NPR just reported that one of two staffers involved in the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery is a deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump’s reelection bid. The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.
I thought it was Chris LaCivita or Cory Lewandowski. One of the misogynistic a-holes on Donald Trump’s campaign staff pushed a female employee at Arlington National Cemetery. It’s probably Chris “I’m the a-hole who created Swift Boating” LaCivita, but it might be Cory “I don’t have to be honest with the media” Lewandowski. As of Sept 5th 2024, the DoD and the DOJ aren’t going after them for what happened at Arlington. Why?
The FEC isn’t going after the Trump campaign for their use of campaign footage from Arlington in an ad. Why?
The outlet that broke the story, NPR, KNOWS exactly who did what, but they aren’t revealing that information. Why?
None of them are pursuing the Trump campaign for their blatant disrespect and law breaking for 3 reasons,
- Fear of retaliation
- Fear of losing favor in the future
- They LIKE what Trump & his staff did
You probably read that the woman declined to press charges for fear of retaliation. But that’s also part of the reason behind why the Army, DOD and DOJ aren’t pushing to charge the Trump campaign.
I had a great conversation with a former military lawyer about what happened at Arlington National Commentary. I wanted to know why no one in the Trump campaign staff got in trouble for clear violations of rules, regulations and federal laws.
He walked me through the process of when a civilian commits a crime at Arlington National Cemetery. He explained which MPs are called and why. Because the Trump campaign staff pusher was a civilian, if charges were going to be pursued the Virginia Department of Justice folks in the Eastern District of Virginia and Alexandria would need to get involved.
What was fascinating to me was his explanation that someone in command at the military made a decision to let “the pusher” go home and then NOT press charges. The reporting is that the woman who was pushed decided not to press charges because of “fear of retaliation” and the Army considers the matters closed.
It’s 2024 and we all nod in agreement that “of course she will get death threats” for simply telling Trump’s campaign staff to respect the dead & follow the law. WTF? We have come to expect that because our system refuses to punish those who make the threats.
Second, as it was explained to me, the Army could have brought a case on her behalf, but made a decision NOT to, because they didn’t want to upset Trump. I know that there are Trump supporters in the military. But I would THINK that they would so upset by what happened that they would do something, like at least throw his STAFF under the bus. Trump has already used the Sargent Shultz defense
You know how in police procedurals when cops are talking to a witness they say, “We can protect you.” The person, who knows how the bad guys have infiltrated the police, will often say, “No you can’t. They can get to me anywhere.” The good guy cop knows the victim is right so he takes her to a private place, that supposedly nobody knows about & tells them “Don’t use your phone!” But of course some paid off cop leaks it, or the victim has to call her mother to tell her she is okay and then BOOM. Bad guy comes after them. (Then we have the exciting scene at the house where good guy show up just in time to stop the bad guy from killing the woman. The bad guy is either shot and killed, in American TV series, or arrested and charged, in British TV series.)
I’ve listened to Glenn Kirschner talk about how hard it is for witnesses and victims to go up against mobsters. The prosecution might have a good case, but they need the help of the witness and victims, and practically, sometimes trying the case puts the victim in danger. For prosecutors, we now see that Trump and his MAGA people are worst than mobsters, because the prosecutors are afraid to charge them. Imagine yourself in the same situation as the woman at Arlington.
Now imagine that 1/2 of the police force & millions of people on the internet want to find you and 100’s of them threaten to KILL you because you did the RIGHT thing to hold accountable someone worse than a mobster and his people that broke the law.
Even though you didn’t press charges, the millions on the internet STILL FIND you and 100s will start sending you death threats. This is what I imagine the call to the cops would be like. (BTW, this is based on actual cases of death threats to election officials and workers I’ve followed in the US.)
Good Guy Cop: We heard you aren’t pressing charges. We’re sorry people are threatening you. There’s nothing we can do, especially when they do it Musk’s platform that doesn’t ban people for making threats.
You: Can you at least arrest the people who are threatening to KILL me?
Cops: Well, that’s complicated because they threatened you in a general way, and we don’t know who they are, plus they did it publicly on social media and the platform doesn’t have a problem with how they threatened you.
You: But what about the ones that showed up OUTSIDE MY HOUSE with GUNS?
Cops: Well, it’s legal to protest with guns in your state.
You: PROTEST WITH GUNS? ARE YOU Fking kidding me? There was an armed mob outside my home!
Cops: Look lady, I don’t make the laws. I agree with you it sucks, but a bunch of guys I work with think YOU are the problem AND the top brass play golf with the guy you pissed off. His staff said you were having a “mental event” It’s their word against yours and they’re very powerful. If we had video you could sue them for defamation, but that will take years.
You: So I can sue them for defamation, but not the death threats or armed mob?
Cops: Yep, that’s about the size of it. Look into the Shaye Moss & Ruby Freeman defamation cases they’ve won a bunch of them. Good luck!
My brilliant friend Sara Robinson pointed out the military’s fear of losing favor in the future issue.
The Army command is no doubt terrified that Trump will take power again, and doing anything about this now will only aggravate him more than he’s already aggravated at them.
I can see their point, but my response remains the same: this is tantamount to coddling terrorists, which only means that the future will hold more of the same.
Will they also hold still when President for Life Trump physically shoves aside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, claiming that he was having a mental episode?
What’s the deal with the media? Most of the MSM is afraid of retaliation and losing access. Yes, Esquire’s Charlie Pierce wrote a great piece, “How The Hell Was Trump Allowed To Use Arlington National Cemetery As A Campaign Prop?”
My friend Will Bunch of the Philly Inquirer, who I met at Eschacon 2008 in Philadelphia, wrote about the “blatantly sexist bullying of the Arlington employee.” It has worked so many times for Trump himself during his decades-long trail of sexual abuse and harassment allegations. He’s right, violence and gross mistreatment of women hasn’t thwarted the careers of Trump’s male-dominated inner circle.
Even the reporters who broke the story at NPR are afraid to put out the identities of the pusher and sexist bullies. The reporters have run bs statements from Trump campaign’s spokesman, Steven Cheung,
“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,” In a statement to NPR, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s spokesman, strongly rejected the notion of a physical altercation, adding: “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
[snip]“The Trump campaign declined to make that footage immediately available. On Wednesday the campaign released a video on TikTok that includes Trump’s Section 60 visit.”
So Cheung says they’ll sue for defamation and says the campaign has footage to prove their case, but then, when asked to see it, backs down. (Come on Oddjob, show us the unedited footage! )
Cheung called the employee despicable and wrote “Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces.”
Wow. Nice projection Cheung! As they say with Trumpers, every accusation is a confession.
On social media, the Trump campaign staff went on the attack first, to set the narrative.
They set up the families to tell only part of the story, “We invited Trump. I didn’t see anything.” That interview leaves out it was the campaign staff who were briefed on ALL the rules & regulations ahead of time and didn’t follow them when at the grave site.
Two things to note:
1) The chief of staff of Congressman Brian Mast of Florida, who was at Arlington with Trump, WAS briefed.
James Langerderfer said he told the Trump campaign staff and they agreed to the rules. When asked to verify it, Mast’s office said, “President Trump conducted no politics at Arlington National Cemetery.” (That’s just your opinion man, plus it still doesn’t excuse the shoving.)
2) Governor Cox apologized for making political and campaign use of a visit to Arlington
Governor Cox has since apologized for making political and campaign use of a visit to Arlington National Cemetery—but neither Mr. Trump nor his campaign have joined Governor Cox in apologizing for these blatant violations. AP, Hannah Schoenbaum, September 1, 2024
What is being done? Raskin & Connelly demand investigation
The activist side of me wants to figure out what can be done to stop them? What stops them so they don’t keep doing it? How do we beat these people?
Who’s on the side of justice? The good news is that Reps. Raskin and Connelly have demanded an investigation.
When I see something like this happen, as we have seen for the last 8 years, I always want to know, “How are they getting away with this? Who is helping them? Why? Who is defending Trump and his staff? Why? What can we do to change that?”
I’ve learned the basic techniques they use. They attack with name calling, lying, gaslighting, hiding the evidence, going over people’s heads to their bosses. The play dumb, argue in bad faith, file frivolous lawsuits, harass people on social media, make threats of violence on social media, threats of violence on the phone and threats via email. The use financial threats and legal threats. When they are in person, they use physical intimidation and make threats of physical violence.
I’ve also learned over the last 8 years is that the people who do NOT go after Trump (or his people) have a number of valid reasons. They know Trump has a history of how he responds when someone tries to hold him or his people accountable.
He’ll tie them up in court. He’ll go on the attack publicly on social media, he’ll lie and defame people at rallies and press conferences. He’ll get others to attack on his behalf.
He will use threats. He’ll have others use threats on his behalf.
He will get others to shut down stories or actions against him (Like Pecker of the National Enquirer ).
Remember, Michael Cohen’s JOB was to threaten people with legal problems on Trump’s behalf. Trump’s body guards and “security” physically threatened people on Trump’s behalf.
But WE HAVE to keep going after these people. They are wrong. Lots of people know they are wrong, but there are enough people who are afraid of them or who want something from them that they get away with it, again and again.
There is an appropriate response to the violations of the Arlington National Cemetery rules and laws. Make an apology and remove the ads, like Gov. Cox.
For the battery? Possible criminal charges, a trial so all the facts can come out by people, under oath, I’m looking at you Cory Lewandowski.
For the defamation? If the person who was shoved is identified, bring a civil case for enough money to pay for lifetime security from MAGA nutballs and to make up for possibly not being able to work at Arlington anymore, because of the unwanted attention from MAGAts.
Who are the people who could make these things happen? ” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
When the DoD decides to act, and to protect the witness, the DOJ needs to tell U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber in the Virginia Department of Justice in the Eastern District of Virginia they should prosecute.
The FEC should act. I suppose I should write a letter and ask them to do something, because even though the FEC is divided, a crime WAS committed and they ARE supposed to do something. The campaign should be busted on an FEC complaint. The ads should be forcefully pulled, like Gov. Cox voluntarily pulled his. And the Trump campaign should have to pay a fine.
The press needs to keep asking. “Who is the Arlington Shover?” Maybe I’ll ask if the good people at Task & Purpose who wrote the article about Defense Secretary Austin at Arlington to follow up on the violations of the rules and regulations at Arlington National Cemetery Maybe someone at will start a social media campaign demanding the Arlington Shover apologize.
We know that Trump NEVER apologizes. If he doesn’t throw someone under the bus, and no one apologizes, that is our cue to use it to drive a bigger wedge between Trump and the military, the vets and the families of the honored dead at Arlington.