By a wide margin of 59 to 30 percent, a majority of likely voters approve of former President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery at the invitation of 13 Gold Star families.
If you recall, last month, at the request of the family members of the 13 U.S. troops killed in a 2021 terrorist attack during the Biden-Harris administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, Trump joined them to pay tribute during an anniversary memorial service.
To the surprise of no one, Democrats and the corporate media freaked out over this and quickly joined forces to smear Trump as a political opportunist spitting on America’s veterans by politicizing Arlington. He was especially condemned over the fact there was photography during the event.
CNNLOL’s chief gerbil, Jake Tapper, was so fake-outraged, he pathetically trotted out a Little McCain.
WATCH: Donald Trump Visits Arlington National Cemetery on Anniversary of Afghanistan Airport Attack
From the Gold Star families, we found out later that the cameras were there at their request and for a very good reason: in an effort to protect Biden and Kamala Harris, the corporate media and the White House have refused to even acknowledge these 13 brave warriors who died needlessly due to the breathtaking incompetence of the Biden-Harris White House. These families want their loved ones remembered, and what better way to do that than holding a memorial with a former president and capturing the moment forever on film?
Okay, well, this is all the usual-usual we’ve come to expect from Democrats and their increasingly feckless media allies. This story was so There-They-Go-Again, that I didn’t even bother to follow or comment on it. Water’s wet. Grass is green. The gerbil media say Trump is always wrong.
But then things got interesting…
After her disastrous CNNLOL co-interview with her running mate, Gov. Tim “Stolen Valor” Walz, instead of letting her political and media surrogates fight this fight on her behalf, incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris stupidly decided to wade in on the non-troversy. Obviously, she hoped she could blow the story up in a way that would distract from that disastrous interview on the upcoming Sunday shows.
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump lays a wreath alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.), who was injured at the Abbey Gate Bombing, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Donald Trump’s team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff,” she xweeted in part. “Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt.”
And yet, we now have unearthed video of Barry Obama, Joe Biden, and even — gasp!— John “Sacred” McCain photographed at Arlington.
The stupidest part of Kamala’s xweet came at the end…
“I will always honor the service and sacrifice of all of America’s fallen heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our beloved nation and our cherished freedoms,” she wrote. “I mourn them and salute them. And I will never politicize them.”
In other words, she is either accusing 13 Gold Star families of using their dead loved ones as a political stunt or of being duped by Trump. Above all, Kamala is accusing them of lying about inviting Trump to memorialize the fallen.
I have seen presidential candidates do dumb things before, but … dayummm…
The blowback from the Gold Star families was everything that defines “righteous:” immediate, intense, real, and raw.
RELATED: John McCain’s Son Acts Outraged by Trump in Arlington Cemetery… Where His Dad Filmed Ad Footage
On top of the antisemitism that forced her to choose as a running mate Minnesota Gov. Walz (a state already in her column) over Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (the state that will likely decide the election), trashing these Gold Star families could end up being remembered as one of the fatal blows to her campaign. Look at these numbers..
Only 30 percent disapprove of Trump’s Arlington visit. Black voters approve of the visit by a 16-point margin, 48 to 32 percent. Hispanics approve of the visit vy a 50-point (not a typo) margin, 70 to 20 percent. Not even a majority of Democrats disapprove (48 percent), while 35 percent approved.
Rasmussen then asked if Harris “bears responsibility [for the] catastrophic mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal that led to the murder of 13 servicemembers?” A majority of 54 percent said yes, while only 26 percent said no.
Had the Democrats, their media allies, and Kamala herself just left this alone, the story of Trump’s visit would already be forgotten. No one would be polling about it.
Here’s what I think happened… After her convention and CNN interview, the Kamala campaign realized their polling had stalled and this attack on Gold Star families was a gobsmacking political blunder borne of desperation.
The Kamala campaign is one of the worst-run I’ve ever seen.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.