I don’t think that Donald Trump has ever apologized for anything in his life. Rather than admit that he did something wrong, he merely deflects and blames someone else. Now that there’s a big flap over his stupid photo-op at Arlington National Cemetery, he’s blaming the people who clearly don’t deserve this: Gold Star families.
He spent the day Thursday deflecting reports that one of his campaign aides pushed a staffer at the revered cemetery, saying in big crayon words that “very bad people” were to blame for the controversy. Then in an interview, he suggested that the Gold Star families he accompanied may have been responsible for publishing videos from his visit, not members of his campaign, RollingStone reports.
This is a low blow, even for Trump. He’s attacking families who have lost loved ones to war. He makes scumbags look good. He is a craven, wannabe dictator who doesn’t care who he steps on to get what he wants.
Later in the day during a rally in Michigan, Trump did more deflecting, saying he “read that I was using the site to politic.”
“This all comes out of Washington, just like all these prosecutors come out of Washington,” he told the crowd, “these are bad people we’re dealing with.”
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“So I go there, they ask me to have a picture, and they say I was campaigning,” Trump complained. “The one thing I get is plenty of publicity… I don’t need the publicity.”
This is ridiculous. What did he think people were going to do? Of course, he was campaigning. He wouldn’t be anywhere near the cemetery if he weren’t. Does he really think we’re that stupid?
Jeez.
Journalist Aaron Rupar pointed out Trump’s efforts to blame innocent people for his campaign’s misdeeds.
Trump claims the debacle in Arlington Cemetery happened yesterday — it was actually 3 days ago — and says, "these are bad people we're dealing with" (they are cemetery workers) pic.twitter.com/AgSFd8XDiG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 29, 2024
Earlier Thursday, the Army confirmed that someone from Trump’s campaign “pushed” a cemetery staffer when they tried to prevent the ex-president’s aide from entering the area to film and photograph the visit to Section 60. That area in the cemetery is reserved for recently deceased service members. There are strict rules about media presence here.
Of course, Trump, convicted felon that he is, believes he’s immune to rules. I mean he can declassify top-secret documents just by thinking about it, after all, so the rules obviously don’t apply to him, right?
Army and cemetery rules prohibit campaigning and all other forms of political activity on the burial ground. But after the visit, Trump’s campaign social media posted one video after another, as well as images taken during the visit, even those taken in Section 60. When he was interviewed by NBC News following Thursday’s rally, Trump was asked whether his staff should have posted videos and photos of his visit.
That’s when Trump pulled the blame game, first claiming that he didn’t know “anything about” the use of the images on his campaign social media. And Trump being Trump, he used this opportunity to brag. Because that’s how he rolls.
“We have a lot of people, we have TikTok people,” he said, “you know, we’re leading the internet.”
Asked about it again, Trump claimed the parents of the deceased service members he’d joined may be responsible for distributing the videos and photos.
“I don’t know what the rules and regulations are. I don’t know who did it,” Trump said. “It could have been them — it could have been the parents.”
This is 100 percent untrue. It’s 100 percent unadulterated b.s., the only thing this man ever spews. How disgusting.
When he was told his campaign posted videos from the visit on TikTok, he asserted, “I really don’t know anything about it.”
And according to The Washington Post, Trump’s minions had been forewarned by Arlington National Cemetery officials that the former president could visit the grave sites, but not as part of a campaign event. Cemetery officials also made it clear that while media could accompany Trump to a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, they couldn’t follow him to Section 60.
How disgraceful. Trump trying to pretend he didn’t know his campaign was using the visit at the sacred cemetery as a publicity event. Of course, he knew.
Like I said earlier, how stupid does he think we are?
I’ve included a clip of Trump’s NBC News interview below. Trump starts discussing the situation at 1:05.
Featured image via screengrab.
