proxies that they did not live to exercise themselves. It is the common suffrage of the nation.

 

Ben Kesling, at the Columbia Journalism Review:

When a presidential candidate violates universal and established norms, it’s okay to come out and say it. But the coverage of former president Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery, on August 26, showed the difficulties newsrooms have in covering unprecedented events, especially when it involves the nation’s military, veterans, and Donald Trump…

Lumped together, the reporting this week left readers and listeners, especially those with no knowledge of the military, at a loss to understand what actually happened—and, crucially, why it mattered so much. The Trump campaign team had successfully muddied the waters by alleging that the photographer had been invited to the event by family members of soldiers buried there.

But as any veteran knows in their bones, the solemnity of the ceremony is exactly why the unauthorized photographer had no business being there—regardless of who invited them. Section 60, the part of the cemetery where the incident occurred, is one of the most sacred places for this generation of troops. It is where those who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. Those graves are visited not by tourists looking for historical figures, but by mothers and fathers visiting their fallen son or daughter. In Section 60, wounds are still raw. Political activity there is never appropriate, and under the law, only cemetery staffers and approved photographers are permitted to film or take pictures there.

Readers needed to know that, when you visit Arlington, you might not know exactly what you’re supposed to do when confronted by those rows of headstones, but you damn sure know what you’re not supposed to do. But the coverage this week left many readers with the impression that the whole thing might have been a bureaucratic mix-up, or some tedious violation of protocol. It focused on bland horse-race coverage so common during election season, rather than clearly stating what really took place: an egregious and willful violation of long-standing norms. What was missing from the coverage was a willingness to quickly and decisively state what a grievous insult the whole debacle was to the dignity of Arlington. The sacred had been profaned…

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  2. 2.

    Peke Daddy

    @Baud: if Taft’s family deserves an apology, so does John F. Kennedy’s. This needed to be flattened, hard. Trump seems to be able to back down the government consistently. How the media fails to point out and explain transgressions like this is scandalous. To quote the Gettysburg Address:

    “But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

  3. 3.

    piratedan

    so.. to sum up… the Trump campaign made up a “ceremony” that would allow them to use a family tragedy (that they were responsible for) to use as cover for a campaign ad in a place that doesn’t allow them. Then berated the staff that told them they couldn’t do it, pressured the Speaker of the House, coupled with their House Representative to lean on the Cemetary officials (after they laid hands on them) to allow the “ceremony”. Then, they slander the staff at Arlington, claim to have exonerating footage (never released) but managed to produce nine plus ads for Tik-Tok and now they’re pivoting back to the original plan of dissing the Biden Admin for not showing up for a ceremony that didn’t exist on their schedule, that only Trump was invited to, to abuse the location for purely political means. and the MSM wants us to believe the DJT version… yeah, right

  4. 4.

    karen marie

    @Baud:   Nobody has seen a medical report about Trump’s ear either.  And he, again, won’t be releasing his tax returns.

    Just add the video to the pile.

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Well, in fairness, they need time to edit the vid to make it look like the cemetery staffer launched a screaming, incoherent attack on Donold Trump’s somber and respectful presence.

    Where “somber and respectful” == grinning like a clueless, self-absorbed asshole while giving a thumbs-up at the gravesite.

  8. 8.

    artem1s

    I honestly hope, if Harris wins the WH that she designates certain national parks and memorials off limits to anyone holding public office. If the WH or governor or congressperson wants to show their support for the fallen, then they should do it from behind a desk or via a written statement. Let the military and their media people handle the live feeds and release photos for the MSM and politicians to use as they see fit. Take away the temptation to peddle jingoism and belittle patriotism. Honoring veterans’ last measure of full devotion is not a chew toy for families or politicians to fight over or a participation trophy to be used to score ‘patriot’ points. If you can’t leave the dead in peace, stay away.​

  12. 12.

    hrprogressive

    The only thing “sacred” to the Fascist GOP and the corprofascist MSM is their own power. Literally the only thing.

  13. 13.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    Let’s make sure when Trump finally, finally, dies, he isn’t buried at Arlington. Next to Ivana at his tacky golf course will be fine

    Who authorized the wreaths and honor guard, come to think of it?

  17. 17.

    lowtechcyclist

    When Dump dies, I want the U.S. government to take possession of the body, and find a suitable place for its burial where admission can be charged for people taking turns urinating and defecating on it.  Maybe charge ten bucks a piss, and $100 a shit. Bet we could make a dent in the national debt that way.

  18. 18.

    lgerard

    Lets look forward to the parade of people who will be posing at trump’s graveside, grinning and flashing the thumbs up.

    It will be a thing for years

  20. 20.

    SomeRandomGuy

    One thing I haven’t seen mentioned enough: during TFG’s last weeks in office, he was told Afghanistan needed 4000 troops to maintain security. He told them to make do with 2500.

  21. 21.

    Mousebumples

    @lgerard: is it Rush Limbaugh who has had the acid *ahem* placed upon his gravestone literally degrade it? I’ll have to go photo hunting..

    ETA – yup.

  23. 23.

    Redshift

    In a related vein of highlighting good campaign coverage of the kind we’d like to see more of, I thought this was well done: “Both Trump and Harris claim to support the working class: Where do they stand on labor?”

    It’s about actual policy and records and not the horse race. It breaks down the labor records from both Harris’s career and the Biden-Harris administration along with Trump’s claims and actual record. It reports Trump’s claims but explains politely why they’re mostly bullshit. It gets across that most of Trump’s pro-worker appeal both in 2016 and now is just stoking white grievance, not anything to do with labor. And unlike the NYT’s ludicrous article about “housing policy”, they don’t just take it at face value when the Trump campaign list some stuff they already wanted to do for unrelated reasons and says “this will be good for workers, so that’s our pro-worker policy.”

  30. 30.

    Slightly_peeved

    @lowtechcyclist:

    To paraphrase the Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle on Margaret Thatcher, with whatever they’d spend on a state funeral the government should just buy everyone in New York a shovel. They’d dig a hole so deep we could hand him over to Satan personally.

  33. 33.

    ColoradoGuy

    Like many other BJ’ers, I’ve been to Arlington. The silence is eerie. All you hear is birdsong and the occasional passing airplane. The solemnity is a physical presence … you can feel it. And the endless rows of graves on the gently rolling hills is a sight you can never forget.

    By contrast, in Trumpworld, everything is a movie set, a background prop. The crowd that surrounded his descent on the golden escalator were all paid actors. This pervasive Hollywoodization of reality is Reagan’s true legacy … nothing is real, everything is just an interchangeable token for money or power.

  35. 35.

    VeniceRiley

    Well. My Grampa was National Comander of Purple Heart after WW2 and my dad was Rock Force. And you can bet I fired a post with that to @Army after they closed the case without changes. Cowards!

    I’m livid still. Even the Army enables his lawless ways, and even there. (No words for Speaker Johnson’s help to setup of this photo op smear of Biden and Harris. I expect it from these fake-ass religiofascist mfers.)

  37. 37.

    PAM Dirac

    I have six close relatives buried at Arlington. Both my parents, a brother, both my wife’s parents and her brother. Funerals there are a bit weird because there are always tourists around. For the most part the famous parts are away from where the active burials are so I don’t remember any bad violations during any of these funerals, but it is still a bit strange to occasionally notice people gawking. It is also strange to visit. The graves are arranged so that it is impossible to get anywhere in the sections without walking on graves. I always feel like I should constantly say “excuse me”. It really is a special place. I think the best writing I saw has already been linked here somewhere, but if you haven’t read read it, please do read In Praise of the Hardest job at Arlington   by Charlotte Clymer who was on the burial details for a while. I think her quote really sums up what Arlington feels like when you bury a loved one there:

    all we can meagerly offer them is choreographed dignity in place of irreparable loss.

    What the orange fart cloud did is not at all surprising and may not even be in the top ten horrible things he as done, but I would like to direct a special dose of hellfire to the Very Serious and Important People who are trying to pass this off as just both side do it political in-fighting. I hope they choke to death on their cheap cocktail weenies while every them laughs at them.

  40. 40.

    eclare

    One of the most profound things that I have ever seen was the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

    Tears welled up.

  41. 41.

    Suzanne

    @Frankensteinbeck: I have a picture of Rush Limbaugh’s grave with a giant piss splatter all over it, and I often look at it when I need to cheer up.

    I have told SuzMom that she needs to outlive TFG so she can take a dump on his grave. She’s been doing a bit more walking lately!

  42. 42.

    raven

    @VeniceRiley: My dad was on the landing where the 1st Bn, 503d Parachute Infantry was put on the beach. 2nd and 3d jumped the first day and the commanders knew that, with the element of surprised gone, there was no point in the dangerous jump.

  43. 43.

    TS

    Current headline on the Artlington event at Washington Post – 100% trump supporting media

    With boost from grieving families, Trump sharpens attacks on Harris

  44. 44.

    karen marie

    @TBone:  I’d say this is an example of Trump being easily manipulated rather than that he’s claiming it’s an “inside job.”

    All I have to go on is the clip but it looks to me like Crowley is suggesting the conspiracy to Trump, rather than Trump offering it, and he’s going along because playing the victim is Trump’s favorite game.

  45. 45.

    karen marie

    @TS:   Given that NPR presented similar reporting this morning, one has to wonder what’s happened that these news outlets are suddenly acting like last week never happened.

    It’s almost like they all got orders to stop mentioning it because the people directing newsrooms can’t figure out an equally weighty thing to tie to Harris-Walz.   They can’t negatively report on Trump without also negatively report on Harris.

  46. 46.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    My dad was an Arlington County cop for 30+ years.  I lived there for my first 11 years.  One of the two best bosses I had (back when I was an intel officer at the Pentagon) is buried at Arlington Cemetery.

    I grew up with it as a kid going there often.  I knew it well as an adult. The fact that this happened…

    I always say that no matter how low one sets the bar for Hair Furor, he always manages to find a way to slither under it.

    The fact that Meigs back in the day was a big proponent of executing treasonous shitstains like Lee highlights, in part, what the place is about.

  47. 47.

    TS

    @karen marie:

    They can’t negatively report on Trump without also negatively report on Harris.

    And nothing they report on Harris will stick, so they just quote trump. I will never understand why they are so enamoured – surely it can’t just be taxes – and if it is – what a horrific value system some folks have.

  48. 48.

    sdhays

    @TS: I don’t know. The questions swirling around her alleged McDonald’s career sure are troubling.

    Oh, wait. She’s running for President, not day manager of an Oakland McDonald’s. (No offense to McDonald’s day managers intended.)

  49. 49.

    MomSense

    The part of this that makes me the most angry is that the employee is so concerned (with good reason!) about retaliation that she doesn’t feel safe pressing charges.  That is fucking terrorism.

  52. 52.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @TS: I’ve got to take a time out from this story. Too many bad thoughts about too many people

    ETA: And where are the “institutions” that are supposed to hold miscreants to account?

  53. 53.

    VOR

    @karen marie: In my opinion, Trump is a classic Bullshitter as Harry Frankfurt described it. In this view, bullshit is defined as  speech intended to persuade without regard for truth. The liar knows the truth and attempts to conceal it. The bullshitter doesn’t care whether what they say is true or false, they just say whatever they think is most persuasive at that moment.

    This is how Trump will go along with a suggested conspiracy – he thinks agreeing will persuade the person suggesting it. Besides, he thinks he (Trump) is the most oppressed person in the history of the world so maybe the conspiracy is true. This is how Trump can tell one group he is in favor of the Florida abortion ban, then 24 hours later tell another group he is against it. He simply doesn’t care about consistency, just whatever he thinks is best to say to that audience, at that point in time.

  55. 55.

    karen marie

    @TS:   They’re scared.  The list of things people in corporate media are scared of is long, and can vary depending on where a person is in the food chain.  Accurately reporting negatively about Trump doesn’t just impinge on access to Trump and his circle but can create problems for a person in terms of their access to or relation with other powerful people.

    I only hope that I live to see the day that the “I’m special, defer to me” motherfuckers are up against the wall.  I’d like a turn with a pitchfork.

  56. 56.

    JoyceH

    @SFAW: Someone pointed out that Trump only has one pose when having his photo taken. And not only that, he only has one facial expression for photos, that cheerless grimace he uses for a smile. It struck me that he has absolutely zero situational awareness. Normal people would understand that posing with a donor and posing with an infant orphaned by a mass shooting ought to call for different moods and different expressions, but to Trump they’re the same – the situation is “I’m HERE, you lucky slobs!”

  57. 57.

    karen marie

    @VOR:   We agree.

    My issue was with the way C&L framed the story – “Individual-1 suggests prominent Dems behind assassination attempt,” “He actually said that it was an INSIDE job …” And “Red Painter,” who is credited with the story, continues making that assertion despite the fact that the actual quoted material shows that it was Crowley who introduced that idea to Individual-1.  Why not tell the truth?  THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH, AND IT’S JUST AS BAD FOR Individual-1 – if not worse, because it demonstrates how manipulable he is.

    This is why I stopped reading C&L over a decade ago – they’re clickbait.  I understand Blue Gal needs to make a living but it’s embarrassing to be reminded of that when I’m listening to the Professional Left podcast.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    @lgerard: Maybe they can put a lazy river filled with sharks surrounding Trump’s grave on some gilded island.  At his golf course.

    Much like Princess Diana, buried on a little island at the family estate, Althorp.  Probably without sharks.

    And Diana was an actual humanitarian.

  59. 59.

    Jackie

    @lgerard:

    Lets look forward to the parade of people who will be posing at trump’s graveside, grinning and flashing the thumbs up.

    Love this!

  60. 60.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @karen marie: Trump doesn’t just impinge on access to Trump and his circle but can create problems for a person in terms of their access to or relation with other powerful people.

    Trump is a former president, and getting to talk to a former or current president is what gives them the bragging rights at the NYT Christmas party.  The Dems have (rightfully) pretty much told the legacy MS they can go pound sand now, GW withdrew from public life, so Trump is the only one they can get that now.

  62. 62.

    Betty

    Trump has now managed to pit Gold Star families against each other. What a sad, sick monster he is.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    @piratedan:

    By George I think you’ve got it!

    To sum it up shitforbrains really, really is. At least we have the distinction of being able to say that we had, during our lifetimes, the worst human being possible as our president. OK he might not be the worst we could have found, but he is the worst to ever sit in that room, behind that desk, with that title. And to think that ANY citizen has the idea that he should be anywhere other than a cell.

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I get your point, and it isn’t without value, but still there are limits. We really should not want to join them in attitude.

    This comment was sponsored by an ex service member, who served during a war. OTOH, I do appreciate the concept but maybe we should be better? Not that it would be difficult in any way, shape or form to be better than shitforbrains. I’ve seen ant colonies that were far, far better. Every person I met in the military was better – and that is a low blow, because one of two of them……

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