On Memorial Day, Trump honors fallen soldiers and celebrates political wins
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On Memorial Day, Trump honors fallen soldiers and celebrates political wins
President Donald Trump commemorated his first Memorial Day back in office with a speech at Arlington National Cemetery. He reflected on the tragedy of fallen soldiers, grieving Gold Star families and — in Trump’s telling — the “hard four years” between his administrations. It was an explicitly partisan message during what is traditionally expected to be a nonpolitical speech. Trump has a complicated relationship with the military, with a long history of disparaging remarks about veterans and their loved ones. But at the ceremony, he spoke at length about several different families in the crowd whose loved ones had died in combat, saying it was “filled with losers’ In particular, Trump in homed Trump in particular homed in particular about veterans who are buried in World War I-era Aisne-Marne Cemetery, where many American soldiers who died in WWI are buried. He also spoke about his pleasure at having the opportunity to be the president during the nation’s 250th anniversary next year, and during high-profile international sporting events.
Since becoming president again, Trump said “the republic … is now doing so very well … considering the circumstances.”
It was an explicitly partisan message during what is traditionally expected to be a nonpolitical speech.
Trump’s remarks echoed comments he had posted to Truth Social earlier in the day, in which he started with a holiday message that veered into criticisms of political opponents and judges who delivered rulings that he thinks are hindering his policy agenda.
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“HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL,” wrote the president. “INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS.”
In person, Trump’s remarks received laughs and cheers, as people in the audience wearing red, white and blue outfits took videos of the president on their phone, held up their children for a better look and applauded some of the more provocative lines.
Online, however, Trump’s Truth Social post and remarks at the cemetery prompted an outcry from observers who argued it was inappropriate to use a moment of national remembrance to harp on political vendettas, and took issue with the president wishing people a “happy” Memorial Day.
Memorial Day honors military members who died in service, and the Wounded Warrior Project encourages wishing people a “meaningful Memorial Day” rather than a “happy Memorial Day” in recognition of the solemnity of the occasion.
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Surrounded by huge American flags in the cemetery’s marble amphitheater, Trump also spoke about his pleasure at having the opportunity to be the president during the nation’s 250th anniversary next year, and during high-profile international sporting events coming in 2026 and 2028.
“We’re going to have a big, big celebration, as you know — 250 years. In some ways, I’m glad I missed that second term where it was, because I wouldn’t be your president for that, most important of all,” Trump said.
“In addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics,” Trump added. “Can you imagine? I missed that four years, and now look what I have. I have everything. Amazing the way things work out. God did that.”
The audience broke into applause, as many people laughed. “Yes, he did!” yelled one woman in the crowd.
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Trump was accompanied by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whom Trump called “a tough cookie” because “he went through a lot.”
Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran who has expressed in the past his skepticism about the place of women in combat roles, spoke largely about the courage and fortitude of men who have historically paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect Americans’ freedom.
“You see, the American soldier fights not because he hates what’s in front of him, but because he loves what’s behind him,” Hegseth said. “We honor his selfless sacrifice, his courage, his duty, and his love.”
Vance, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007, spoke in broader terms about the fallen troops honored at the nation’s most esteemed military cemetery.
“Each life honored here in Arlington was once full of the ordinary moments and quiet dreams of early sunrises, of good days and bad days, of celebrations and disappointments,” Vance said. “They stood not apart from us, but among us, ordinary men and women who chose to shoulder an impossible burden.”
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Trump has a complicated relationship with the military, with a long history of disparaging remarks about veterans. The Atlantic notably reported that Trump skipped a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, where many American soldiers who died in World War I are buried, saying it was “filled with losers.”
But at Monday’s ceremony, he spoke at length about several different families in the crowd whose loved ones had died in combat. In particular, Trump homed in on Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, a 35-year-old cryptological technician and linguist with the Navy. During a deployment to Syria in 2019 where she was working on a counterterrorism mission, Kent was killed in a suicide bombing — leaving behind her husband and two young sons.
After her death, Kent’s husband, Joe Kent, went on to run unsuccessfully for Congress in Washington state twice. In February, Trump announced plans to nominate Joe Kent to lead the National Counterterrorism Center; he is still waiting to be confirmed.
Trump asked the Kents’ sons — now 7 and 9 years old — to stand in the crowd.
‘God did that’: Trump marks Memorial Day and trumpets his second-term successes
President Donald Trump lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. His remarks contrast with his other more-combative public comments from throughout the long holiday weekend. In the hours before the ceremony and in his May 24 commencement speech, Trump used the holiday to go after his domestic political opponents. Trump is also expected to preside over the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028, which will be held in the United States and Mexico, as well as Canada and Mexico. The U.S. Army is planning to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding with a parade on June 14, which also happens to fall on Trump’s 79th birthday. He said he’s glad he missed that second term “because I’m glad I wouldn’t be your president for that event’’ and “I have everything to work out that God did out that way’ ‘Trump said of the timing of the Army’s 250th birthday, World Cup and Olympics.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump delivered a history-laden Memorial Day speech after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, his remarks echoing against the solemn backdrop of Arlington National Cemetery, final resting place of more than 400,000 veterans and their family members.
The second-term Republican president’s remarks contrasted with his other more-combative public comments from throughout the long holiday weekend, including an all-caps message sent just hours earlier that swung hard at his political opponents and federal judges.
Drawing upon the ongoing 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Trump shared the names and ages of a few of the colonists killed at the 1775 battle of Lexington and Concord, which marked the start of the colonialists’ revolt against British rule.
“Brave Minutemen and farm boys became the first to give their lives for a nation that did not yet have a name,” Trump said. “Their deaths … ignited the flame of liberty that now lights, inspires everybody in the entire world.”
Trump also, in keeping with Memorial Day speeches delivered during his first administration, highlighted Gold Star families from the country’s recent wars.
He mentioned Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, a Navy cryptologic technician and mother of two who was killed in a January 2019 suicide bombing in Syria.
“Shannon was on her fifth combat deployment, embedded with a team hunting ISIS terrorists through the streets of Syria” when she was killed, Trump said. Kent’s husband, Joe, is a former Army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer who is currently nominated to head the National Counterterrorism Center.
Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined Trump at Arlington. Memorial Day, which originated in 1868 as a day to remember U.S. Civil War dead, was standardized as a federal holiday honoring all fallen members of the U.S. military beginning in 1971.
Vance and Hegseth reiterated the administration’s objective of avoiding foreign conflicts in their remarks.
“The best way to honor our fallen is to only ask the next generation to make the ultimate sacrifice when they absolutely must,” Vance said.
Hegseth, referring to the Arlington war dead, said, “The duty we owe these men is peace, which can only be achieved through strength.”
Trump’s Memorial Day Truth Social post
Save for a brief interlude where he described a “long and hard four years” with “people pouring through our borders unchecked,” Trump largely avoided partisan jabs during his address.
But in the hours before the ceremony and in his May 24 commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Trump used the holiday to go after his domestic political opponents.
“HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on May 26. The president also attacked the federal judiciary in his post, calling judges who impede his agenda “MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL.”
And while addressing the nation’s newest Army officers, the thrice-married president detailed the purported risks of “trophy wives” and celebrated the end of “critical race theory or transgender for everybody forced onto our brave men and women in uniform – or on anybody else for that matter, in this country.”
At the Tomb, the president also professed his excitement for the number of symbolic events occurring in the years ahead.
‘God did that’: Trump on timing of Army’s 250th birthday, World Cup, Olympics
As Trump spoke about the “immense and ultimate sacrifices” of American soldiers over the past 250 years, he brought up the fact that the U.S. Army was planning to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding with a parade on June 14. That event also happens to fall on Trump’s 79th birthday.
“We’re going to have a big, big celebration,” said Trump. “I’m glad I missed that second term … because I wouldn’t be your president for that.”
Trump, who lost the 2020 election, would have missed the event had he been elected to a consecutive second term. During his current term, Trump is also expected to preside over the FIFA World Cup in 2026, which the United States will cohost with Canada and Mexico, as well as the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Trump said God had willed the trifecta of events.
“Now look what I have,” he said. “I have everything. Amazing the way things work out. God did that.”
After the ceremony ended, Trump quickly departed to play a round of golf.