Controversy over President Donald Trump’s visit to a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week has thrust the military back to the forefront in the 2024 presidential election.
While it was intended to highlight a potential weakness in Kamala Harris’ record as vice president – the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021, during which 13 U.S. soldiers were killed and dozens more were injured – it backfired for Trump, who faced allegations that his campaign had physically pushed a cemetery official and violated federal law by using the cemetery’s grounds for political purposes.
It’s the latest incident in recent weeks in which the military has been used as a political cudgel in campaigns in which neither presidential candidate has served in the military and both picked veterans as their running mates.
It’s part of a decades-long political strategy.
“I think there will always be a political instinct to respect the U.S. military because that’s a binding moral foundation,” the congressman said. Jake Auchincloss (Democrat, Massachusetts) served in the Marines before running for office, “which is why disparaging attacks on the Marines are so appealing to political activists.”
These cases sometimes involved actual national security or military decisions for a sitting president and his cabinet, but this was not always the case.
Look back at scandals that still reverberate in the American political imagination: Benghazi, the 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Libya that proved a major political burden for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the vote for the Iraq War that dogged Clinton and President Joe Biden for decades, and the “Swift Boat” attack on John Kerry’s military record that became a political byword for unjustified attacks.
In 1992, George H.W. Bush defeated his rival, Bill Clinton. Draft evaderIn 1988, Michael Dukakis criticized Bush over the Iran-Contra affair and posed for photos in a tank to present himself as a capable military leader. The plan failed His giant helmet and smile made him look more silly than strong. Bush, a World War II hero, ran an ad using his picture and sunk the Democratic campaign.
“Of course, Dukakis did it to show he was tough and cared about national security, but the hat made him look stupid and it just backfired,” said Peter Feaver, a Duke University professor and former White House National Security Council aide. “And I would say Trump has had a lot of trouble here, too, in terms of approaching this with the seriousness, respect, prudence and deliberation that a ceremonial moment requires.”
“A president must pass the commander in chief test,” Feaver added, “he must meet a minimum standard that he can be trusted to be commander in chief, to handle nuclear weapons, to entrust the lives of the men and women who serve in uniform.”
In a statement on Thursday, the Army said that while President Trump was attending a wreath-laying ceremony to honor soldiers killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, members of the Trump campaign “abruptly shoved” and “unlawfully assaulted” a staff member who was trying to stop a campaign photographer from taking photos of Trump at a military cemetery at the invitation of the military family. The Army defended the staff member, saying it was “aware that federal law, Army regulations and Department of Defense policy clearly prohibit political activity at cemeteries.”
First reported by NPR The Army said the case is considered resolved and the staff member does not intend to press charges.
“No one has defended our brave military personnel more than Mr. Trump,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement defending the former president’s visit. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chung told Politico in 2020 that the trip was “a great opportunity for the nation to get back to normal life.” Biden’s election ad The president is standing in front of a military grave.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler called the Arlington shooting “fairly sad” but “not surprising,” while spokesman James Singer pointed to Politico to a passage from the vice president’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, in which she promised, “We have a sacred duty to care for our soldiers and their families. I will always honor their service and sacrifice, and I will never take them lightly.”
When President Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee, the Trump campaign The advertisement was aired The president was filmed checking his watch during a ceremony honoring soldiers who died during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. And at last month’s Republican National Convention, several family members of soldiers came onstage to blast the president.
“Honoring those who died in the service of their country is the most ceremonial thing we can do. [part of the presidency] “It’s often spoken of in sacred terms, like ‘hallowed ground’ and ‘sacred,'” Feaver said. “Someone who wants to be president has to demonstrate that they can bring the power of the moment to the table.”
With Harris replacing Biden as the top Democratic candidate, her role in the Afghanistan withdrawal is likely to be brought up by Republicans until Election Day.
“This will be a very big liability. [for Harris]”Especially when she said, ‘I was the last person in the room, but I totally supported the plan,'” veteran Republican strategist Charlie Gerow said. “That settled it for me.”
The Trump campaign has also sought to disparage the performance of Harris’ running mate, Ohio Sen. Tim Waltz, R-Minn. J.D. VanceSenator Waltz, Trump’s running mate, has accused Trump of “honor theft.” Waltz, who served in the Minnesota National Guard for 24 years before deploying to Iraq and leaving to run for Congress, has dismissed the criticism.
“My record speaks for itself,” he told CNN on Thursday.
Criticism of Waltz’s military record dates back to the 2004 presidential election, when then-candidate George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard was questioned. That scandal culminated on CBS News. Publication of a series of documents The news was the basis for the 2015 film Truth. During the campaign, John Kerry’s record was also called into question in the “Swift Boat” attacks orchestrated by Chris LaCivita, now a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.
But Trump has also shown a weakness for military personnel and veterans, whom he has previously referred to as “Idiots and losersEarlier this month, President Trump drew criticism from veterans groups when he said the nation’s highest civilian honor was “far superior” to the military’s highest award because service members were “in bad shape” or “dead.”
“Those are stains he cannot erase, stains that will not go away, and nothing Mr. Vance says or does can erase that,” Feaver said.
But Gerow said he doesn’t think that will affect Trump’s share of the military vote. “It hasn’t made any difference in the last two elections. Trump has won a large portion of the veterans’ vote and the military vote, and I think that’s going to happen again this time,” Gerow said.
