For almost two weeks now, we have been inundated with perpetual outrage reports about Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery. It is a two-pronged complaint by the press, concerning both his supposedly showing disrespect by posing for photos, and a side story that some of his staffers were involved in a confrontation with an Arlington staffer, where an alleged physical conflict took place. Efforts continue to keep this story churning in the media.

The latest example comes from National Public Radio, which after days of subjective coverage, has released the names of the pair of Trump team members involved. This move gives the broader press complex a reason to continue pushing the controversy, despite the fact that the naming of individuals alleged to be involved does not create any movement; the story itself remains stagnant by objective measurement. Police are not investigating, no charges have been brought, the Arlington worker has never come forward about the issue, and the Army has declared the incident a closed matter. Yet, the news outlets continue with the tenacity of an ankle-biting Yorkie.

Looking over these imbalanced reports the past few days has brought up another conflict from this press corps. In turning back to the original charges – that Trump defiled the sanctified nature of Arlington by posing in photos and using those images for a level of promotional purposes – several contradictions come to light. Let's start with the charge that using cemetery imagery for political purposes; it runs directly into hypocrisy shown by the current president.

Joe Biden has no shortage of shots of him at Arlington Cemetery, and not just restricted to the public areas. We find multiple shots of him perambulating through the headstones, something we have been told is a grievous offense to the fallen. But an attempted deflection has been made on Biden’s behalf, that he was not in the respected Section 60 (except, he has been filmed there). Another excuse is that he had been granted proper permission for these glamour shots. Plus, the media outlets argue, Trump's real offense was his using the images for his campaign, a true practice of befouling the sacred ground.

Yeah, about that – Biden appeared in this campaign ad from 2020--and it's still on his social media accounts:

To all the members of our military and our military families, especially those who have lost their service member, thank you. We owe you. We can never lessen the magnitude of your loss, but this I can promise you: we will never forget. #MemorialDay pic.twitter.com/b5vDrYiPL5

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 25, 2020

But there is yet another dose of hypocrisy at play, from the very news outlets bleating about Trump’s alleged offensive use of the cemetery images. Look back over the past weeks of this outrage coverage, and you notice something curious: Nearly every report mewling about the disrespect these photos deliver includes those very images. Somehow, it is offensive for him to use the pics, but not the outlets displaying them. 

And it gets worse. Many of these photos sport attribution from the news syndicates, meaning the pictures have been licensed –  not only are the outlets receiving paid traffic while wailing about the dishonor, but the syndicates, like Getty Images, are charging for the use of their photos from Arlington.

If Trump using these photos is disrespecting the memory of the fallen, what is to be said of news providers who turn a profit from those same types of pictures?

Getty is making a mint https://t.co/9kqG6svdg1 pic.twitter.com/AnxOzA7s9q

— TopSecretK9 (@TopIsMyNamek9) September 6, 2024

To sum up: It is unconscionable for Donald Trump to use these pictures from sacred ground - and if you want to see the “offensive” and “disrespectful” pictures, it is going to cost you!