'Crude political props': Analyst says Trump unraveled rare campaign victory with new gaffe
Donald Trump's recent gaffe just undermined in entirety his lone campaign victory of the summer, a new political analysis contends.
Trump, the former president and Republican presidential nominee, blundered with his defense of an "ugly and cynical" photo-op at Arlington National Cemetery, where he spurred outrage for a tone-deaf gravesite thumbs-up and possibly broke the law, according to The Nation D.C. bureau chief Chris Lehmann.
"It’s entirely of a piece with Trump’s consistently derisive and dismissive view of soldiers and military service, and his determination to treat the military as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Organization," wrote Lehmann.
He then added, "What’s even more striking about this episode is how completely it undermined one of the only politically successful parts of last month’s Republican National Convention."
Monday's photo-op remains the subject of hot debate after NPR reported Arlington National Cemetery filed a report claiming Trump and his handlers' ignored an official who tried to stop them from filming.
Trump's team "verbally abused" the official and ultimately pushed him aside, despite federal law prohibiting political campaign activity in Army National Military Cemeteries, a source and Arlington spokesperson told NPR.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied a physical altercation and accused the official of suffering a "mental health episode," according to the report.
This statement shocked Lehmann for several reasons.
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“This line of attack, among other things, isn’t the best look for a MAGA movement that launched a series of vicious salvos at Tim Walz’s neurodivergent son at the Democratic National Convention," wrote Lehmann. "It’s also not the greatest epilogue for the right’s many fizzled efforts to cast doubt on the integrity of Walz’s own military service."
Lehmann argued Trump and his team have effectively erased the benefit of support from survivors of soldiers killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, expressed in a "powerful video" at the Republican National Convention.
"It was a moment that appeared to show Trump in a rare relatably [sic] human, and even somewhat compassionate, light," Lehmann wrote.
"But now, in the heat of a campaign where Trump has been steadily losing ground, he and his handlers have reverted to type. Gone are the niceties of image management. Instead, the campaign has seized upon the gravesites of dead soldiers as crude political props—while training rhetorical scorn and alleged body blows on anyone seeking to preserve the private, solemn character of remembrance for the war dead."