Letting It Slide
When Will It Be Enough?
Donald has very few skills, but one them is finding people even weaker than he is. For years now, we have seen a long line of Republicans, reporters, pundits, administration officials, and entire media outlets (looking at you, New York Times)cower before Donald, worried he’ll be angry with them. So, they pull punches. They let him play by different rules because standing up to him would keep them outside of the power structure they’re addicted to, or without the access they need, or some other bullshit reason that helps him skate consequence-free at the expense of the rest of us.
Those rare occasions when somebody actually does stand up to Donald inadvertently demonstrate why so many people take the easy (or at least the easier) way out. The latest example is the incident at Arlington National Cemetery I wrote about a couple of days ago: One of Donald’s campaign thugs allegedly assaulted a cemetery employee who was simply trying to do her job. The campaign wanted to make an unauthorized video, and she made it clear to them that that was against the rules. They didn’t care.
According to the New York Times, the woman, who was accosted by my uncle’s staff when she tried to defend the honor of Arlington and those buried there from Donald’s desecration, filed a report, but declined to press charges because she feared retribution from the people who assaulted her. How many times have we heard about this kind of thing? How many times do we pretend this kind of intimidation by a man who has one of the biggest platforms on the planet is no big deal?
Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, said it was “ridiculous” that anyone would fear retribution from them—this after claiming the woman suffered from a “mental health episode.” Chris LaCivita, an advisor for the Trump campaign, said she was a “despicable individual” spread lies and was “dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces.” Why on earth would she feel targeted?
Donald habitually threatens judges and the juries that could decide his fate; he intimidates witnesses and their families. He likes it when his supporters get violent on his behalf and he gets off on the fear inspired by their violence. Threatening people into silence is at the heart of Donald’s “leadership” style. Bullying is often how he gets his way. But it’s also a tactic he uses to evade accountability. It’s getting harder to understand why this kind of sociopathic behavior continues to get normalized.
Every single Republican who laid the blame for January 6th directly at Donald’s feet has since either been run out of office, or become the most sycophantic of his enablers. Sen. Lindsey Graham has become the poster child for the latter.
In contrast to them, there are plenty of Americans, those not protected by holding public office, who are willing to stand up for what’s right, but they, understandably, are not interested in facing the consequences of doing so if it means Donald’s deranged supporters will doxx them, swat them, send them death threats, or worse.
It took real courage for the Arlington National Cemetery employee to try to enforce the rules in the face of Trump campaign threats and bullying. It’s understandable that she wasn’t willing to file a police report. It’s very possible that wouldn’t have ended well for her. And that’s the real story—that private citizens are afraid to do the right thing because the Republican nominee to be president of the United States is a low-life criminal who doesn’t care what happens to anybody but him—as long as he gets his way.
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I just saw a clip where he says he knew nothing about this Arlington situation and threw the parents under the bus saying maybe they set it up with the staff . He just lies and lies and lies.
I don't believe the cemetery employee has to "press charges." She was acting as an agent of the federal government so the federal government is the plaintiff, not her as an individual. The Department of Justice needs to make a stand here and stop letting this thuggery go unchecked. It emboldens them. For the sake of upholding federal law, Donald Trump and his campaign members who showed up without permission, just assuming they could do whatever they want wherever they want, should be treated like the bullies and thugs they are. And the thumbs up and smiling while standing next to a woman's grave was pretty sick, and the woman on the far left hand side of that photo was making a white supremacy hand signal on top of it all.