NEW YORK (AP) – A reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trump’s staff was far from the first time veterans or families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they found derogatory.
Since first entering the White House, Trump has picked fights with the military and veterans that no other major US politician would, starting in 2015 when he dismissed the military record of the late Senator John McCain because McCain had been a prisoner of war. Trump’s allies say Trump supports service members but reserves the right to push back against his critics.
“I think if you want to know how Donald Trump appreciates and respects those who have served, and especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, I think you can talk to those families and they’re much better off reading this than anyone who has a grudge toward Donald Trump,” said Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, on Monday.
Monday’s incident at Arlington National Cemetery came as the former president visited the graves of some of the 13 American service members killed in the Kabul bombing during the 2021 evacuation of Afghanistan. The military says Trump campaign aides “pushed a cemetery official aside” when he tried to prevent them from filming and photographing at Section 60, the burial site of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Trump’s campaign later released video footage of the visit on social media. The family of the decorated Green Beret, whose grave was seen in the photos, issued a statement in support of those who lost loved ones in Kabul, but asked for understanding from those close to their loved one’s grave.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but has denied the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.
Jon Stoltz, a U.S. Army veteran and one of the founders of VoteVets, a veterans’ advocacy organization supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy, said Trump was trying to use the holy site for a “political ceremony.”
“They have no right to do that to the other veterans out there,” Stoltz said.
The Arlington incident comes less than two weeks after Trump faced criticism for the way he discussed the Congressional Medal of Honor, the military’s highest honor.
In praising billionaire Republican donor Miriam Adelson, who he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, Trump said she did “much better” than getting the Congressional Medal of Honor because recipients are often seriously injured or killed.
Despite veterans of foreign wars calling out Trump for his comments, calling them “hotheaded” and “insane,” he repeated a version of the remark at a campaign event in Michigan on Thursday, saying he would “rather take” the Medal of Freedom because Medal of Honor recipients , “often they have suffered greatly, have they not?”
Earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley condemned Trump for questioning her husband’s whereabouts while he was serving in the National Guard overseas.
His former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired general, has claimed that Trump called Americans who died in World War I “supers” and “losers.” Trump has denied the claim.
In the past, Trump has maintained strong support among veterans, who are generally reliable voters who favor Republicans.
AP VoteCast found that about six in 10 military veterans said they would vote for Trump in the 2020 election, as did just over half of those with a veteran in their household. About 60% of veteran voters in the 2020 election identified as Republican, and about half—47%—identified as conservative.
A Pew Research Center validated voter survey found a similar share of veterans supported Trump in 2016. Among voters in this year’s South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that nearly two-thirds of military veterans and people in veteran households voted for Trump. Haley.
Trump claims to have protected service members by pushing to end foreign wars, such as the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan. He has also taken credit – wrongly – for first passing the private sector health care program, Veterans Choice, which was originally introduced during the administration of former President Barack Obama.
Trump and Harris did not serve in the military, and Trump received several deferments during the Vietnam War, including one doctor’s letter saying he had bone spurs in his feet.
Both parties have courted veterans. They have advocated for veterans coalitions and are supported by outside groups that focus on veterans issues. And both chose veterans as their running mates.
Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school and served four years as a combat correspondent, a type of military reporter, deploying to Iraq in 2005.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, served a total of 24 years in various units and jobs in the Army National Guard, although the circumstances of his retirement before his unit was deployed and several characterizations of his time in service have drawn criticism from Republicans—especially Vance—and prompted the Harris campaign to issue clarifications. The campaign has also promoted Walz’s service as a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee during his time in Congress.
Stoltz, a VoteVets co-founder, said Trump’s veteran reserves may be damaged by the former president’s repeated insults, but he believes it will have a broad impact on voters because Trump’s comments and actions can be viewed as offensive to that community.
“I know there are veterans who support Trump,” he said. “He’s just motivating people against him.”
VoteVets offers several pro-Harris-Walz products on its website, including camouflage signs, which Stoltz said the group has sold 10,000 of in recent weeks.
“People are starting to see the military as just another thing that Trump wants to use for his own benefit,” Stoltz said.
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Kinnard reports from Chapin in South Carolina. Associated Press reporters Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.
