There is a lot of drama happening surrounding former President Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington Cemetery to honor the 13 servicemembers who were killed in a suicide bombing attack at Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan. The attack occurred on August 26, 2021, during our shambolic exit from the country, which will go down as one of the Biden administration’s most infamous foreign policy failures. Trump was there. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were not. The optics were atrocious, which led to the liberal media spewing fake news about the ceremony.
They accused Trump of politicizing the event, then attacked the Gold Star parents who voiced their outrage over the media treatment following the event. What’s lost is that Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris were invited but never showed up. There wasn’t even a reply. Biden decided to go to the beach. Harris opted to stay in her residence in Washington, D.C.
Meet the Press host Kristen Welker discussed this moment on Sunday with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who set the record straight and exposed how this is a media-manufactured event to distract voters from the appalling optics this has for the 2024 Democratic ticket:
Cotton lays out all the important facts that have been completely misrepresented:
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 1, 2024
“[Trump] didn't take campaign photos there. These families — Gold Star families — whose children died due to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's incompetence, invited him to the cemetery, and they asked… pic.twitter.com/mfRCJZ7gqu
“He [Trump] didn't take campaign photos there. These families — Gold Star families — whose children died due to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's incompetence, invited him to the cemetery, and they asked him to take those photos…”
“You know who those families also invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — where were they? Joe Biden was sitting at a beach. Kamala Harris was sitting at her mansion in Washington, DC. She was four miles away — ten minutes. She could've gone to the cemetery and honor the sacrifice of those young men and women, but she hasn't. She never has spoken to them or taken a meeting with them. *It is because of her and Joe Biden's incompetence that those 13 Americans were killed in Afghanistan.*”
Welker interjected that Harris was present for the dignified transfer, another public relations disaster, as Biden was caught looking at his watch—a gross sign of disrespect. Also, Harris wasn’t there. That’s a total lie.
.@kwelkernbc needs to come back on the air and clarify the Kamala Harris was not at the dignified transfer remains and has never spoken to these families.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 1, 2024
She is completely wrong about this. https://t.co/mVtCCR8aU1
For Biden, it makes his ‘God bless our troops’ closing even more inauthentic. The man wanted to be someplace else when the bodies of the Abbey Gate victims were transferred. And no, he’s not a Gold Star parent, despite the pervasive grief-peddling of dead Beau.
It's true. Joe Biden checked his watch during the dignified transfer of the servicemembers killing in Afghanistan at the airport. You can see him jerk his left hand to pull the watch out from under his sleeve, then look down at it. pic.twitter.com/M3QVzJbTIm
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 29, 2021
You did just great https://t.co/Xw5BKWWHxw pic.twitter.com/lAagJGaUd9
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 3, 2021
***
UPDATE: They're backtracking...sort of. Leah has more on that.
NBC is now walking back Kristen Welker’s statement that Kamala attended the dignified transfer of the 13 soldiers who were kiIIed at Abbey Gate. They say they “implied” Kamala was there. Kristen didn’t “imply” it. She outright said it. She straight up lied to cover for Kamala.… pic.twitter.com/MSTUTiNeHV
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 1, 2024