The U.S. Army has disputed a claim from Donald Trump’s campaign that nobody on his staff got physical with an employee of Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
Instead, the military branch confirmed Thursday that a member of Trump’s staff “abruptly pushed” a woman employee after she sought to “ensure adherence” to cemetery rules that bars recording for political purposes.
The Army said the woman reported the incident to local cops but ultimately decided against pressing charges. It remains unclear who in Trump’s orbit did the alleged pushing.
That’s a reasonable take for Army as a whole in this instance, though I think you’re underestimating just how concerned they are about white nationalist and far-right violent extremism in their own ranks. They’ve been quite candid about it, though it doesn’t seem like they’ve done much to fix the problem–or that they even have a solution to work towards other than the broader national strategy of really hoping it just goes away one day.
It is also nevertheless true that people fear for their safety if they become targeted by the MAGA mob. The cemetery official, who specifically said she fears reprisal from Trump supporters, is one example of that sad phenomenon.
Army seemed pretty unwilling to give her cover by taking up the violation themselves, so she was left to cower as she was accused of having a “mental health episode,” the Army was characterized as being a bunch of hacks, and she basically just had to hope her identity didn’t come out in the media.
While you may be right about Army playing the political optics game instead of enforcing the federal laws designed to protect the sanctity of where soldiers that have made the ultimate sacrifice are laid to rest, I would say their decision didn’t make them look particularly good.