Are Donald Trump and JD Vance really the leaders we want representing our nation’s military? I don’t.
Donald Trump visits Arlington National Cemetery
Former President Donald Trump joined Gold Star families and soldiers to lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery.
Fox – 10 Phoenix
Advertisement
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has continued his divisive antics this week by desecrating a sacred moment of remembrance for the American troops killed in a suicide bombing three years ago in Afghanistan.
In a time that should have been used to comfort and unify the nation, Trump instead saw another opportunity to promote himself. Even worse, Trump’s staff reportedly got into a physical altercation on Monday with an Arlington National Cemetery employee after they were told not to record video inside the cemetery.
Federal laws and U.S. Army regulations prohibit political activities on the cemetery grounds. Trump and his campaign staff blatantly ignored those restrictions, and then attacked the cemetery employee who tried to uphold the law, even describing her as a “despicable individual.”
Army rebukes Trump campaign over Arlington visit, Vance says Harris ‘can go to hell’
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” the Army said in a statement released Thursday. “ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
Advertisement
Making Trump’s very bad week even worse, the former president’s running mate, JD Vance, falsely accused Democratic nominee Kamala Harris of politicizing the cemetery visit − and then cursed her.
“And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up? She can − she can go to hell,” Vance said.
Are Trump and Vance really the leaders we want representing our nation’s military? I don’t.
Vance attacks Walz’s military service: Vance accused Walz of ‘stolen valor.’ He should thank him for his service instead.
Advertisement
On the same day that Trump participated in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington, he posted on Truth Social that, “Three years ago, Kamala’s and Biden’s incompetence left 13 dead warriors, hundreds of civilians killed and grievously wounded, and $85 billion worth of the finest military equipment on the planet abandoned to the Taliban.” (In reality, the Taliban captured an estimated $7 billion worth of weapons and other military equipment).
But are President Joe Biden and Harris really to blame for the chaotic withdrawal?
Blaming the current administration ignores the decisions that Trump also made leading up to the withdrawal. Under Trump’s leadership, negotiations for the withdrawal led to an agreement with the Taliban that influenced the eventual outcome. By refusing to acknowledge his role in the preparations for the withdrawal, Trump is attempting to shift blame and mislead Americans.
Plans by the White House, military leaders, intelligence agencies and international partners for the Afghanistan withdrawal were multifaceted and performed with great scrutiny and caution.
Advertisement
I interviewed Stephen Bender, a former Marine officer, who worked as a private security officer during the evacuation. His role was to coordinate with the U.S. government to ensure the safe processing of Afghan evacuees and U.S. personnel. He recalled the Taliban’s swift takeover.
“It felt like we were in denial about the withdrawal,” Bender said. “One day, they [the Taliban] were just 20 kilometers away, and it felt as though nothing had changed. Suddenly, they were within the city, only 400 meters from our front gate.”
US ‘abandoned’ people of Afghanistan
Bender said that both Biden and Trump need to acknowledge the mistakes they and others in their administrations made in planning for and executing the exit of American forces from Afghanistan.
“The people of Afghanistan were abandoned by our country,” Bender said. “While it may not affect the average American’s daily life, I witnessed firsthand the failures of our politics. Fathers who wanted a better life for their families, seeking safety for their children, faced the worst possible outcome due to our leaders’ refusal to accept responsibility and their tendency to blame others.”
Veterans for Harris: Is the military woke? Democrats make political gains among America’s warriors.
Advertisement
Leadership requires more than assigning blame; it demands the courage to face uncomfortable truths, the ability to bring people together in times of crisis and the humility to honor those who have served without exploiting their memory.
When Trump asserts blame for the withdrawal, perhaps we should ask: Can a leader who refuses to take responsibility for his own actions, and who consistently uses moments of national significance for self-promotion, truly be trusted to lead a nation?
Marla Bautista is a military fellow columnist at USA TODAY Opinion.
Your investigation of these allegations is consistent with the IG’s mission to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies, and can help determine if politically connected crypto interests are undermining our national security. As Congress considers legislation on the market structure for digital assets, we must ensure that cryptocurrencies like USD1 are not providing the President and senior officials with the ability to line their pockets at the expense of the public interest.
The following facts have been reported in multiple outlets regarding Mr. Witkoff:
• Mr. Witkoff’s son Zach Witkoff is the CEO of World Liberty Financial (WLF), which the President’s family owns a majority stake in.³
• Beginning in January, one of Sheikh Tahnoon’s employees, Fiacc Larkin, joined WLF as the “chief strategic advisor” while continuing to work at G42, an AI investment firm owned by Sheikh Tahnoon that, according to the U.S. intelligence community, works closely with Chinese military companies.4
●
On May 1, 2025, Zach Witkoff announced that MGX, a state-owned investment firm controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, had agreed to use a WLF-issued stablecoin, USD1, to make a $2 billion investment in Binance. As a result of this deal, WLF stands to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in transaction fees from MGX, and more from the returns on any investments it makes with the $2 billion deposit.³
As of August, Mr. Witkoff maintained a financial interest in WLF and thus stands to personally benefit from his son’s business dealings with the UAE.6 Nevertheless, he did not recuse himself from deliberations regarding the UAE, which may violate federal ethics law.
The following facts have been reported about Mr. Sacks:
●
•
●
He is a special government employee who continues to serve as a “general partner” at his venture capital fund, Craft Ventures.
8
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, an Emirati sovereign wealth fund controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, was an early investor in Craft Ventures and continues to hold an investment in the fund.
In addition, Craft Ventures is invested in BitGo, which has partnered with WLF to provide the technical infrastructure for USD1. If BitGo’s valuation grows, based on the UAE’s investment into USD1, Mr. Sacks and his firm stand to benefit.
3 Yahoo Finance, “Trump family reportedly has a 60% stake in the World Liberty Financial,” Anand Sinha, March 31, 2025,
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-family-reportedly-60-stake-172742661.html.
4 New York Times, “Inside U.S. Efforts to Untangle an A.I. Giant’s Ties to China,” Mark Mazzetti and Edward
Wong, Nov. 27, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/11/27/us/politics/ai-us-uae-china-security-g42.html.
5 New York Times, “At a Dubai Conference, Trump’s Conflicts Take Center Stage,” David Yaffe-Bellany, May 1, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/us/politics/trump-cryptocurrency-usd1-dubai-conference-
announcement.html.
6U.S Office of Government Ethics, Form 278e for Steven C. Witkoff, August 13, 2025, p. 23, https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/090d0de07e1d2fdf/bbf02867-full.pdf.
18 U.S.C. § 208.
8 White House, “Limited Waiver Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1) Regarding A.I. Assets,” June 2025,
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/David-Sacks.pdf.
Nigel Farage has refused to criticise Donald Trump’s claims that paracetamol, sold in the US as Tylenol, could cause autism, insisting “science is never settled” and he would never “side with” medical experts.
The Reform UK leader said he had “no idea” if the US president was right to tell pregnant women to avoid taking acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol and paracetamol, and suggesting that those who could not “tough it out” should limit their intake.
Scientists and global health agencies including the World Health Organization have strongly dismissed Trump’s false claims, calling them misguided and saying the evidence linking paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism was “inconsistent”.
The UK’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, told the British public they should not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine”, adding: “I trust doctors over President Trump frankly, on this.”
But in a wide-ranging interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Farage was asked directly if Trump was right to share those unproven claims. He said: “I have no idea, I’ve no idea. You know we were told thalidomide was a very safe drug and it wasn’t. Who knows Nick, I don’t know.
Advertisement
“He [Trump] has a particular thing about autism. I think because there’s been some in his family, he feels it very personally. I’ve no idea.”
When Farage was asked if he would side with medical experts who say it is dangerous to make the link, he added: “I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. When it comes to science, I don’t side with anybody, right? You know? I don’t side with anybody, because science is never settled. We should remember that.”
Yet when challenged over whether it was irresponsible for Trump to make such an unproven claim, Farage said: “That’s an opinion he’s [Trump’s] got. It’s not one that I necessarily share.”
Farage’s refusal to condemn Trump’s claims comes weeks after a controversial doctor, Aseem Malhotra, was given top billing at Reform UK’s party conference and used his main-stage speech to claim the Covid vaccine caused cancer in the royal family. Malhotra is an adviser to Trump’s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy.
In the same interview, Farage said Trump was “right to say” that sharia law “is an issue in London”.
Advertisement
“Never take what he [Trump] says literally, ever on anything. But always take everything he says seriously,” Farage said, adding: Trump “has a point.”
“So is he right to say that sharia is an issue in London? Yes. Is it an overwhelming issue at this stage? No. Has the mayor of London directly linked himself to it? No.”
Labour MPs have urged Keir Starmer to reprimand Trump’s administration after the US president falsely claimed in a speech to the United Nations: “I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been changed, it’s been so changed.
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
“Now they want to go to sharia law. But you are in a different country, you can’t do that.”
Trump has been publicly attacking the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, since 2015 when the Labour politician criticised Trump, the then presidential candidate, for suggesting that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US.
A spokesperson for Khan said: “We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response. London is the greatest city in the world, safer than major US cities and we’re delighted to welcome the record number of US citizens moving here.”
During the LBC phone-in, Farage also said Reform’s plan to ban anyone who was not a UK citizen from claiming benefits would not apply to Ukrainians and Hongkongers.
Advertisement
“No, because they come for different reasons,” Farage said, adding those who had lived in the UK on indefinite leave to remain and had not worked or paid into the system would be told their benefits would be cut.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Alphabet’s market capitalisation surged above $3tn for the first time on Monday on the back of a sharp rally for the search giant’s shares over the past few weeks.
Shares in Google’s parent company have climbed more than 30 per cent to a record high of $252 since the group posted double-digit growth in revenue and profit in quarterly results out in late July.
The rally means Alphabet joins Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple as the only US companies valued above $3tn. Chipmaker Nvidia in July became the first company to hit a $4tn market value.
