Is there more to the events at Arlington with Trump and the Abbey Gate families?
I have mourned the fallen. I have been to Arlington and have visited the graves of relatives and family friends. I have been to The Wall in Washington, and have seen the names of two childhood friends who died in Viet Nam. I have walked the graves at Gettysburg and other National Cemeteries. I have stood inside the Ossuary at Fort Douaumont, Verdun, France, with the bones of 160,000 unknown soldiers.
The Trump campaign is in lying mode, attacking Vice President Harris for not being at the August 29, 2021 arrival and the dignified transfer at Dover AFB of the soldiers killed in the 2021 incident. President Joe Biden and his wife did attend. The Trump campaign is attacking Vice President Harris as though she was responsible for what happened in the last days of the drawdown and the fall of Kabul. She was not the President or a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time. The Trump campaign is attacking Vice President Harris for not attending the recent Arlington Cemetery event. Neither she nor President Biden was invited. Not all of the fallen soldiers’ families attended. Those who did attend have been vocal, on social media, condemning Vice President Harris.
It is all too convenient for this all to have occurred in between Vice President Harris’ nomination and the November election.
I ask the following questions.
How did this event come about?
Who arranged it?
When was it arranged, including laying the wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?
Who provided the wreath and the honor guard?
Who invited former President Trump?
When was he invited?
Who made the arrangements, family travel, accommodations?
Who received the information from Arlington officials about the absolute rules of behavior, photography, etc. When?
Were these rules discussed with the families? When?
Were these rules discussed with former President Trump’s entourage? When?
Why weren’t President Biden and Vice President Harris invited?
Were the soldiers’ families who didn’t attend invited?
Was this, indeed, an opportunistic act on former President Trump’s campaign to use the anniversary of the soldiers’ deaths as a political stunt?