The point of Trump’s dishonor: Why the Arlington debacle is about more than the fallen

Much has been written about Donald Trump’s utter contempt for American patriotism as displayed at Arlington cemetery last week. Trump's desecration of the hallowed ground where the bodies of recently fallen soldiers lay has generated disgust in most Americans. Yet, what makes the moment so significant goes beyond his politicizing sacred ground in self-service. The debacle encapsulates the craven elements of his lust for power:  

1. His disregard not only of norms but also of the rule of law that protects all of us.
2. The bullying use of force to get his way, always by others not himself.
3. Leveraging the threat of further violence to intimidate those who can hold him to account.
4. His dependence on Republican enablers without whom he cannot succeed. In this case, the key enabler was House Speaker Mike Johnson, the highest-ranking elected Republican in the nation. 

Let’s briefly recount what happened. On August 26, Trump went to a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington with the family of a service member killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Federal regulation has long prohibited partisan campaign activity, including photographs and videography, at Arlington, as Army officials informed the Trump team. The rule protects all families:

Partisan activities are inappropriate in Arlington National Cemetery, due to its role as a shrine to all the honored dead of the Armed Forces of the United States and out of respect for the men and women buried there and for their families.

There is no exception for the politicization of a memorial service, even if sanctioned by a grieving family.

When Trump campaign photographers and videographers accompanied the former president to the gravesites, a female Army official attempted to enforce the law.  As she attempted to stop them, she was pushed aside by a Trump campaign aide. They proceeded to video Trump at the grave site, including grotesquely inappropriate hand gestures – Trump grinning with his thumbs up next to a tombstone, and a woman next to him apparently holding her hand in the shape of a known white supremacy symbol. The campaign posted the video on TikTok.

You don’t need a docent to describe the fine points of each element of Trumpism. First, once Trump saw the opportunity for personal interest, he could not have cared less about norms or rules that safeguard the feelings of others. At least one of the other grief-stricken Gold Star families expressed their strong displeasure with Trump’s misconduct. 

Second, is there anything familiar sounding about Trump’s backers resorting to force when following the law doesn’t get them what they want? January 6 was an event of a completely different order, but Trump’s MO doesn’t change, whatever the setting or scale: Law and order be damned, do what it takes to dominate. 

Then there was the third element described above: the disempowering through intimidation of those who might hold an authoritarian to account. The Army has reported that the federal official who sought in vain to prevent a violation of Arlington’s rules has declined to press charges. 

Who can be surprised by someone who apparently fears retaliation from a mob boss’ violent soldiers? Their previous targets have included judges and prosecutors, journalists who dare to criticize the former president, and election officials doing their jobs. Trump understands the future intimidation value of weaponizing his base’s brownshirts — it allows him to break glass with impunity.

Now let’s focus on enabler Mike Johnson. On August 28, the right-wing Daily Caller quoted an anonymous source proudly proclaiming that Trump being at Arlington “would not have happened without Speaker Johnson.” He had apparently intervened with the military to ensure that Trump could be present despite hesitation from Arlington authorities who foresaw the abuse of sacred ground that would occur.

The takeaway is familiar, even if all the details are yet to emerge. Trump only gets by with a little help from his MAGA friends. The House Speaker carries no portfolio for enforcing or bypassing military regulations; but the House does control the Pentagon’s purse strings. Political strong-arming carries a strong smell.

The Daily Caller reported the events as if Johnson got involved only through a series of calls from the Trump-friendly family stating that Trump was being excluded from the service. But let’s not be naive. This was a leaked story with the look of what former Marine Ben Kesling called out in the Columbia Journalism Review as the Trump campaign “successfully mudd[ying] the waters by alleging that the photographer had been invited to the event by family members of soldiers buried there.”

The Army’s moral and law-based objection to making partisan hay out of a sacred ceremony was surely made known to Johnson, as it was made known to Trump. Ultimately, as Kesling put it, “The sacred was profaned.”

If you hope in the next four years for some small measure of respect for those who serve the country in uniform, or regard for law and order, keep in mind the image of Trump’s team pushing over a female officer to get their way. If he becomes commander-in-chief again, we are all in for an unparalleled reign of self-interest and cruelty that is unlikely to end in 2028. A candidate who would track cheap political mud across the hallowed grounds at Arlington is capable of anything.