Cemetery-Gate

At Arlington National Cemetery, Donald Trump desecrates the memory of our war dead

In 1750, Martha Dandridge, the daughter of a minor Virginia planter, married Daniel Park Custis, son and heir to one of the wealthiest families in the colonies, on account of his holdings in real estate. Her husband was 39 years old; she was just 19.

Custis died seven years later, leaving Martha a 26-year-old widow with two young children, the oldest of whom, John Parke “Jacky” Custis, had inherited his father’s fortune (and, it must be mentioned, his slaves). She was running five plantations, dealing with legal red tape, and mourning the loss of her husband, her father, and two of her four children, and she managed with aplomb.

In 1759, Martha married again, this time to a retired colonial military officer who was born a year after she was. The newlyweds moved to Mount Vernon, where her new husband helped raise Jacky and his little sister Patsy. So while it is true that, like Kamala Harris, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington’s second husband had no biological children, it is also true that George Washington, like Kamala Harris, was the step-parent to his spouse’s son and daughter from a previous marriage.

Jacky Custis died of “camp fever” at the tail-end of the Revolutionary War. He was young, but his youth did not prevent him from fathering seven children. One of them, George Washington “Washy” Parke Custis, inherited some of his lands in Virginia. On one of the properties, Washy, who was also raised in part by his grandparents George and Martha, built Arlington House, a Greek revival manse atop a hill in Arlington that for a time functioned as, for all intents and purposes, the George Washington Presidential Library. Arlington House and the 600-plus acres around it was passed down to Washy’s daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who in 1831 married a dashing military man named Robert E. Lee.

In 1864, the federal government confiscated Robert E. Lee’s Arlington property—because, really, fuck that guy—for non-payment of taxes and began to use the grounds as a military cemetery. After Lee’s death in 1870, Mary Anna Custis Lee sued the government, claiming the land had been seized illegally. The Supreme Court agreed in US v. Lee, and she wound up getting the equivalent of $4 million of today’s dollars for the property.

So: The land passed from the family of George Washington to the family of Robert E. Lee to the Armed Forces of the United States. Where better to situate a military cemetery?

Since the days of Lincoln, Arlington National Cemetery has been, in the words of the Army, “a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces.” Some 400,000 are buried there. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is at Arlington. So is the JFK Eternal Flame memorial. RFK, father of the traitor to democracy who bears his name, is also buried at Arlington. This is sacred, sacred ground—the American Holiest of Holies.

And this is where Donald Trump, in a desperate ploy to shame President Biden and hit at Vice President Harris, staged his tacky campaign photo op, violating federal law, Army regulations, and the bounds of good taste. The plan was to concoct a ceremony at Arlington honoring the soldiers who died during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan (a withdrawal that only happened, incidentally, because Trump, in the dying days of his failed presidency, made one of those artful deals he’s known for regarding U.S. military presence there, negotiating not with the official government in Kabul but with the Taliban, whose leaders he’d invited to Camp David). The campaign intended to spin the Arlington photo op like Biden and Harris had snubbed the Gold Star families who Trump’s people trotted out as human props. It was all disgusting.

Arlington National Cemetery is run by the U.S. Army. When the Trump people reached out to them about having what was a campaign event at a section of the cemetery where photography is not permitted, they were told no. The Speaker of the House, Trump lickspittle Mike Johnson, reportedly intervened, and the ceremony was allowed to take place.

But when the photographers showed up, a staffer tried to bar entrance to the section, citing the law. She was verbally and physically abused by two of Trump’s campaign people, whereupon she decided not to make a further scene on the sacred ground. She declined to press charges for assault and battery, fearing MAGA retaliation. (Trump, like the mobsters he has long worked with, knows how to use threats to get his way.) When Donald’s people questioned her mental health, the Army put out 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.

As my friend Allison Gill, a veteran, points out, “I don’t think I can adequately explain what a massive deal it is for the Army to make a statement like this. The Pentagon avoids statements like this at all costs. But a draft dodging traitor decided to lie about our armed forces staff, so they went to paper.”

So Mr. Bone Spurs got his precious photo op by the graves of the fallen. In the picture, he is grinning and giving the thumbs-up sign, like he’s cutting the ribbon on the opening of a car dealership.

This is a desecration. It is an affront to the thousands of men and women who died for the country—people Trump called “suckers and losers.” He may as well have taken a giant dump on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Trump’s disgusting photo op was not “conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” as the Army intimated in the statement. Not even close.

I like to think that Donald’s show of audacious disrespect summoned the spirits of all those who are buried at Arlington—including George Washington Parke Custis, who built a monument to his late grandfather there. I like to think Trump hexed himself and his failing campaign. I like to think this violation doomed his re-election bid.

The nation’s honored dead did not die for this.

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NEWS & NOTES

First, my sincerest apologies. I had it in my head that I’d be back in September, and then I went and looked and I’d announced I’d do “Sunday Pages” on August 25. The process of installed two incoming freshmen at two different colleges over the course of three days was more exhausting than I’d anticipated, and any attempt at the usual Sunday piece would have been futile. Sorry!

Second: while The Five 8 is officially dark for another week, LB decided to do a special members-only broadcast tonight. We’re calling it “Private Label.” It’s a sort of regular show/ afterhours hybrid. The bad news is, you have to be a member of our community to watch the show. The good news is, it costs $1.99 a month to be a member of our community.

Third: One week from today, the PREVAIL podcast returns for Season 8. During my hiatus, I recorded three interviews. My guest on the Sept. 6 premiere is actor, director, and activist Rosanna Arquette. Here’s a little audio trailer:

You can subscribe to the podcast here.

Thanks, as always, for your support!

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Photo credit: National Archives. East front of Arlington House with Union Army soldiers on the lawn on June 28, 1864.