The former president’s demeanor was criticized online as many were puzzled—and others outright offended—that he’d give his signature smirk and hand gesture at such a sensitive site.
“Smiling thumbs up at the grave is unusual to say the least,” posted Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker who’s a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard.
Trump was in Virginia to lay a wreath that commemorated the third anniversary of 13 American soldiers being killed at the Abbey Gate of Kabul Airport during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Taliban members took to the streets to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Military’s withdrawl from Afghanistan in 2022.
Ali Khara/Reuters
Defenders of the Republican nominee praised Trump for making the trip to Arlington at all, while others fingered Trump’s actions as being merely habit after months on the campaign trail.
Trump appeared to be surrounded by loved ones of the fallen Marines in the photos, some of whom smiled and gave a thumbs up themselves. The most widely circulated photos showed him behind the tombstones of Nicole Gee, a sergeant, and Darin ‘Taylor’ Hoover, a staff sergeant.
Joining Trump in Virginia was Tulsi Gabbard, the ex-Democratic lawmaker who endorsed him later that day. Utah’s Republican governor Spencer J. Cox also attended, sharing photos from the event. Neither Joe Biden or Kamala Harris attended.
Trump’s campaign has recently tried to pin the U.S. military’s bloody exit from Afghanistan as an attack line on Harris. This is despite Trump being the president who struck the deal that led to the withdrawal, with him going as far as planning to host members of the Taliban at Camp David on Sept. 11, 2019, to finalize it.
Arlington National Cemetery has strict rules about partisan events on its grounds and denies entry to anyone who tries to “gain publicity or engender support for any cause,” but presidents and politicians regularly attend memorials there that are typically covered by the press.
Donald Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister Sgt. Nicole Gee was killed in Afghanistan in 2021.
Anna Moneymaker/Reuters
Trump has a checkered past with the military and veterans. He was accused by those formerly close to him of dodging the Vietnam War draft by making up an injury. He’s also disparaged the intelligence of service members and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, The Atlantic reported during his presidency.
Among the most damning alleged comments revealed in that report was that Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood—a deadly WWI battle—as “suckers” for getting killed. In a separate conversation on the matter, he reportedly referred to soldiers killed in action as “losers.”
“Why should I go to that cemetery?” he was accused of saying. “It’s filled with losers.”
Trump has claimed the allegations made in the bombshell report aren’t true. Those once close to him confirmed the quotes’ veracity, however. That included the retired four-star Marine general John Kelly, who was Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff.
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