Esquire suffers meltdown over Trump paying his respects to troops killed in Biden-Harris Afghan withdrawal

President Donald Trump traveled Monday to Arlington National Cemetery to join several Gold Star families in paying respects to the fallen, specifically the 13 service members killed exactly three years ago in the Biden-Harris administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The once and possibly future commander in chief's effort to keep alive the memories of American service members killed under his successor's watch provoked a complete meltdown at Esquire magazine.

The Hearst publication's lead political blogger, Charles P. Pierce, asked in a feverish piece Monday, "How the hell was this allowed to happen[?]"

'Donald Trump carried the weight for a few hours with me.'

The cemetery, where just last year the Biden-Harris administration trampled graves and toppled the Jewish American-designed Reconciliation Memorial, is open to members of the public, so it's unclear who exactly Pierce figured would prevent Trump's entry.

Nevertheless, Pierce took offense on behalf of the nation, Gold Star families, and those who alternatively watched without objection as Trump joined two service members wounded in the Abbey Gate bombing in laying wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, writing:

Arlington is profaned by his presence on just an average day. But to allow itself to be used for the purpose propping up one of the Republican Party's most noxious half-truths — as promulgated by its most noxious elements personified by its most noxious candidate — is an insult to the over 400 Medal of Honor awardees buried there.

Pierce added, "It will be argued that the former president* was invited to the Monday ceremony by some family members of the slain soldiers, and that's good as far as it goes, which isn't very far because, as sure as Mar-a-Lago's in hock, they will get nothing in return from this appearance."

The leftist blogger's insinuation that the Gold Star families invited Trump in hopes of something monetary "in return" suggests he wasn't listening when Gold Star family members articulated precisely what they actually wanted: a little time and recognition for their fallen loved ones.

Last month, family members of several of the service members killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal took the stage at the Republican National Convention.

Holding back tears, Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, said, "Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice. Donald Trump sent six hours in Bedminster with us. He allowed us to grieve. He allowed us to remember our heroes."

"Donald Trump knew all of our children's names. He knew their stories," continued Shamblin. "And he spoke to us in a way that made us feel understood — like he knew our kids. ... Donald Trump carried the weight for a few hours with me and for the first time since Nicole's death, I felt I wasn't alone in my grief."

Alicia Lopez, the mother of Cpl. Hunter Lopez, told the crowd, "In the nearly three years since Hunter's been gone, there has been silence. Silence from that empty space at the dinner table where Hunter would have joined his brothers and sister and us for family gatherings. And there has been a deafening silence from the Biden and Harris administration."

"Despite our pleas for answers and accountability, they have pushed us away and tried to silence us," said Lopez.

Neither Kamala Harris — who once boasted about signing off on the Afghanistan exit strategy — nor President Joe Biden, now slouching into the second week of yet another vacation, were present in Arlington on Monday, although they both issued commemorative statements from afar.

Pierce spared them any critique over their absences, instead calling Trump's presence "obscene."

"If the families found a kind of peace in his presence on Monday, I respect that and I hope it brings them solace. But as a citizen of the United States, and therefore someone with a stake in places like Arlington, I choose to look upon his presence there as obscene," wrote the blogger.

When attempting to make his point, Pierce once again insinuated that Trump called troops "suckers and losers" — a Democratic smear that is wholly unsubstantiated.

Snopes indicated that there is no audio or video evidence that Trump ever said fallen soldiers were "suckers" and "losers." There is also no "documentation, such as transcripts or presidential notes" to support the anonymous allegations that Trump critic Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic advanced in a September 2020 article.

The blogger also managed to squeeze in an attack on the late Rush Limbaugh, suggesting that Trump had somehow "devalued" the Congressional Medal of Honor by conferring to him the Presidential Medal of Freedom — an entirely different award established by President Harry Truman to honor civilian service.

Although his decades of public service on the radio would undoubtedly qualify him for the award, Limbaugh also raised tens of millions of dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through his show's annual radiothon and millions more for various other charities prior to his death.

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