MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle said Wednesday on “Morning Joe” that former President Donald Trump used Arlington National Cemetery as a “prop for a political campaign.”
Monday, Trump took part in the wreath-laying ceremony on the anniversary of the 2021 Kabul airport terrorist attack that killed 13 military personnel during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Host Jonathan Lemire said, “I know a lot of military veterans were very uncomfortable with the idea that Donald Trump was there at all. He even at one point posed with family members with a big smile and thumbs up. We should note some of the family members did the same, that’s their right. Donald Trump seemingly very strange would do the same.”
Barnicle said, “Jonathan, I looked at the same pictures that you’re alluding to now and describing, taken at Arlington taken of the former president, and the thought rolled immediately through my mind, is nothing sacred? That is sacred ground. And the idea that any candidate of any party would use, intentionally or unintentionally, use that sacred ground as a prop for a political campaign is beyond condemnation.”
He added, “It’s terribly upsetting, obviously, to people who have buried loved ones in Arlington National Cemetery. It’s terribly upsetting to veterans and terribly upsetting to people who view it as a spectacle. And it ought to be for Americans who value what the military does for this country worldwide and has done for this country for centuries and will continue to do for this country.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
