Kevin Carroll, who served as senior counsel to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly during the Trump misadministration, has penned an opinion piece in The Guardian in which he shares his utter disgust with the behavior of the dotard last Monday at the Arlington National Cemetery. It was to Carroll that Kelly confided the substance of the conversation during another Trump at Arlington moment, when Kelly – over the grave of his son killed in Afghanistan – had to endure Trump’s condescending remark “I don’t get it, what was in it for them?”
So Carroll knows only too well the blob of human refuse whereof he speaks:
“Donald Trump and his staff knew – and were reminded of – federal regulations specifically prohibiting the misconduct their campaign engaged in at Arlington’s section 60 this week. But the law aside, only a gross lack of manners, decency and humility could incline a person to film a fundraising appeal over the resting places of dead men and women who cannot decline to participate in the coarse spectacle. The photo of a grinning Trump giving a jaunty thumbs-up over these patriots’ graves is an indelible image of narcissism risen to the point of sociopathy.
Worse is the allegation that two Trump staff members assaulted a small, middle-aged female Department of the Army employee who attempted to enforce the regulation and preserve the cemetery’s dignity. The victim reportedly refrained from filing charges due to a reasonable fear of violence or harassment from Trump’s supporters. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign defamed this woman as mentally ill. His running mate, JD Vance, said Kamala Harris could “go to hell” for her campaign’s suggestion that the unauthorized footage was intended for use as political footage – just before Trump used it for exactly that.”
I chose to quote these two paragraphs because in them Carroll provides a wonderfully concise, thorough and appropriately outraged narration of the facts of this abominable episode. I had not read anywhere else the appellation “small” ascribed to the woman who was assaulted – which makes me wonder if Carroll knows the woman he is writing about. If it is an accurate description it only makes the assault much more despicable, but entirely in character for associates of Trump.
“This ugly incident would have derailed the candidacy of any presidential nominee before Trump’s crude emergence on the American political scene in 2016. In 2024 it is already, probably intentionally on Trump’s part, being replaced in the news by reaction to his social media posts making lewd innuendos about Harris, and QAnon threats to imprison Democratic party leaders. But it is part of a pattern of disrespect for and misuse of the United States military that bears upon Trump’s fitness to serve again as president.”
Carroll certainly knows the tactics of Trump, using one outrage to cover and gloss over another. It seems he is much more intelligent than the idiot (Kelly) that he worked for. In fact it is probably Carroll and not his former boss to whom we owe the fact that the story about Trump’s disrespecting Kelly’s son and, by extension all of America’s war dead, came out.
Carroll certainly has Trump’s number:
“Trump sees the armed services as yet another entity to be misused for his personal benefit, damaged and then discarded just as he has with his bankrupt businesses, the evangelical Christian churches and the Republican party. Beyond that, his boorish statements and bad behavior regarding the military almost certainly come from a place of self-loathing. Trump dodged the Vietnam war draft by claiming – probably falsely – to suffer from bone spurs. A gnawingly insecure man, Trump is self-conscious of his lack of the virtues towards which the military strives: as the US army puts it, loyalty to the constitution, dutiful fulfillment of responsibilities, respect for others, selfless service to both the country and subordinates, honor, integrity and personal courage.
His poor form at Arlington this week therefore shocks but does not surprise, as the idea of serving others, much less giving one’s life for others, is anathema to Trump. This attitude would be a sad commentary about any man, but ought to disqualify someone seeking to serve as commander-in-chief.“
Yet almost half of the country still wants to give Trump the job… perhaps if more of them had seen Trump’s sociopathy at work up close as Carroll has they would feel differently…
I watched a clip of a MAGAt being asked about Trump’s inexcusable and loathsome behavior at Arlington. His response: “That’s just more fake news about the president.” There’s no hope whatsoever for those people.
Sometimes you just can’t fix stupid.
More like you just can’t clean certain shit-encrusted assholes.
spile wrote, “Sometimes you just can’t fix stupid.”
Sometimes?????
There is never any normal to crazy. Indoctrination is deep in those cray crays.
It is a shame the employee at Arlington felt so threatened by the magat morons that they would not file charges–that was a missed opportunity to let the country know the law applies to everyone. In these types of incidents, when the people assaulted fear for their lives, extra protection should be immediately given. Allowing criminal behavior to go unpunished only benefits the criminals-it greatly damages every other citizen in our nation if only because criminal elements see this and feel emboldened.
I hope the people threatening this employee are found, arrested, and thrown in prison for a VERY long time. Threatening harm IS a felony last I heard. Maybe these magat morons would do a lot less of it if they saw consequences for actions.
Fun thing is that some of the “grieving families” have now gone out of their way to defend Trump although, in the article I read, it doesn’t seem that any of them were asked about Trump’s use of the pictures in campaign material or why Trump was photographed giving a “thumbs up” sign at the gravesite (and they just happen to disparage both President Biden and VP Harris for “not giving them the time of day”–though I strongly doubt they actually reached out to either before the stunt).
Convicted felon, draft dodger, and flag-humper Don Von Shitzinpantz should not be allowed with 1000 yards of Arlington, any other military cemetary, any war memorial, or any American flag! Phucking Traitor should have faced a firing squad long ago!!
My father is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was a POW in Germany after his bomber was shot down over Germany on November 6,1943. He remained a POW until the European theater of war ended. I can’t imagine what he and all the other honorable people went through who fought for democracy and freedom in World War II. My father is a hero, like every other person buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Trump has no respect for the military. He has no respect for democracy. Why half of the United States still wants to vote for this man is beyond me. A man who would call my father a loser, A man who would call disabled vets losers, a man who has no respect for military service. A man with no morals or decency. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO STUPID?