American Traitor Tom Cotton�s Staggering, Shameful Hypocrisy Over Trump�s
Arlington Debacle

IS NOTHING SACRED?

Cotton is either deceiving himself, or seeking to deceive everybody else,
about Donald Trump�s motives in politicizing Gold Star families� grief.

In his 2019 memoir, Sacred Duty: A Soldier�s Tour at Arlington National
Cemetery, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) recounts the 16 months, beginning in
early 2007, he spent as an Army officer assigned to The Old Guard, the
fabled unit that oversees a grassy expanse made holy by American heroes.

During this time, Cotton periodically filled in for his commanding
officer and personally supervised several interments in Arlington
National Cemetery�s Section 60, where the dead from the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq are buried.

�I understand why some people call this bucolic patch of land the saddest
acre in America, but I prefer to think of Section 60 as the noblest acre
in America,� he writes in Sacred Duty. �The nobility of Section 60 runs
deep in the soil of Arlington and in the soul of our nation.�

�Over the years, I have noticed something about Arlington. Although a
sign welcomes visitors to �our nation�s most sacred shrine,� no rules are
posted. Yet visitors somehow understand a proper code of conduct,� Cotton
continues. �Arlington elicits instinctive reverence from citizen and
soldier alike because this land is more than a cemetery� Arlington truly
is sacred ground for our nation.�

One recent exception to this decorum came during former President Donald
Trump�s visit to Arlington this week for a wreath-laying ceremony marking
the third anniversary of a suicide bombing that killed 13 American
service members at Kabul airport amid the withdrawal of U.S. troops from
Afghanistan in 2021.

The dead included Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, who is buried in
Section 60. Trump accompanied Hoover�s parents at the ceremony.

�I gave my permission,� Hoover�s mother, Kelly Barnett, later told NBC
News. �My son was murdered under the Biden-Harris administration.�

Gold Star parents are free to say whatever they want in such
circumstances. But such hard-won exemptions do not apply to others,
including Trump, who was accompanied by an entourage that included a
photographer. (In a graveside photo, Trump was joined by Hoover�s parents
in giving a thumb�s up�but he was ultimately honoring only himself, as
always.)
Donald Trump leaves Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26,
2024.

Donald Trump leaves Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26,
2024.
Kevin Carter/Getty

The Army had anticipated that this might be one of those rare instances
where visitors needed to be explicitly informed of the proper code of
conduct. Trump�s campaign had been told in advance that electioneering
and other partisan political activity at Arlington was against federal
law.

That law did not change because a Gold Star mother had invited Trump.

A cemetery official correctly surmised that the Trump crew intended to
film scenes for political purposes. She moved to intervene and was
�abruptly pushed aside,� the Army�s public affairs office said in a
statement released Thursday. �Consistent with the decorum expected at
[Arlington National Cemetery], this employee acted with professionalism
and avoided further disruption.�

A Trump spokesman crassly proposed that the official was �suffering a
mental health episode.� Trump himself pleaded ignorance�even after the
cemetery footage appeared on social media with his narration.

�I don�t know what the rules and regulations are,� he told NBC. �I really
don�t know anything about it� All I do is I stood there and I said, �If
you�d like to have a picture, we can have a picture.��

He later outdid himself, claiming during a political rally in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, on Friday that �I don�t need publicity,� and raising the
possibility that �this was a setup by the people in the administration.�

Imagine how young Lt. Cotton of The Old Guard�and a Harvard Law School
graduate�would have responded to people acting as if the law did not
apply to them in a place where almost everybody seemed to understand the
rules without having to be told.

�Old Guard soldiers follow these rules scrupulously; I cannot recall a
single infraction during all my time in the cemetery,� Cotton writes in
his book.

But in response to a former commander in chief violating the law along
with simple decency in the most sacred section of holy ground, Cotton
tweeted his approval: �Good for President Trump to honor the service and
sacrifice of those fallen heroes and their loved ones.�

�The scandal is not that Pres. Trump honored 13 brave Americans killed in
Afghanistan,� he added. �The scandal is Biden and Kamala sent those
heroes into a needlessly dangerous situation.�

In truth, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris could have
done more to comfort the families. Biden, in particular, could have taken
more responsibility for the deaths, even though the bombing occurred
during a withdrawal whose timing had been set by Trump before he left
office. That said, it should be noted that an extensive Army
investigation found that nobody could likely have prevented an attack by
a fanatic wearing a 25-pound suicide vest.

But wherever the ultimate responsibility lies, Cotton is either deceiving
himself or seeking to deceive everybody else when it comes to Trump�s
intent on the ground The Old Guard takes such pride in protecting.

Another Gold Star parent with a son in Section 60 told the Daily Beast
this week that he sees Trump as a manipulator with an ever-hungry ego.

�He manipulates and he lies and he misguides,� Khizr Khan, father of
fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan, said.

It�s not the first time Cotton has debased himself to cover for Trump. He
also defended the indefensible two weeks ago, saying Trump had been
�taken out of context� when he told a golf club gathering that the
civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom he presented to GOP megadonor Dr.
Miriam Adelson was �much better� than the Medal of Honor.

�Everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they�re soldiers,� Trump
said. �They�re either in very bad shape because they�ve been hit so many
times by bullets or they are dead.�

In Sacred Duty, Cotton writes movingly about stopping beside the grave of
a Medal of Honor recipient in Arlington.

�I paused, came to attention, and saluted,� he writes. �The Medal of
Honor is the nation�s highest decoration for battlefield valor. By
military custom, all soldiers salute Medal of Honor recipients
irrespective of their rank, in life and in death.�

If Cotton ever stops there again, he will do so as a Trump accomplice, a
blind defender of somebody who has disrespected both the nation�s highest
honor�and its most hallowed ground.