After decades of war, most are aware of the aptly named ceremony known as Dignfied Transfer that takes place when members of our military killed overseas have their remains returned to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. It is carefully scripted and IS dignified. By custom it also includes families being able to request no video or pictures be taken which is why you don’t always see it take place. This week six more war dead came home and the families requested NO cameras. No video or photos. Trump, via his actions told them and the country they and their fallen loved ones can go f**k themselves.
Yes, as Meidas Touch News and numerous other outlets have reported Trump IGNORED the family’s request and posted a dozen or so (so far) photos of him PRETENDING to give a sh*t about fallen troops. People who shouldn’t be dead but are because of his stupid war of choice. People get wounded, sometimes grievously so in war and sometimes they even die. The service of all should be respected but for casualties, especially war dead there is a special obligation to properly honor them. NOT however as far as Donald effing Trump is concerned. If he can USE their deaths to distract from his domestic political (and legal) troubles (including and especially Epstein) or put money in his pocket with tacky-assed fundraising pitches then by god he will.
Let’s take a short (to last week) trip down Memory Lane. Or perhaps ‘Vile, Disgusting Memory Lane’ is a more proper name. Trump, who having attended Dignified Transfers in the past and therefore knowing protocols showed enormous disrespect to the first group of war dead that came home via Dover. He didn’t just wear a hat, but a baseball cap! Worse, it was a campaign hat, actual merch he sells complete with “45-47” on one side. Then his folks made sure photos of him wearing it and saluting got posted. Alas, this is Trump and when it comes to the old adage of no matter how bad things are they can always get worse frequently gets taken to new depths of disgusting.
Trump sent out a tacky, crass FUNDRAISING pitch (many have written about it including me here on PolitiZoom) and predictably MAGA asshats tried to justify it. Or, like my sister use the ‘just because someone claimed on the internet he did it doesn’t mean he actually did’ defense. Well, I provided my sister with a link to it and she hasn’t said jack in reply. Also, more than one Senator referred to it during a hearing this week and both Mark Kelly and John Ossof held up a printed copy! Yes, Trump did it. He EXPLOITED the death of troops in an unnecessary war to raise money.
More have died since then, and six crewmembers from a KC-135 Stratotanker that died from a crash after a mid-air collision near the Iran/Iraq border arrived back at Dover yesterday. They, as is their right and one by custom honored (till now) probably almost certainly knew about Trump’s crass use of other KIA troops arriving at Dover to make money and requested no cameras. No video. No still images. They requested PRIVACY for what until recently had been (even with Trump) a quiet, DIGNIFIED Transfer. And Trump as I’ve said basically pulled out his shortish, mushroom headed dick and told them to suck it. HE would do what he damn well wanted.
The war continues and we keep destroying targets in Iran. However we aren’t winning it and will never accomplish what Trump wants is a completely new governing regime he approves of, and all that would come with it. And people keep dying. But it’s hurting a U.S. economy that’s already squeezing regular Americans and it’s only going to get worse. The Epstein mess is still there. Hell, plenty of MAGAs are upset about this war. Most aren’t blaming Trump, but using the ‘Israel dragged us into it’ excuse. Trump’s approval ratings continue to slide, with reporting this week it’s even slipped a bit more with white males.
Trump is in a corner. He can try and pretend to care by showing photos of him pretending to care about fallen troops. AND he can play his MAGAs for suckers and get them to send him money. So that’s what he’s doing. If it means ignoring the wishes of the families of the fallen and disrespecting those who’ve died in his war then so be it. But he DID ignore the request and even Fox Freaking News screwed up and admitted it. As Trump deplaned at Dover prior to the Dignified Transfer Ceremony they noted the restrictions on press coverage. From the linked Meidas Touch Network article:
FOX: We should point out that at the request of the families, the dignified transfer is going to remain private. There will not be any cameras. pic.twitter.com/y0ivcJuPp6
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 18, 2026
I’ve never figured out how to add photos to the text of an article so you’ll have to go to the Meidas Touch Network link but even though it will make you feel sick inside you should look. They note the policy of families being able to decide whether or not cameras should be allowed goes all the way back to the Obama administration. Finally, they note this:
The White House did not indicate in their social media posts that they received permission from the families to post photos of their fallen loved ones onto their hyper-partisan social media accounts. In addition, the White House uploaded a larger batch of 12 photos from the ceremony to its official Flickr account.
In a different article The Daily Beast is even more blunt about the family’s request for privacy and it’s hard to argue with their clear assumption of why the request was made:
The families of service members killed in the Middle East sought privacy during the dignified transfer of their remains in the aftermath of one of President Donald Trump’s grim cash grabs.
Trump, 79, traveled to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday to honor the six military members who died last week after a refueling tanker crashed in western Iraq, raising the death toll of American troops in the Iran war to at least 13.
Fox News’ John Roberts said during the day’s broadcast of America Reports that the troops’ kin asked for the transfer to remain private, banning cameras from capturing Trump welcoming the fallen service members back home.
The Daily Beast article carries a tweet put out on the WH account that without quite saying so is as Trumpy-centric (It’s all about ME!) as Trumpy gets:
In the post, the president was named first. The accompanying image showed Trump saluting and soldiers carrying a coffin.
The request from families followed Trump’s controversial appearance during the dignified transfer of six other service members last week, when he wore a white hat embroidered with “USA” in gold as coffins covered in American flags were solemnly carried from an aircraft to a waiting vehicle in Dover.
They go on to give a good accounting of the appalling fundraising email exploiting the first six deaths. If I were a family member of someone being brought home to Dover I wouldn’t want Trump to even be allowed on the base until my loved one (and others) had been prepared by the base Mortuary for transport home for burial. We all know he’d rather be out playing golf anyway!
I’m sure Trump and probably Hegseth will come up with a vile, MONTSRTOUS lie about how despite what even Fox reported the families (with the big strong men in particular) had tears in their eyes saying “Please sir – we know what we told the press but we want YOU to use pictures of you saluting the flag draped coffins for whatever purpose you see fit. ” It’s not like one of them can go on TV and call Trump out as the f**king liar he is. He’d set MAGA on them and their loved one’s grave would be desecrated. Over and over.
It’s taken every ounce of discipline my Drill Instructors pounded into me all those decades ago and not cut loose like the Marine grunt that still infuses me. But to those, especially former friends from my hometown who accuse me of ‘just hating Trump’ my retort is to look at THIS and explain why YOU, who profess such love and respect for our troops don’t!”
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
