Letters to the Editor: Trump’s thumbs-up photo-op at Arlington National Cemetery was a disgrace

To the editor: As a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, I have felt the wrenching pain of loss from war. Always remember the precious dead and those wounded in body and spirit. (“Arlington cemetery official ‘abruptly pushed aside’ in Trump staff altercation won’t press charges,” Aug. 29)

Service to our nation is a noble cause that was cheapened and devalued by a leader who heartlessly spoke of losers and suckers rather than acknowledge the sacrifice in service of so many in our military.

That leader stooped even lower with his campaign photo-op that desecrated Arlington National Cemetery. In addition to being a specifically forbidden act, former President Trump made it worse by grinning and giving a thumbs-up sign at the grave of a fallen Marine.

I can no longer accept that disgraceful behavior as Trump being Trump. It is disgusting for anybody to trivialize the sacrifices made by fallen service members — it is doubly so for a politician.

George N. Giacoppe, Riverside

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To the editor: Earlier this month, my family and I spread the ashes of my 85-year-old brother in the Pacific Ocean. On a small boat out of Long Beach with my wife and me were my brother’s son, daughter, her husband and their two sons (my brother’s only grandchildren).

I took my camera along wondering if pictures were even appropriate. In the photographs I did take, no one was smiling. No one had his or her thumbs up. Even the color of the pictures seemed inappropriate.

Who knew that in the MAGA world, death could be so much more? (And more useful?)

Larry Harmell, Granada Hills