Donald Trump Jr. Faces Backlash For Saying Arlington Cemetery Reminds Him Of His Family’s Sacrifices
Donald Trump Jr. wrote in his new book Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us that a visit to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., reminded him of the sacrifices that he and his family had made when his father, Donald Trump, became president, including allegedly separating themselves from their businesses and facing attacks from the media. But some found the comments to be distasteful and are slamming his statement as disrespectful to those lying in the cemetery who gave their lives for the United States.
As The Washington Post reports, Trump Jr.’s book bills itself as an antidote to politically correct culture in America. At one point in the 300-page book, the eldest Trump son recounts an event where the president visited the cemetery in order to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns in January 2017. As an Army Band bugler played “Taps” and Trump stood in the center of the cemetery, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of fallen soldiers, Trump Jr. says that he was struck by how much hardship his family was facing.
He began by saying that he doesn’t normally get emotional, but he was struck by the “gravity of the moment.”
“In that moment, I also thought of all the attacks we’d already suffered as a family, and about all the sacrifices we’d have to make to help my father succeed — voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were ‘profiting off the office,'” he wrote.
Later in the book, he says that he and his family had sacrificed “millions and millions of dollars annually” and lamented that they didn’t get any credit for their efforts from the media. This claim, made by both Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, that the family stopped all personal business when their father took office, has been fact-checked as false. Earlier this week, the elder Trump used his Twitter account as president to promote his son’s book.
A great day in Northwest Florida with ?@DonaldJTrumpJr? & ?@kimguilfoyle?! #Triggered pic.twitter.com/dDFIrI3YxG
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 8, 2019
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego from Arizona, who served in the Iraq War, took issue with his statement.
“Eight men I served with are buried in Section 60 of Arlington. I visit them monthly,” he wrote. “Even if Donald JR. lived a 1,000 years he will never even get close to being as good and honorable as they were. Sacrifice is only a word to the Trumps.”
Matt Gallagher, an author who served in Iraq, chided Trump Jr. for thinking about money while being surrounded by people who had died serving their country.
