In a powerful and heartwarming event on August 26, former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetary and participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the ceremony, with one video from the event showing him laying flowers on the grave of a fallen soldier alongside a Gold Star family with whom he was speaking. The event was meant to commemorate and honor those 13 servicemembers lost on August 26, 2021, during the Kabul airport attack.
As a reminder, the names of those 13 who perished that fateful August day are Marine Sgt. Nicole L. Gee; Cpl. Daegan Page; LCpl. David Espinoza; LCpl. Dylan Merola; Cpl. Humberto Sanchez; Cpl. Hunter Lopez; Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Army SSG. Ryan Knauss; Marine LCpl. Kareem Nikoui; Navy Seaman Maxton Soviak; and Marine SSgt. Darin Hoover; LCpl. Jared Schmitz; and LCpl. Rylee McCollum.
The former president, posting about the attack on Truth Social on the same day as the ceremony, said, “This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country. Gross Incompetence – 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead, AMERICANS and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND. You don’t take our soldiers out first, you take them out LAST, when all else is successfully done. Russia then invaded Ukraine, Israel was attacked, and the USA became, and is, a laughing stock all over the World.”
Amongst those who Trump honored during the ceremony was Sgt. Gee, with whose family he laid a wreath at her grave and then posed for pictures at the grave with the family. He was attacked by the media for the pictures, but the sister of Sgt. Gee spoke to the media and said that the family wanted the pictures and wanted the smiles in them.
That sister, Misty Fuoco, noted that Trump was invited to take pictures with the family, as they wanted a way to remember the moment. She said, “My family asked Trump to take the photos with us as we wanted to have photos to remember that moment. We took multiple sets of photos. The first set were the regular smiling photos, and the second set was the thumbs-up photos.”
She added that former President Trump “has been supporting our family for several years and has taken the time to listen to our stories of Nicole.” She went on to say that the attacks on Trump for the visit and photos are absurd, saying, “I think the backlash being received is ridiculous and does not at all reflect how important it was for our families to have Trump’s support on that day.”
Watch Trump with the family here:
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Some on the left attacked Trump for the visit. For example, “Star Wars” actor Mark Hammil said, posting a picture of Trump smiling with members of Sgt. Gee’s family on X (formerly Twitter), “Nothing to see here. Just the tone-deaf draft dodger gleefully giving a thumbs-up at the graves of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. #WeirdandSAD” Others attacked Trump on much the same grounds.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video