Veteran Slams Trump’s Disrespectful Stunt at Arlington Cemetery

welcome everyone I am bullwark Senior editor Ben Parker here with our friend and frequent contributor will selber uh will you had a piece up in the bull workk called Trump manages to spoil one of our few remaining sacred spaces uh before I get into the details of what happened and we can launch off will thanks for joining me yeah man it's always a pleasure to be on man thanks for having me so you wrote about this Kur fuffle that happened at Arlington National Cemetery when uh Donald Trump with some of his campaign retinue were there for an event and apparently a an employee of Arlington National Cemetery tried to prevent the campaign from filming in section 60 of the cemetery so let's walk through this you go through this in the piece first of all at the most basic level what is section 60 section 60 is a part of uh Arlington National Cemetery where overwhelmingly the people are buried there uh were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan not everybody but the the vast majority in that section uh so it is it is one of the few it's one of the places where you're going to actually see if you go there people grieving um uh openly weeping uh so it is a out of all the places in the cemetery obviously it's there's different levels sacred but you know I mean like you're seeing a civil war or something like that it's a little bit different um but when you're there it is a whole different level of somberness and uh it's just a very sacred place it's one of my uh I don't take a lot of people there uh I go probably every time I go to DC uh which is often and I usually go by myself or I'll take people uh so they can experience that because I think it's it's important to see it but if you're going to visit it uh it's important to follow the rules yeah this is a place where you're not just seeing people visiting a random grave or the grave of someone famous or the grave of their grandfather great-grandfather it's it's sometimes their husband their father their children uh a very um very raw part of the cemetery which is why there are special rules uh about not doing politics there and we'll get to that a little later um so you set the scene for us you told us about not Trump's visit to 6 but you took a couple of Afghan friends of yours there so tell us about Hamid and shirad yeah so hammed was uh my Posh two instructor uh 10 years ago uh he was a uh SIV special immigrant Visa Afghan uh who became an American citizen um now he works for in a Fortune 500 company and he's married has kids so he's an American citizen I took him he had never been before uh and he wanted to go and then I took uh shirzad who who is a uh former first lieutenant in the Afghan National Army uh who came here very recently uh during the fall of Afghanistan and so he had never been before and so I took the opportunity to take them because they both wanted to realize you know I think uh to remember some of the things about the war in Afghanistan and to remind themselves of the sacrifices even though it didn't work out the way we wanted it um they wanted to to to pay their respects to the Americans who who died trying to give them their freedom yeah yeah and you talk about um how you told them about the special somberness of the place they were visiting and how much respect they had for the for the people who were buried there um again who had given everything in service of our country and in service of theirs right both um and how much that meant to them so let's go back to this to this Trump story um so NPR originally reported that there was an altercation between Trump's staff and this uh employee of Arlington National Cemetery who had tried to prevent them from filming in section 60 uh so first of all let's just before we get into what the Trump campaign said and what the Army then said uh let's just get into when you as a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan as someone who's visited section 60 many times when you heard this story that there was some sort of altercation between the Trump campaign and the staff at Arlington what was your initial response like what was your like what went through your head I was very depressed I don't get you know different things anger me for some veterans that angers them makes them furious and I understand that for me I was just kind of just depressed at at the state of American politics uh that one of the two major parties one that I've historically voted for um has now nominated somebody for the third straight time after losing an election um who just I think has demonstrated uh an inability to comprehend service to understand honor and understand just the basic level of etiquette um on how you should re how you should carry yourself um as an American citizen and then also I mean as a former head of state um and I just think that like the I would expect more from a former president than to act like that at a at Arlington National Cemetery he he wasn't a candidate which I would have been maybe a little bit more forgiving this is a man who has sered who has served as president and should understand the military but has still after four years seems not to be able to grasp some of it yeah uh that's for certain uh especially when you look at the statement that his campaign released uh saying uh that the person uh who tried to stop the campaign from filming in section 60 which by the way is against the rules right that is the thing yes National cemeter was just trying to enforce the rules we'll get into that later so for trying to enforce the rules the Trump campaign spokesman said uh this person was quote clearly suffering from a mental Health episode you even want to comment on that I mean yeah I mean look I I have no idea what happen and you know I just if the if the employee was simply trying to enforce the rules um then that if she's going to be have a mental health episode I have him all the time uh I would be having one too if I saw somebody filming at Arlington National Cemetery for and who didn't have the proper permission and using it for political gain I'm I'm sure that caused quite a reaction because the people who usually work there and I've had limited interactions with them and uh I've gone all the time they've been nothing but respectful when I took uh my two friends Afghan uh my two Afghan friends you know the majority of the tourists were going to take the trolley they're going to go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and so the lady one of the grounds keeper like that's the way to the train that's way to the train I said I'm going to section 60 and she just said God bless you uh that was it and so like that's cuz there is an honor to work there and they they do feel like honored to take care of those places it it it's it's might sound silly to some people but like it they feel like I mean they feel like they're taking care of America's Heroes yeah no I I I totally get that um I I was once involed in one of these um one of these volunteer operations that goes and puts uh you know Flags down on on Memorial Day at every grave in and flags and people just volunteer to do it because the people deserve to have their graves taken care of you know they gave everything it's least we can do okay so so I I think I think the the statement the Army put out uh in response to that claim is is worth reading uh at length so so buckin for a sec they say this is this official statement from the Army which runs the national cemetery participants in the August 26th SE ceremony and the subsequent section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws Army regulations and DOD policies which clearly prohibit political activities on ceremony grounds an Arlington National Cemetery employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside consistent with the deorum expected at the cemetery this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption so that makes it sound like they were enforcing the rules which are there for a reason and that employee was pushed aside if I mean what did they do wrong yeah it's just uh it's kind of mindboggling um but at this point I just I I'm not I'm not shocked by it I just like this is a pattern I think that we've seen over the last however many years he's been involed in American Life uh so I just this is this is part of the experience um that you know there the push boundaries but now we've hit this like the last sacred place I mean it's just it's really depressing because there's just it's the one place you go to and all the things that you carry the identities and all the things that that you are you leave that behind you and you just go there and remember like how special it is to live here because these men and women gave their lives for it and that's all it's should be about for people not trying to capitalize on it yeah that's right well you also write very movingly in this piece about um some of the graves you visit in section 60 and some of the people you know who are buried there so why don't you tell us a little bit about who those people are yes so I have uh two friends um buried in Arington National Cemetery who I usually always visit when I go there uh Airman First Class leanard Chavis uh who's a turret Gunner who was killed by a mobile sniper team in 2006 um in Baghdad uh while we were training the Iraqi police um and then a friend of mine uh his name is Captain Jesse Milton III who is a Marine uh he was actually I believe he was a Communications officer but he volunteered to uh go and train the Afghan National Army in 2008 and uh he drove into a a one-way Valley which most of them are you go one way in you go one way out uh and they were waiting for him and they H hit his vehicle with a double stacked anti-tank mine it killed everybody in the vehicle uh those are the two friends that I go visit I usually also see like other people for other friends I will go and you know pay my respects on behalf of other people while I'm there as well yeah uh you write very movingly about them and you uh you included pictures you have of their uh headstones uh at Arlington so I just we have we have one other happier note that we want to end on but before we get there before we get there let's just let's just really Hammer this home why is it that filming a campaign ad at at section 60 where your friends are buried is against the rules and why is it so destructive to break those rules to use those graves in your political messaging and your campaign for president like at the very basic level why do we have these rules in the first place so that PE so that not everybody just goes out there and starts filming ads I mean because it's look there's a long history and tradition of using American soldiers and as you know political props and both parties are very guilty of that throughout their entire history um but there is I mean a line that you dead soldiers maybe is not the place to go and film an ad because you're they never agreed to it no matter if you have somebody who said that they could you could do it or not the rest of the people the men and women who are who were killed and buried there their families didn't say that and so you're taking not only just you're you're you're dishonoring a part of that that cemetery and by the whole thing it's just it's just really gross um and I find it just very sad that that nobody in that entire campaign apparatus at any point in time thought maybe this isn't a good idea yeah yeah I want to read to you back some of the lines from your piece because I think they're so powerful the people who gave their lives didn't SW swear an oath to give all to a party or a candidate they sore to protect the Constitution and they sacrific to protect this country their sacrifice is one of the last reminders we have that there exists an American project that is bigger than parties and tribes and campaigns and that it's worth fighting dying and even killing for uh I think it's absolutely right and uh you know I'd only add that the people who are buried under those headstones those beautiful white gleaming headstones they don't get a say right they have all different political opinions some of them would have been thrilled to be in a trump ad some of them wouldn't have and they don't get to say and so it's absolutely taking advantage of these people who if they hadn't signed up and taken that oath would have been here with us today taking advantage of them to say well you're now gon to support me for president from Beyond the Grave it's it's it's abusing them it's just abuse yeah I don't disagree okay so let's talk I'm so sorry I'm going to let you talk about your your interpreter there was a big story about you and about your friend in the USA Today today so let's let's take a uh yeah I think a lot of the B work readers will remember ahmadullah uh Karimi who was my last combat interpreter that I got out of Afghanistan I've gotten a lot out um even before the fall but he was one that um the bullwark uh a lot of the bullwark community uh donated to his GoFundMe campaign uh which JVL put in his Triad and I was hoping to get $7,000 which would have been more than enough just to put him in a safe house he was in Pakistan uh and I think within like 24 hours it was at 35,000 or something like that and I actually had to turn it off because I we didn't need that much money and I felt bad taking it so redirecting it to other worthy causes but um the the article is about him and I think you know the the assistants of me and some of my the people that served along with me were able to to give him and now he is in Vermont and you know he he just got his green card this week um which is very fast um so he is probably about less than I think it's five years or so uh from becoming an American citizen but now that he has a green card he is you know has legal permanent residence here so it's a big deal for him and his family and that wouldn't have happened without the bull workk yeah it's a very happy story uh by the way he's not the only uh uh Afghan who helped the United States who the bull Community helped get out I know a couple others too who are now in Oregon it's a great story every time they're going to be great Americans um will you've written a lot about this about about getting Afghans out about the people we've uh tried to help about the people we've left behind but uh if people want to start the piece you have in the bull workk now is Trump manages to spoil one of our few remaining sacred spaces you also today have another piece about the Afghanistan war commit Mission and whether or not they're going to have the political maneuvering room and the will to tell the truth so people should go check out will selber more YouTube videos more articles on the bull work will thanks for joining me thanks as always been have a great one