Dishonor

There was a time when I had a bemused (elitist? possibly), but generally sober perspective on the reasons Donald Trump appealed to disaffected voters. I didn't endorse their worldview, but I understood it, at least academically. After eight years of That Fucking Guy's assault on our body politic, that bemusement has long since been replaced with seething anger.

Like many, I've wondered what he and his minions could do to finally jolt our institutions out of their stumbling, slumbering acceptance of one indignity after another. What, at long last, would bury these retrograde simps, these incellectual dorks aggrieved by a steadily slipping place in a world that's moving on from their backwards-looking misogyny and racism, these hateful losers who've found an avatar in one of the smallest, least worthy losers of all time?

A piece written today in The Bulwark by former intelligence officer Will Selber (hat tip to the zman for the recommendation) offers the kind of anguished and moving argument from a proto-Republican that may signal, even if faintly, a collective cobweb-clearing return to sanity. 

Selber takes aim at the recent news that the Trump campaign violated one of the nation's most sacred shared spaces, trampling both the law and common decency by using Arlington National Cemetery as a venue for campaign activity. As reported by numerous outlets, Trump joined a Gold Star family in visiting the grave of a soldier killed in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate during the clusterfuck that was our withdrawal from Afghanistan.

There is no prohibition against inviting someone to visit Arlington, and the family (members of which spoke on Trump's behalf at the Republican National Convention) was within its rights on that front. However, it is illegal to use pictures or video from the memorial site for political purposes. And as Selber notes, it's extremely poor etiquette to film the particular area of ANC in question, given its purpose as the final resting ground of our most recently killed service members. 

When an Arlington staffer repeatedly tried to enforce the regulations, Trump's buffoons first hectored, then physically assaulted her (knowing their predilections, one wonders if they would've had the courage to do the same to a male). Campaign spokesman and known belligerent dickhead Steven Cheung later offered the Trump side of the story, saying, "The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony."

Classy all the way down. The U.S. Army itself felt compelled to respond, saying in a statement, “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve."

Do you know how badly a former Commander in Chief has to fuck up to get The Fucking Army to release a statement like that? To confirm that a Federal employee was pushed out of the way by a bunch of servile chucklefucks in cheap suits. To imply that Trump's visit was conducted with the opposite of dignity and respect (as if the photos of that overgrown Oompa Loompa grinning and flashing a thumbs-up sign as he loomed over the graves of fallen Americans, and not just the one that was the proximate cause of his invitation didn't already make a mockery of the notion of his "respect", not to mention his recent and ongoing denigration of the sacrifice of dead and wounded service members, am I rambling I think I'm rambling this jackass causes me some rambling from time to time I'm gonna stop now). 

In any case, Selber makes the point far more cogently than I ever could, closing his essay by saying, "But I think most of all it’s this: The rules against using images or video of Section 60 in political campaigns are there for a reason. The people who gave their lives didn’t swear an oath and give all to a party or a candidate. They swore to protect the Constitution and they sacrificed to protect this country. Their sacrifice is one of the last reminders we have that there exists an American project that is bigger than parties and tribes and campaigns, and that it’s worth fighting, dying, and even killing for. All that’s asked in return is that we don’t subject them to our politics, that we keep them in an elevated, venerated place where they belong. If we can’t do that—if we let Section 60 become just another political weapon to use against each other—then what was all that sacrifice for?"

To add insult and insult to injury, JD Vance offered his own Dipshit Elegy as the controversy expanded, telling Vice President Kamala Harris to "go to hell" for questioning Trump's intentions in Arlington. For the record, she offered no public statement on the incident. And then, after arguing that the setting was private and not campaign-related, the Trump team released an ad featuring footage taken during the event, absolutely flouting the law and shitting on that sacred ground. 

I don't know if this is the straw that breaks the elephant's back, or if, like so many jawdropping assaults to norms we thought inviolable, Trump will wriggle free of consequence. I do know what I'd like to see happen. 

Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery is immediately adjacent to Section 64, the final resting place of US Army COL Jeffrey W. Russell. My Dad's gravesite is probably 200 meters from the place besmirched by the Orange Circus. If I know my Dad, and given the fact that we share a lot of personality traits in common, to my wife's chagrin, I think I do, he would despise Trump and everything his cult stands for. If I'm permitted a flight of fancy, I'm pretty sure Dad would be righteously pissed about all of the noise that interrupted his rest. And unless I miss my guess, Dad would feel compelled to do something sarcastic and amusing about it.

Folks, I want my Dad to haunt the rest of That Fucking Guy's campaign for President. Every time you see Trump stumble, or stammer, or make a fool of himself, I'd like you to smile, knowing that Jeff Russell is buzzing in his ear calling him an asshole, distracting him, befuddling him, enraging him. 

And when the Harris/Walz team wins in November, we can all thank my Dad, as well as the millions of people who are fed the fuck up with all of the affronts to decency and the common good. 

Haunt their asses, Dad. 

Don't let his mild-mannered appearance fool you.
That dude was a glorious pain in the ass.