Arlington National Cemetery is the most sacred monument in America. Of course, there are other monuments dedicated to the brave and fallen—such as the Vietnam War, Korean War, or World War II Memorials—but Arlington is unique. Rather than display names and plaques, the ground underneath the Cemetery is actually home to the remains of America’s soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
A not-so-bright staffer in Harris’s War Room decided to make former President Trump’s visit to Arlington at the invitation of several Gold Star families a campaign issue. That staffer is probably regretting their decision and may soon be out of a job. If history is any indication, the staffer’s two bosses at the top of the ticket may lose in November as well.
Intent is critical here. Was Trump’s visit political in nature? Did he mean to convey that he cares about the military and veterans? How was the visit conducted? Was it a genuine gesture of respect, given that the place is so solemn, or a photo opp designed to extract political leverage?
Reasonable people can agree or disagree with Trump’s intent. Liberal news outlets, which harbor a deep hatred for anything that Trump does and view all his actions as borderline political, pounced on the campaign stunt angle. NPR led the way, and the rest of the media slowly piled on.
Upon reflection, the issue is a ‘he-said, she-said’ narrative that borders on the petty. The Cemetery is home to Section 60, an area within the park that carries the remains of those recently killed in wars. Federal law prohibits election-related activities in Section 60.
On that fateful day, a Trump photographer, whom the Gold Star families requested to be present when Trump visited, was evidently confronted by a cemetery official who then tried to “physically block” members of the Trump team. NPR reported that the confrontation turned into a physical altercation. “When the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staff from entering Section 60, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, according to the source.”
The two primary questions are: Was Trump allowed to have a photographer with him, and did he violate campaign laws by having the photographer there?
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign official, tweeted an image of the permission from the Cemetery on X that the campaign said they received. That settles the first question.
Whether he violated campaign laws is a matter of interpretation. Trump did not speak at the private event; the Section 60 visit was closed to the press, and he was there at the families’ request. How could this be interpreted as political?
In Trump’s defense, he had visited the same cemetery to lay wreaths to honor the 13 soldiers who died at Abbey Gate in the aftermath of Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. At the time, Trump was not a candidate for political office, having left the White House ten months prior. No one made a hue and cry then, so why is NPR going after Trump now?
With fewer than 70 days to the election, of course, every second of the candidates’ time is political. The liberal media should have accepted this truth and let it go. The Harris campaign should have done the same thing, too. Besides, would NPR be critical if Harris had visited Section 60 with a photographer? The last question is moot but telling because the families did not invite Harris or Biden to their private event.
By turning a solemn visit into a political campaign stunt and bringing federal law into the discussion, the Harris campaign appears petty. It also attempts to be relevant by taking the moral high ground. The high ground in itself is hypocritical because the thirteen deaths happened on Harris’s watch. So, who is more at fault here? Harris, whose disastrous policies in Afghanistan helped cause the tragedy, or Trump, who visited Section 60 to honor the victims’ families at their request?There’s also the hypocrisy in how the media flips the script depending on whom they are covering. Here’s a flashback of the 2016 Trump-Hillary presidential race:
- July 28, 2016: Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala Khan, appeared at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia. During their speech, Khizr Khan spoke about their son, Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, to challenge Donald Trump’s proposed policies, particularly the Muslim travel ban. Khan pulled out a copy of the U.S. Constitution and asked Trump if he had ever read it, implying that Trump’s proposals were contrary to American values and principles.
- July 29, 2016: Donald Trump responded to the Khan family’s speech in a series of interviews and statements. He criticized Khizr Khan’s remarks and suggested that Ghazala Khan’s silence during the speech implied she wasn’t supportive of her husband’s views. Muslim countries severely constrain women, but America doesn’t.
- August 1, 2016: The controversy intensified as Khizr Khan and other Democrats defended the Khan family. The backlash against Trump’s comments came from both political sides, with many condemning his remarks as disrespectful and insensitive. The story continued to have a life as Khan became a celebrity, appearing on CNN, MSNBC, and ABC News, among many media outlets.
Note that it was the Democrats who politicized Trump’s travel ban by inviting a Gold Star parent to the DNC and challenging Trump’s knowledge of the Constitution in front of a national TV audience. No media outlet ever questioned the DNC about how the Hillary Clinton campaign exploited the Khans’ grief to push a political viewpoint.
Today, the Harris campaign has hopelessly boxed itself on the Trump Cemetery visit. Family members of 7 of the 13 killed in Abbey Gate issued a powerful statement saying that if Trump were still commander in chief, their children would be alive today. Ouch! No Abbey Gate Gold Star family has yet issued a statement supporting Harris.
Trump confronted one Gold Star family in 2016 and became media fodder for the remainder of the campaign. Harris has now confronted seven Gold Star families. Worse, these families hold her directly responsible for the losses of their loved ones, a far more stinging and direct rebuke of leadership than Khan’s criticism of Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban.
This one incident could turn the entire election in Trump’s favor.
TIPP Takes
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. Netanyahu Says Seeks ‘Forgiveness’ For Failing To Save Israeli Hostages In Gaza – AFP
As thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Monday for a second consecutive day of demonstrations criticizing the government, Netanyahu sought forgiveness for being unable to save them but also appealed for unity.
He called on the international community to apply more pressure on Hamas to end the war. Netanyahu also insisted that Israeli forces must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, which has emerged as a primary sticking point in talks mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar.
2. Britain Suspends 30 Arms Export Licenses To Israel Over Humanitarian Law Concerns – Al Arabiya
Britain will immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licenses with Israel because there is a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, foreign minister David Lammy said.
Lammy said the decision to suspend the licenses did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo but only involved those that could be used in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. British exports amount to less than 1 percent of the total arms Israel receives.
3. Extremist Settlers Rapidly Seizing West Bank Land – BBC
There are currently at least 196 illegal settler outposts across the West Bank, and 29 were established last year—more than in any previous year.
The outposts—which can be farms, clusters of houses, or even groups of caravans—often lack defined boundaries and are illegal under both Israeli and international law. However, the BBC World Service has seen documents showing that organisations with close ties to the Israeli government have provided money and land to establish new illegal outposts.
4. Russia’s Putin Arrives In ICC Member Mongolia – AFP
This is the Russian President’s first visit to a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued an arrest warrant for him last year for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children since his troops invaded the country in 2022.
Sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia was under Moscow’s sway during the Soviet era. Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, it has sought to keep friendly relations with both the Kremlin and Beijing.
5. IAEA Chief Travels To Kyiv Amid Fears For Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant – dpa
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, travels to Kyiv again on September 3. He will also visit the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the IAEA announced.
Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been occupied by Russia since 2022. Grossi said in mid-August that the security situation was “deteriorating.” He spoke after a blast in the immediate vicinity of the plant, which IAEA experts believe was caused by a drone with an explosive charge.
6. China Says Ship Passage Through Japan Territorial Waters “Legitimate” – Kyodo News
China justified the entry of its navy survey ship into Japan’s territorial waters off its southwestern islands over the weekend, saying the passage was “completely legitimate” and that the vessel was simply exercising its right of transit.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a press conference that the sea area is used “for international navigation” according to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. This was the 10th entry by a Chinese survey ship into Japanese waters off Kagoshima Prefecture since November 2021.
7. New Zealand Highlights China’s Complex Intelligence Threat In New Security Report – Reuters
New Zealand said that “China remains a complex intelligence concern,” but other states undertake malicious activity in the country.
“A small number of illiberal foreign states engage in foreign interference against New Zealand as a tool for advancing their interests abroad,” the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) said in its yearly report into the country’s threat environment. It noted it can be difficult to draw conclusive links between the interference activity and the foreign state.
8. China Buys More Chip Tools Than South Korea, Taiwan, U.S. Combined – Nikkei Asia
According to data from the global chip industry association SEMI, China, the world’s biggest semiconductor equipment market, spent a record $25 billion on chip tools in the first six months of 2024.
China maintained robust spending into July, and could be on track for another full-year record.
9. China’s Mission To Win African Hearts With Satellite TV – BBC
As African leaders gather in Beijing this week for the triennial China-Africa summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping may have one thing under his belt to boast about – satellite TV.
Almost nine years ago, President Xi promised the heads of state attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg that China would provide over 10,000 remote villages in 23 African countries with digital TV access. With over 9,600 villages receiving satellite infrastructure, the project is nearing completion.
10. Turkey Bids To Join BRICS In Push To Build Alliances Beyond West – Bloomberg
Turkey has formally asked to join the BRICS group of emerging-market nations. According to sources, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration believes that the geopolitical center of gravity is shifting away from developed economies.
They said the country’s new diplomatic push reflects its aspirations to cultivate ties with all sides in a multipolar world while still fulfilling its obligations as a key member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
11. German Businesses Worried About Far-Right Gains In The East – D.W.
A day after the regional polls, the president of the German Employers’ Association (BDA), underscored the link between a thriving economy and stable politics, suggesting that the far right AfD’s rise reflects “deep public anxiety and a lack of confidence that Germany is currently moving in the right direction.”
He blamed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s current policies for the right-wing shift and called on Scholz’s three-party coalition to reverse them.
12. UN Experts Express ‘Alarm’ As Executions In Iran Reach 93 In August – RFE/RL
At least 93 people were executed in Iran in August, increasing the total for the year to more than 400, UN rights experts said.
The UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed alarm over the monthly total – a rise from 45 reported in July – and called on Iran to immediately stop the execution of people facing the death penalty. It said 41 of those executed last month were due to drug offenses.
13. U.S. ‘Seizes Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s Jet’ In The Dominican Republic – Dailymail
The U.S. has seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s jet and flown it to Florida in an escalation with his regime.
Two U.S. officials disclosed to CNN that multiple federal agencies took the airplane dubbed Venezuela’s Air Force One into custody after deeming its purchase violated sanctions.
14. Venezuela Issues Arrest Warrant For Opposition Leader – D.W.
The arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez comes after officials declared President Nicolas Maduro to be the winner of Venezuela’s election in July.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whom Gonzales replaced on the ballot after she was disqualified, was also under investigation. Opposition parties claim to be in possession of tally documents that show Gonzalez with more votes. International observers have also disputed the official tally.
15. Fears Of A Cancer Cover-Up In State Suffering Mystery Spike In Tumors – Dailymail
A mystery surge in cancer in Iowa has been blamed on alcohol – but locals fear another major factor is being ignored or suppressed.
DailyMail.com visited Iowa and spoke to doctors and locals who had cancer themselves or knew of dozens who had, but one common thread stood out – none of them were heavy drinkers.
And while a report published in early 2024 highlighted alcohol as a major health concern, locals are trying to raise awareness about another contributor: agricultural chemicals – of which Iowa uses more than any other state.
16. Trump Backs Ballot Amendment To Legalize Recreational Marijuana In Fla. – UPI Health
Donald Trump said he supports a ballot initiative in his home state of Florida that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and older.
The marijuana amendment would authorize 25 companies licensed by the state to sell pot to adults for recreational use and allow the possession of the substance up to 3 ounces.
17. Unexpected Medical Bill? Challenging Might Yield Results – HealthDay News
A new study says that people who challenge an unexpected medical bill often get financial relief.
According to a survey published in JAMA Health Forum, about one in five people say they’ve recently received a medical bill they disagreed with or couldn’t afford to pay.
“Many people are hesitant to pick up the phone to question the accuracy of a problematic medical bill or explore financial options, but our findings indicate it’s worthwhile and typically takes less than one hour,” said lead investigator Erin Duffy.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
