J.D. Vance failed desperately Wednesday to spin a story about two of Donald Trump’s staffers allegedly pushing an employee at Arlington National Cemetery—and is being absolutely roasted for it.
During his rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, the former U.S. Marine tried to downplay allegations that members of Trump’s team had verbally and physically assaulted a cemetery staff member on Monday.
After a wreath-laying ceremony for those killed three years ago at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan (Vance mistakenly called it Abbey Road), Trump’s team reportedly wanted to take pictures in Section 60, where recent U.S. casualties are laid to rest. Photography is strictly prohibited in that area. When they were met with resistance, campaign staff pushed their way in, according to NPR.
The incident has sparked outrage, but Vance had a different group to blame for the firestorm: the press.
“Well, I-I think first of all, the altercation at Arlington Cemetery is the media creating a story where I really don’t think there is one,” Vance said, claiming that there was “verifiable evidence” that the campaign was permitted to have a photographer with them.
Vance insisted it was all OK because Trump had been invited by the family of a veteran, notably leaving out the part where his team may have potentially violated federal law by bringing a photographer. Video footage from Trump’s time in Section 60 was published to his TikTok Tuesday, overlaid with thoughtful music and audio of Trump blatantly lying about the number of U.S. casualties during his term.
Vance: First, the altercation at Arlington cemetery is the media creating a story where I don't really think there is one… pic.twitter.com/9j0W7HORli
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 28, 2024
Vance’s move to blame the press is hardly surprising considering he can’t stop denigrating them at practically every single appearance—the Ohio senator openly grinned while a CNN reporter was booed at his rally Wednesday.
It is, however, a notable shift from the Trump team’s other egregious excuse. Trump’s communication director Steven Cheung had claimed that the incident was the fault of the ANC staff member who was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode,” and denied there was an altercation “as described.”
Later on stage, Vance brought the incident up yet again, in service of one of his deflated one-liners.
“Now, yeah, I mean i-it-it is amazing to me, that you have apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member, had a little disagreement with somebody, and they have turned—the media has turned this into a national news story,” Vance said.
“You know what I think our veterans care a lot more about? That Kamala Harris’s V.P. nominee lied about his military service,” Vance quipped, trotting out his same tired “stolen valor” attack against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Vance: It is amazing to me that you have, apparently, somebody at Arlington cemetery, some staff member had a little disagreement with somebody and the media has turned this into a national news story. pic.twitter.com/apxOMnPiC0
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 28, 2024
Online, Vance was slammed for his comments, which seemed to incidentally confirm that an “altercation” had in fact taken place, while laughably attempting to downplay it at the same time.
