The reason President Donald Trump, his precious supporters, and the rest of America can sleep at night and feel secure in their homes is because there are brave and selfless soldiers out there fighting and laying down their lives to keep them safe. But bravery, selflessness, and empathy are foreign concepts for the POTUS, particularly when it comes to respecting fallen soldiers. But still, it was expected of him to magically conjure the ability for Memorial Day.
As expected, he showed barely enough restraint before forgetting where he was standing.
Trump has a stained past whenever he has had to (or just unnecessarily) speak about U.S. military personnel, leading to widespread criticism from veterans, military families, and political figures across the spectrum. He has called American soldiers who died in combat as “losers” and “suckers,” reportedly even declining to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, stating, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” and referred to the 1,800 Marines who died at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
His former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, confirmed that Trump made such disparaging remarks.
So what is it this time?
On May 26, Memorial Day, Trump gave his traditional presidential Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, honoring the sacrifices of soldiers and lauding their unmatchable courage.
“Those young men could never have known what their sacrifice would mean to us, but we certainly know what we owe to them. That valor gave us the freest, greatest, and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth.”
But of course, it became difficult for him to maintain his chain of thoughts, sticking to what he had said mere seconds ago, and above all, understanding that the day – and the location – was not meant for his petty hatred or toxic political rhetoric. Why?
Because his very next sentence was – “A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years. That was a hard four years we went through.”
And it only got worse…
Trump at Arlington National Cemetery:
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 26, 2025
“We have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. 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”
What a disgrace pic.twitter.com/PRYqlpOfkA
You know how you sometimes wish someone came with a power-down button?
I’ll never understand what it must feel like to have an inability to feel a shred of shame. This man feels zero shame. It’s embarrassing to even listen to him, much less clap for him. Just gross.
— USED TO BE G.O.P. (@Used_To_Be_GOP) May 26, 2025
Given his narcissistic viewpoint on every topic under the sun, it is actually impressive that he managed to say anything nice about the fallen heroes of America.
"Yes, soldiers died I guess, very sad. Now let's talk about me!"
— The Dens
-Trump probably(@FoxBrambleFarm) May 27, 2025
Of course, this less-than-respectable conduct reminded America how Trump tiptoed around the chance to join the draft and then avoided it entirely.
I thought this was supposed to be a speech honoring the fallen—those who gave everything. But then again, I keep forgetting Trump can’t relate to self-sacrifice for his country. He dodged that responsibility long ago.
— Dr G (@eg1701) May 26, 2025
This is perhaps the longest Trump has managed to praise someone else – a remarkable feat that becomes even more unique given that he stifled his inane urge to babble about himself to celebrate those brave souls he believes “nobody wants to see that.”
