Fuming Kamala Harris supporters are calling for the director of the Arlington National Cemetery to be "fired" for allowing Donald Trump to attend a Monday memorial service for fallen soldiers.
Democratic media figures and activists expressed their fury at Arlington National Cemetery director Karen Durham-Aguilera, a longtime senior Army official, after Trump marked the third anniversary of the Kabul airport terrorist attack by attending a wreath-laying ceremony with the families of the fallen service members. The Gold Star families invited Trump to attend the service.
Thirteen American soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in the Abbey Gate suicide bombing during the Biden-Harris administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Steve Schmidt—a failed GOP campaign operative known for smearing his deceased war hero ex-boss, John McCain—accused Trump of "desecrat[ing] Arlington National Cemetery and America’s most hallowed ground."
Charles P. Pierce, an opinion writer for Esquire, said Trump "grotesquely used Arlington National Cemetery as a campaign prop."
"[H]ow dare you let that creep Trump do what he did yesterday. You must like our service men and women being called suckers and losers! You are really a low class person. You need to resign. Shame on you!" wrote one Harris supporter in a message to Durham-Aguilera on X.
"F—king disgusting! My brother is buried in that cemetery. U should be fired," wrote another X user.
Others flooded Durham-Aguilera with comments calling her a "disgrace" who should "RESIGN IMMEDIATELY"; arguing that "Heads should roll for whoever approved that"; and demanding to know, "Why was the draft-dodging rapist thug convicted felon traitor wannabe dictator laying a wreath today???"
A spokeswoman for the Arlington National Cemetery told the Washington Free Beacon that Trump "was invited by a Gold Star family to participate in a public wreath-laying ceremony and was afforded the same access to ANC ground and facilities as afforded to other unofficial visitors."
"Our focus was on supporting our Gold Star families as they came to honor and pay respect to their loved ones at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and their final resting place," said the spokeswoman.
Trump’s campaign highlighted his attendance as a contrast to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, who did not participate in any memorial events on Monday.
A White House spokesman said Biden didn’t attend because he wasn’t invited. The president spent the day in Delaware, vacationing at his family’s beach house.