A Marine Corps veteran who has written extensively about veterans issues condemned Donald Trump's behavior at Arlington National Cemetery.
Ben Kesling, who served as an infantry officer in Afghanistan and Iraq before working as a Wall Street Journal correspondent, analyzed the former president's photo opportunity with Gold Star families at the gravesites of two service members killed three years ago in the Abbey Gate bombing.
"The Trump campaign at Arlington controversy can be confusing," Kesling said on social media. "Here it is, broken down simply. You can’t bring your own photography crew to Arlington without permission. You can’t have your photo crew take photos even if one family consents. That’s because other graves are included in those photos. And those families haven’t given permission. More importantly, grieving families shouldn’t feel pressured by powerful people to give consent."
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The Republican nominee's campaign team took photographs and recorded video later posted online of Trump and the supportive families in Section 60, which contains the graves of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and federal law prohibits political campaign activities, including photos and video, in that area.
"People visiting those graves aren’t distant relatives," Kesling wrote. "It’s moms and dads and wives and husbands and kids and friends and fellow troops. The grief is still very present."
Two campaign staffers allegedly engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with a cemetery staffer who tried to enforce the rules against partisan activities, but she reportedly declined to press criminal charges because she feared retaliation from Trump supporters.
"The staff at Arlington aren’t being political when they prevent photo crews from taking unauthorized photos," Kesling said. "The staff is being apolitical. They’re being professional. They’re upholding the dignity of Arlington."
Kesling expressed disgust at the former president for posing with his customary thumbs-up grin at the gravesite of a fallen service member.
"I have been to Arlington many times and I have never seen someone grinning and giving a thumbs up for a photo," Kesling said. "I’ve never seen it because it’s not something you do at Arlington if you know anything about the place, and the men and women who are buried there."
