Cemeterygate

Click here for a Robert Reich entry on Substack entitled "Trump's Cemeterygate," subtitled "It was Trump on full display," from August 30.

Trump took an entourage, complete with film crew, to Arlington National Cemetery to take part in a three-year anniversary of the messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in another of his many attacks on Biden for this (despite the fact that Biden was adhering to the terms of an arrangement that had been agreed to by Trump in an effort to leave Biden, succeeding him in the White House, with as messy a military situation as he could).

They were confronted by a female cemetery employee who tried to stop them, since using the National Cemetery for political purposes is a federal criminal offense. After arguing with her, the Trump group physically pushed her aside and entered anyway, and photos of Trump at a soldier's graveside, grinning and giving a thumbs-up sign (clueless, as always) were subsequently posted online. This is Reich's take on the incident.

The entire incident is also a microcosm of Trump’s utter disdain for morality, honor, and patriotism — the public virtues, the common good. The cemetery is a sacred, hallowed ground. It is considered to be a national shrine. Trump sullied it to achieve his personal goal of the moment: to get a news clip in which he could bash Biden and, indirectly, Kamala Harris.