The controversy over Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week has had more staying power than I could have imagined. But amid the ruckus over the former President’s attempt to use the graves of fallen soldiers as the backdrop for a campaign video, one ugly aspect of the incident has been lost in the shuffle.
When reports first surfaced of an altercation between Trump staffers and a cemetery employee trying to enforce the rules against politicking at the gravesite, the campaign’s initial response was depressingly familiar: blame the worker. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung claimed the employee (a woman whose name has not been revealed) was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.” Co-campaign chairman Chris LaCivita chimed in later, calling her a “despicable individual.” Presumably both cannot be true, unless you believe that people suffering from mental illness are also despicable. (Which, come to think of it, may well be the case in Trump world.)
But the knee-jerk attacks were all too predictable, and telling. The Trump team could have dismissed the incident as a simple misunderstanding, or claimed it had been blown out of proportion, or even (God forbid) apologized. Instead, the response revealed one facet of the Trump playbook that is too often overlooked: his utter disregard, even disdain, for working people.
In a statement following the incident, the Army defended the cemetery employee, saying she was “abruptly pushed aside” by Trump staffers when she tried to enforce the rules against politicking at the gravesite. “Consistent with the decorum expected,” the statement added, “this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.” The police were called, but she opted not to press charges — because everyone knows what happens when you get on the wrong side of Donald Trump.
Just ask Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two Georgia election workers falsely accused by Trump of stuffing ballot boxes in 2020, as part of a supposed election fraud scheme. Trump called Freeman a “hustler” and “professional vote scammer,” and put both women on his list of “monsters” conspiring to steal the election from him. That prompted a vicious campaign of harassment, racist taunts, and death threats, forcing Freeman to flee her home. (An investigation later exonerated both women, and they won a $148 million defamation suit against Trump attack dog Rudy Giuliani.)
Similarly, during his New York civil fraud trial, Trump’s tirades against the prosecutor who brought the case, state attorney general Letitia James, and the judge who was trying it, Arthur Engoron, were hardly surprising. More disturbing were his gratuitous attacks on the judge’s “politically biased and out-of-control, Trump-hating” law clerk, who was, as a result, subjected to a torrent of threats and antisemitic abuse.
All of this, of course, is just part of Trump’s reflexive response to anyone who dares to oppose or criticize him in public. Invariably, they are “incompetent,” “corrupt,” “crazy,” or plain “evil.” But judges, political opponents, and other public figures at least have a forum to fight back. Trump’s habit of attacking largely anonymous working people is especially appalling, coming from an entitled billionaire who inherited his wealth, had a reputation for stiffing his building contractors, cheered Elon Musk for firing striking workers, and brands immigrants to this country — most of them hard-working, law-abiding folks who do the jobs that keep our economy humming — as murderers, rapists, and clones of Hannibal Lector.
Does Donald Trump hate working people? Not really. He simply has no empathy or real conception of what their lives are like. For all his railing about the pain of inflation or the blight of urban crime, he seems utterly disconnected from the way people cope in real life. He thinks you need a government ID to shop for groceries. At a recent campaign rally, he ranted ominously: “You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot. You get mugged. You get raped.” Never mind the comic-book crime fantasies; when has Donald Trump ever walked across the street for a loaf of bread?
Trump has no understanding or respect for people who simply work hard, follow the rules and do their job, so they can bring a paycheck home to support the family. They are, for him, just useful pawns — collateral damage in a campaign of grievance, political survival, and ego sustenance.
The cemetery employee has, thankfully, remained anonymous and thus avoided the fate of so many other targets of Trump’s venom. But as a window into the real attitude toward working people, from a presidential candidate who claims to be their champion, I hope the Democrats don’t forget her.
Richard Zoglin 