President Donald Trump paid tribute to fallen service members during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, in an address that honoured the “great, great warriors” yet also briefly veered into politics as he boasted of a nation he is “fixing after a long and hard four years.”
Though the holiday is one that US presidents typically treat with pure solemnity, Trump began it with an all-caps Memorial Day social media post that attacked his predecessor and called federal judges who have blocked his deportation initiatives “monsters who want our country to go to hell.”
Yet at Arlington National Cemetery, where more than 400,000 have been laid to rest, Trump commemorated the sacrifice of U.S. service members and singled out several Gold Star families to tell the stories of their fallen relatives.
“We just revere their incredible legacy,” Trump said. “We salute them in their eternal glory. And we continue our relentless pursuit of America’s destiny as we make our nation stronger, prouder, freer, and greater than ever before.”
“Their valor,” he said, “gave us the freest, greatest, and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth. A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.”
“She was among the first women ever to do it, and she did it better than anyone,” Trump said, calling out Kent’s family for applause at the ceremony.
Trump said McGhee knew he wanted to be an Army Ranger since he saw the towers fall on that day, did three tours in Afghanistan, and then deployed to Iraq. Sixteen years ago this month, the president said, McGhee died in a firefight, and “gave his life at 21 years old.”
Vice President JD Vance, who spoke before Trump, said the lesson of all the gravestones is: “We must be cautious in sending our people to war.” He urged the crowd to push political leaders to treat the lives of soldiers as the “most precious resource.”
Later in his remarks, Trump pointed to a “big, big celebration” coming next year as the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday, joking that “in some ways, I’m glad I missed that second term” when he lost to Joe Biden.
“Because I wouldn’t be president for that,” Trump said, as the crowd laughed. “In addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. Can you imagine? I missed that for four years. And now look what I have, I have everything. Amazing the way things work out.”
