Don’t trust candidates who tell you not to believe what you see

In the 1963 comedy western film “McLintock!,” Katherine McLintock, played by Maureen O’Hara, walks out of her bedroom to find her husband, played by John Wayne, with another woman sitting in his lap. Wayne’s response to being discovered in a compromising position was to look directly at O’Hara and ask, “Now Katherine, are you going to believe what you see, or what I tell you?”

The line became an instant classic, repeated in various forms for decades in film, television and even on Broadway as a telltale slogan of a person caught doing something less than honorable.

It’s not particularly surprising that Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance never saw “McLintock!” After all, the movie premiered more than two decades before Vance was born. But it was surprising to hear Vance pull out a rendition of that absurd line earlier this week as he tried to convince reporters and the public to believe what he told them rather than what we could see with our own eyes.

Vance was responding to questions about his presidential running mate Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where two campaign staffers allegedly had a physical altercation with a female cemetery employee while trying to film, for the campaign, the former president as he visited graves in a restricted area of the site known as Section 60.

When asked about the incident, Vance told reporters, “You guys in the media, you’re acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a grave site. He was there providing emotional support to a lot of brave Americans who lost loved ones they never should have lost. And there happened to be a camera there, and somebody gave him permission to have that camera there.”

Despite what Vance is telling us, anyone with eyes and common sense can tell that filming a commercial at a grave site is exactly what Trump was trying to do and he was using our nation’s war dead as nothing but props. The videographers and cameras didn’t just “happen to be there.” They were paid for by the campaign to accompany Trump on his visit to the cemetery.

Just one day after the visit, Trump released a campaign commercial on TikTok that features footage from his visit to Arlington — including footage from areas where filming is strictly prohibited.

Adding insult to injury, a statement released by the U.S. Army on Thursday verified that the Trump campaign “were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.” They were also given specific instructions not to film in the area of the cemetery where recently deceased soldiers are buried, out of respect for the family of those soldiers.

While the families of some of the deceased soldiers accompanying Trump to their relatives’ graves were comfortable with the filming, those families had no authority to authorize filming at a national cemetery. Nor were their relatives’ graves the only graves featured or visible in the footage. The family of a recently deceased Army Green Beret has already come forward to express their dismay at seeing their son’s grave featured in Trump’s TikTok ad.

Despite these realities, the Army statement said that a cemetery employee who tried to enforce the restrictions “was abruptly pushed aside” and “unfairly attacked” by Trump staffers. The statement also indicated that while the employee did file a report regarding the incident, she declined to press charges. According to reporting by The New York Times, she declined to press charges because of fear of retaliation from Trump’s supporters. It’s a rational fear, as it is well documented that there is a violent faction of Trump supporters who are eager to threaten the lives of others.

If we believe what we can see with our own eyes, rather than what Vance is telling us, it’s clear that the campaign not only filmed a political commercial in a national cemetery in what is likely a violation of federal law, but did so via means that openly disregarded military protocols, used physical force and threatening tactics against a woman, and actively disrespected those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country.

Perhaps most disturbing, none of this behavior is new for the Trump campaign.

As we described in an editorial earlier this week, Trump has a long history of actively disparaging and disrespecting America’s men and women in uniform. His conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records underscores his willingness to ignore the rule of law and behave as a common criminal to obtain political power. As we saw at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., Trump is also not above promoting violence among his followers. Nor has he ever told his followers to stop threating others.

However, unlike Trump’s first term as president, the few adults in the room who helped avert a constitutional crisis Jan. 6 would not be present for a second Trump term. Unlike Mike Pence, Vance appears to be an eager servant in the effort to topple democracy and flout the law. Nationally, Trump’s MAGA mob has successfully secured control of the GOP and engaged in a multiyear campaign to oust anyone who refuses to bend a knee and join in the cult of Trump.

Project 2025 contains a roadmap for a second Trump term, including overt instructions on how to overhaul the executive branch of the federal government and install Trump loyalists in key positions. The plan, abetted by a tragic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, ensures that Trump and his lieutenants would have nearly unchecked power and little accountability.

Since 2016, Trump has presented the country with one astonishing crisis after another as he has sought to drag this nation down to his despicable level. Now his efforts are accelerating while he becomes more deranged and his followers call for blood. We only have to decide if we will believe what he and his mob are telling us, or what we can see with our own eyes.