As Biden and Garland plan to thwart Russian efforts to meddle in U.S. election. Donald Trump's name appears as possible beneficiary of Putin's underhanded games

AP

 

The Biden Administration announced yesterday it is taking steps to keep foreign adversaries from interfering in the 2024 presidential election, according to a report at Axios.

The New York Times (NYT), at its Evening newsletter, reports that evidence points to the likelihood that the alleged Russian scheme is connected to Donald Trump and his campaign. Under the headline"U.S. Announces Plan to Counter Russian Influence Ahead of 2024 Election," The Times reports:

Top U.S. officials announced a plan today to push back against Russia’s use of state-run media and fake news sites to sway American voters ahead of the 2024 election. The actions include sanctions, indictments,  and seizures of web domains that U.S. officials say Russia uses to spread propaganda and disinformation about Ukraine.

American spy agencies have assessed that the Kremlin favors Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, seeing him as more skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine.

Here’s what else to know:

• Iran has also intensified its efforts to discredit American democracy and undermine Trump’s campaign.
• To win Georgia, Trump probably needs to keep a fragile peace with the state’s governor, a popular Republican.
• Harris told the business community: I'm friendlier than Biden.
  

At Axios, the focus is on details about the DOJ's plans to keep Russia out of the U.S. election. Under the headline "Russia backed widespread election interference scheme, DOJ says." Avery Lotz wries:

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it is seizing 32 domains tied to a Russian influence campaign accused of spreading propaganda to influence voters in U.S. and foreign elections.

Why it matters: Members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle directed Russian companies to promote disinformation as part of a campaign to influence the 2024 election, the Justice Department alleged.

"The sites we are seizing today were filled with Russian government propaganda that had been created by the Kremlin to reduce international support for Ukraine, bolster pro-Russian policies and interests, and influence voters in the United States and other countries," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Wednesday.

Driving the news: The DOJ also announced charges Wednesday against Russian nationals connected to an alleged scheme to influence U.S. audiences with content that included hidden Russian government messaging.

• Court documents allege that RT, a Russian state media network previously called Russia Today, deployed nearly $10 million to finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company that has posted nearly 2,000 videos in English focused on key domestic and foreign issues to "amplify divisions in the United States."

• Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Both are still at large.
•  
  
• The 32-page indictment alleges that the pair worked to deceive two U.S. online commentators who have millions of YouTube subscribers, falsely claiming the company was sponsored by a fictional private investor.

Zoom out: The influence campaigns disrupted by the DOJ are known colloquially as "Doppelganger."

• Three Russian companies, directed by the Russian presidential administration, used the seized domains not only to influence voters, but also to reduce international support for Ukraine amid the ongoing war and promote pro-Russia policies.
•  
  
• Some of the domains include "cybersquatted" sites publishing disinformation meant to resemble legitimate news outlets, like The Washington Post and Fox News. 
• 
  
• The affidavit alleges the campaign employed worldwide influencers, used paid ads on social media and developed fake social media profiles posing as U.S. citizens to boost viewership.

• State of play: "The Good Old U.S.A. Project," "Guerrilla Media Campaign in the United States" and the "U.S. Social Media Influencer Network" project were three campaigns directed at influencing U.S. audiencers, per court filings.

• While the court filings block out the names of presidential candidates and parties, context in the documents makes them identifiable. 
•  
• For example, in a "Good Old U.S.A. Project" document, a section on "Target Audiences" identifies residents of "conservative states ... who more often vote for candidates of the U.S. Political Party A."

Catch up quick: The U.S. Treasury Department also announced Wednesday it had designated 10 individuals and two entities in response to "Moscow's malign influence efforts targeting the 2024 U.S. presidential election."

• That announcement builds on a March Treasury announcement identifying two individuals and two companies, both of which were entities named in Wednesday's DOJ affidavit, as connected to Doppelganger.
• In its Wednesday sanctions announcement, the Treasury Department said RT began an "even more nefarious effort to covertly recruit unwitting American influencers" starting in early 2024 and used a "front company to disguise its own involvement or the involvement of the Russian government" in content shared to U.S. audiences. 
• 
  
• It also took action against RaHDIt, a "pro-Kremlin hacktivist group" the department said is composed of active and former Russian intelligence officers.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Moscow's alleged interference in a press release Wednesday, stating, "Today's announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions."

• A Wednesday State Department release said individuals who provide "certain information on RaHDit" could be eligible for a reward of up to $10 million or relocation under the
• Rewards for Justice program. 
• 
  
• The department also announced a new policy restricting visa issuance to "certain individuals who, acting on behalf of Kremlin-supported media organizations, use those organizations as cover for covert activities."

Go deeper: Close Putin ally admits to interfering in U.S. elections

Americans want to see the Electoral College dumped, but it continues to hang around our necks, ready to upend presidential elections in favor of the GOP

(cartoonstock.com)

 

As the 2024 presidential race heads into the post-Labor Day stretch run, American voters should remember that our system comes with outdated, undemocratic peculiarities that can turn losers into winners. Unfortunately, these oddities favor Repubicans, according to a report today from MSNBC and the Microsoft Network (MSN).

Under the headline, "As 2024 race enters a new stage, the polls come with a caveat," MSNBC's Steve Benen writes:

Traditionally, once Labor Day is over, American presidential elections enter a nine-week home stretch. It’s a point at which campaigns start to hone their messaging; voters start weighing their choices more seriously; candidates share a debate stage; and races crystalize.

And, of course, the public is inundated with all kinds of polling data.

It’s no secret that the latest surveys have buoyed Democratic hopes. The latest USA Today/Suffolk poll, for example, found Vice President Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump, 48% to 43%. Those figures came on the heels of the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll, which found the Democratic nominee ahead among likely voters, 52% to 46%.

But a Politico report from the holiday weekend touched on a detail that’s worth keeping in mind as the data makes the rounds.

Because of Republicans’ advantage in the Electoral College, a race that Harris leads nationally by between 2 and 4 percentage points, on average, is the equivalent of a knife fight in a phone booth, and it’s set to be decided in a smaller-than-usual number of states.

I can appreciate why this might seem counterintuitive. After all, in a normal democratic election in a normal democratic system, candidates who win the most votes prevail. In American presidential elections, it’s vastly more complicated, and candidates who receive fewer votes can — and occasionally do — take office, while candidates who receive more support end up with nothing but disappointment.

It’s one of the reasons 2024 polling that shows Harris with a modest national lead comes with caveats, including one important detail: Trump’s Electoral College advantage is so significant that small polling leads for Harris are, for all intents and purposes, deficits.

Writing for The Washington Post four years ago, Paul Waldman explained, “Turnout projections are running at around 150 million [in 2020], which would mean that ... Biden could win by 3 million to 4.5 million votes and still have less than a 50 percent chance of becoming president.”

As outlandish as that sounded, (a) it was entirely accurate; and (b) it remains true in the 2024 cycle. (Note: What are the benefits of the Electoral College (EC)? This article explains it, and unsurprisingly, it is written by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. What do today's Americans think of the EC? They would like to see it dumped. And why does the EC favor Republicans? The Cook Political Report has the answer.)

Indeed, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes added a couple of weeks ago, “I really feel duty bound to keep pointing out to people that the electoral college is an insane unworkable mess and creates wild distortions in the single most important election in the country that literally don’t exist in any other election.”

Chris Hayes seems to be saying the Electoral College long has outlived its usefulness -- assuming it had any usefulness to begin with -- and it continues to wreak havoc and upend results in presidential elections. Since it is blatantly unfair, one must wonder why our country has not abolished it. Steve Benen writes:

Many Americans might think electoral-college/popular-vote splits are incredibly rare and not worth worrying about. After all, most of the time, the candidate backed by the most voters actually becomes president.

But it’s not quite that simple. In fact, in five presidential elections, the candidate who received less public support was declared the winner, and two of the five instances have happened in the 21st century.

It’s precisely why Harris isn’t popping any champagne in response to polls showing with modest leads: Even if the surveys are largely accurate, our system makes it easier for Republicans to win the White House, even when they receive fewer votes.

The Democratic candidate will need to try to run up the score, not just to deliver a historic rebuke to a corrupt rival, but to ensure her inauguration.

I remember one prominent political figure declaring not too long ago, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy,” which is hardly an unreasonable point.

That prominent political figure was Donald Trump.

Trump and his campaign staffers place a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery and wind up in a fracas with a cemetery official over possible rules violations

Donald Trump lays a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery (Getty)

An official at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) was "pushed aside"as she tried to make sure members of Donald Trump's campaign staff were following the facility's rules, which include no political campaigning and no private photography, according to a report yesterday at Associated Press (AP)

The U.S. Army issued a statement of rebuke to Trump's campaign and said staff members were made aware in advance of rules prohibiting political activity at the cemetery. Under the headline "US Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery," CNN's Haley Britzkky reports:

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday. Section 60 is an area in the cemetery largely reserved for the graves of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” the statement said.

The Army spokesperson said while the incident was reported to the police department at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the employee in question “decided not to press charges” so the Army “considers this matter closed.

Under the headline "US Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery,", Britzky writes:

The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery.

“Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds. An ANC employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside,” the Army spokesperson said in the statement on Thursday. Section 60 is an area in the cemetery largely reserved for the graves of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve,” the statement said.

The Army spokesperson said while the incident was reported to the police department at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, the employee in question “decided not to press charges” so the Army “considers this matter closed.” 

Under the headline "Arlington National Cemetery worker was ‘pushed aside’ in Trump staff dispute but won’t seek charges," AP's Adiana Gomezlicon and Tara Copp write:

An Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” in an altercation with former President Donald Trump’s staff during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor service members killed in the Afghanistan War withdrawal, but she declined to press charges, an Army spokesman said Thursday.

The Army spokesman said the cemetery employee was trying to make sure those participating in Monday’s wreath-laying ceremony to mark the third anniversary of the attack were following the rules, which “clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”

A TikTok video of the visit that was later shared by Trump shows scenes of him at the cemetery and includes a voiceover of the Republican presidential nominee blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

“This employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption,” the Army spokesman’s statement said. “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked.”

The incident was reported to the police, but because the employee decided not to press charges, the Army said it considered the matter closed. In response, Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, re-sent a video of Trump at Arlington that he had first put up on X three days ago, adding the message, “Reposting this hoping to trigger the hacks at @SecArmy.”

 

 

As you can tell from LaCivita's comment, Trump seems to have surrounded himself with campaign staffers who appear to have a deficit of class. The AP report provides signs the incident at Arlington was riddled with political opportunism from the get-go. Gomezlicon and Copp write:

The controversy comes as Trump has been working to tie his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, to the chaos of the Afghanistan War withdrawal with just over two months until Election Day. The suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 170 Afghans on Aug. 26, 2021, was one of the lowest points of the Biden administration and followed a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban the previous year.

Families of three of the slain service members had invited Trump to the ceremony, saying the former president knew their children’s stories and blaming the Biden administration for their deaths. Some of the families of these service members spoke out in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, in part to blunt criticism that Trump wasn’t supportive enough of veterans.

The family members initially struggled to arrange Trump’s visit to the cemetery, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The families had reached out to McCaul because the cemetery had been giving them “a hard time” about coordinating the ceremony with Trump, McCaul’s spokesperson Leslie Shedd said Thursday.

The families said the Army would only allow the ceremony at a specific time that did not work for everyone’s schedule, among other conditions, Shedd said. McCaul then reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson for assistance and tracked the matter until it was resolved, Shedd said.

“I was furious to hear their request to have President Trump join them to commemorate the anniversary of Taylor’s death was being stymied, along with several of the other family members of U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate,” McCaul said in a statement. “Gold Star families have already suffered enough.”

 

 

The Trump campaign has been facing blowback since an NPR report said that two Trump campaign staff members on Monday had “verbally abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Federal law prohibits campaign or election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries. A defense official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation.

The Trump campaign has claimed the Republican presidential nominee’s team was granted access to have a photographer, contested the allegation that a campaign staffer had pushed the cemetery official and pushed back on any notion that the cemetery official had been unfairly targeted.

“This individual was the one who initiated physical contact and verbal harassment that was unwarranted and unnecessary,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said Thursday. “As the Army has said, they consider this matter closed. President Trump was there to support the Gold Star families and honor the sacrifices their loved ones made. Where was Kamala Harris?”

The Trump campaign has also posted a message signed by relatives of two of the service members killed in the bombing that said “the president and his team conducted themselves with nothing but the utmost respect and dignity for all of our service members, especially our beloved children.”

Photos of the cemetery visit showed Trump standing by the graves and flashing a thumbs-up sign next to relatives of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover and Sgt. Nicole Gee. He also laid wreaths for Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, whose family was not present.

The family of a decorated Green Beret whose grave appeared in the photos of Trump’s visit issued a statement expressing support for the families who lost loved ones in the Kabul airport bombing, but asking for understanding for the concerns from relatives of service members whose graves were near them.

“We hope that those visiting this sacred site understand that these were real people who sacrificed for our freedom and that they are honored and respected accordingly,” said the statement, which was sent by the sister of Silver Star recipient Master Sgt. Andrew C. Marckesano, who died in 2020, on behalf of the family.

The TikTok video shared by Trump shows several clips of his visit to the cemetery. As a guitar strums in the background, there is a voiceover of him saying: “We lost great, great people. What a horrible day it was. We didn’t lose one person in 18 months, and then they took over. That disaster, the leaving of Afghanistan.”

The 18-month stretch without any combat deaths in Afghanistan included about six months of the Biden administration.

Fred Wellman, a 22-year Army veteran who served in Iraq and who is supporting Harris for president, said it was a mistake for the Army to put all of the weight on the Arlington National Cemetery staffer and let the issue go after the staffer decided not to press charges.

“Everyone who is a veteran who served since 9/11 is one to two degrees of separation from someone buried in Section 60,” he said. “The Army is the keeper of that place for us.”

A Pentagon investigation into the deadly attack concluded that the suicide bomber acted alone and that those killings were not preventable. But critics have slammed the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, saying it should have started earlier than it did.

Allison Jaslow, a former Army captain who leads the nonpartisan advocacy organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, applauded when Trump and Harris picked military veterans as their running mates. But she said aspiring elected officials should not campaign at Arlington National Cemetery.

“There are plenty of places appropriate for politics — Arlington is not one of them.”

Trump's trip to Arlington National Cemetery to honor Americans killed in Afghanistan turns into a confrontation between his staff and cemetery officials

(YouTube)

Members of Donald Trump's campaign were involved in a physical and verbal altercation at Arlington Nation Cemetery on Monday during a ceremony to honor 13 Americans who died three years ago during the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, according to accounts from multiple news outlets. The altercation apparently involved members of the cemetery staff. 

From a report at CNN, under the headline "Fresh controversy brews over Trump’s Arlington National Cemetery visit," Colin McCullough writes:

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign stirred new controversy this week during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery that was intended to draw attention to the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

An individual physically blocked Trump’s team from accompanying him during the Monday visit, two Trump campaign officials said. A cemetery spokesperson confirmed to CNN “there was an incident” and a “report was filed” but didn’t provide additional details.

Trump was visiting the cemetery following a wreath laying to honor 13 US military service members who were killed at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate. The Trump campaign posted a video on TikTok of the former president’s visit, which marked three years since the tragedy.

Trump indicated on social media that family members of fallen solders had asked for him to attend the event. It's not clear that members of his campaign staff had permission to be present, or that family members had authority to invite them. McCullough writes:

In a post on Truth Social, Trump appeared to suggest the incident stemmed from his campaign’s use of photography, sharing a statement from the family members of the fallen soldiers expressing their approval.

“We had given our approval for President Trump’s official videographer and photographer to attend the event, ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured and so we can cherish these memories forever,” the families said.

But according to a statement from Arlington National Cemetery obtained by CNN, federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries. 

The cemetery said it “reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants,” which includes “photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”

Trump’s post came after a report from NPR about a “verbal and physical altercation.” A source with knowledge of the incident told the outlet that a cemetery official attempted to prevent Trump’s team from photographing and filming in the area where recent US casualties are buried. In response, Trump campaign staff “verbally abused and pushed the official aside,” according to NPR.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung disputed claims of a physical altercation, but said an unnamed individual decided to “physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.” Cheung suggested that Trump’s team has video to back up the claim.

Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita shared a similar account with CNN, saying in a statement that “President Trump was there on the invitation of the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”

“For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed [sic] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces, and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country,” LaCivita continued.

Members of Team Trump presented varying accounts, coming from a number of different sources. That seems to have added to confusion about what actually happened. From the CNN report:

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, dismissed the incident as a “little disagreement” and said the families had “invited (Trump) to be there and to support them.”

“There’s verifiable evidence that the campaign was allowed to have a photographer there,” Vance told reporters Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he was campaigning. “There’s verifiable evidence that the families of these poor people who had their loved ones die three years ago at Abbey Road – excuse me, Abbey Gate. Those 13 Americans, a lot of them were there with the president.”

How does Vance know what happened when he was almost 400 miles away at the time. His reliability as a source of information seems dubious at best.

This story, however, might not go away quickly. A member of Virginia's U.S. House delegation made it clear he stands behind the cemetery staff. McCullough writes:

Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly called for Arlington Cemetery leadership to publicly release the report on the incident at the visit, casting doubt on Trump’s intentions and calling his team’s behavior “abhorrent and shameful.”

“I urge Arlington Cemetery to publicly release all that transpired yesterday so the American people can ensure the ground in which our nation’s heroes are buried is not being debased by a man who has no concept of service and sacrifice,” the congressman said.

That was a clear shot at Trump and his record of misbehavior, even at military cemeteries. From a separate report at CNN: 

Donald Trump’s campaign is co-managed by the man who engineered the “swift boating” of John Kerry in 2004, so it should come as no surprise that 20 years later, military service and treatment of veterans are turning into uncomfortable political issues.

Trump pivoted from a visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week to an attack on President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan policy – a turn that apparently followed a dustup with an official at the cemetery over the campaign’s attempt to use cameras in Section 60, an area where American troops who were killed in recent wars are buried. The story was first reported by NPR, but both Trump’s campaign and the cemetery have since issued statements. 

Donald Trump’s campaign is co-managed by the man who engineered the “swift boating” of John Kerry in 2004, so it should come as no surprise that 20 years later, military service and treatment of veterans are turning into uncomfortable political issues.

Trump pivoted from a visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week to an attack on President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan policy – a turn that apparently followed a dustup with an official at the cemetery over the campaign’s attempt to use cameras in Section 60, an area where American troops who were killed in recent wars are buried. The story was first reported by NPR, but both Trump’s campaign and the cemetery have since issued statements.

The cemetery’s statement, according to CNN’s report, noted that federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries. Trump’s campaign noted that he was invited into Section 60 by Gold Star families.

There was a moving moment earlier in the summer when Gold Star families whose loved ones died in the Abbey Gate attack in Afghanistan gathered on stage at the Republican National Convention and condemned the Biden administration.

Setting aside the unknown details of what exactly transpired at the cemetery, Trump’s trip to Arlington certainly played into a political context since it was woven into a day of campaigning focused on the military and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021:

► The cemetery trip coincided with the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 American service members in Afghanistan.

► On social media and later during a speech to a National Guard conference in Detroit, Trump criticized Biden’s decision to finalize the military withdrawal from Afghanistan – although Trump didn’t mention he had accelerated that withdrawal during his final months in the White House.

► Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard endorsed Trump at that speech. Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, has been a vocal critic of US military policy.

Trump’s previous visit to Section 60 also led to criticism

It’s notable that the summer is ending with controversy over Trump’s decision to visit Section 60 as a candidate, since the summer began with Biden’s look back at criticism of Trump’s decision as president not to visit a US military cemetery in France in 2018 and comments he reportedly made during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 60 in 2017.

At the CNN presidential debate in June that was the beginning of the end of Biden’s presidential campaign, the president recalled a 2020 report in The Atlantic that Trump refused to visit a cemetery near Paris honoring Americans who died in World War I because they were “losers.”

Trump denied using that term, which came from a recounting of the incident by retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, his former White House chief of staff. Kelly later confirmed elements of the Atlantic story to CNN’s Jake Tapper and also discussed a Memorial Day ceremony in 2017 when the two were in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Trump said at the time, according to Kelly’s recollection, which Trump denies. 

Kelly also had choice words for Trump recently when the former president tried to compare the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded to war heroes, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians and which Trump gave to a Republican megadonor.

“Not even close,” Kelly told Tapper.

Trump has a history of mocking or verbally attacking veterans. He repeatedly criticized the late Sen. John McCain for being taken as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, including in remarks this year. He tried to start rumors about the absence of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s husband from the campaign trail during the Republican primary this year even though Haley’s husband was deployed overseas.

Haley condemned Trump’s comments at the time, while she was still in the race, but she later spoke on his behalf at the RNC in July.

Attacks on Walz

Military service had already emerged as a campaign issue after Trump’s campaign engaged in a concerted effort to question the 24-year military service of Democrats’ candidate for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The public face of that effort is Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who was enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq. See CNN’s fact check of Vance’s claims.

Asked Wednesday about the Arlington controversy, Vance deflected back to his criticism of Walz’s military record and said Vice President Kamala Harris can “go to hell” for the Biden administration’s Afghanistan policy.

For comparison, every president, Republican or Democrat, from Dwight D. Eisenhower through Richard Nixon, served in World War II. So did George H.W. Bush. Carter enrolled at the Naval Academy during the war.

A slew of Vietnam War veterans, including McCain, Kerry and Gore, were on the losing end of presidential campaigns.

A rising generation of veterans in office

There are signs of a resurgence of lawmakers who served. Both parties today are showcasing their rising stars who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Democrats have Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and a host of House members, many of whom gathered on stage at the DNC last week.

Republicans have Vance, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas and many, many others.