Fellow Republicans: Memorial Day heroes did not die for a party or personality
It was heartwarming to see so many Americans on Memorial Day post tributes to fallen heroes. For so many people, this past observance of the national holiday wasn't about barbecues or the unofficial start of summer. It was a day to reflect on the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.
Predictably, my social media feed was flooded with patriotic posts from politicians — photos at memorials, quotes about sacrifice and tributes to the fallen. The hypocrisy was glaring. The very lawmakers who honor those who 'paid the ultimate price to protect our freedoms' are the ones seemingly disregarding the constitutional principles those heroes gave their lives to defend.
Congress is a coequal branch of government, tasked with serving as a check on executive power. Yet too many Republican lawmakers have abandoned that responsibility, choosing loyalty to the president over constitutional duty. In doing so, they've effectively surrendered their legislative authority, allowing — and in some cases even encouraging — President Donald Trump to govern through a record number of executive actions.
When Republicans are not turning a blind eye to executive overreach, they're folding under pressure — bullied, threatened and strong-armed by the White House into abandoning core principles and passing legislative monstrosities like the 'One Big Beautiful Bill.'
Voters sent members of Congress to Washington to serve the people — not to act as lapdogs for the president.
And while we're on it, the very concept of a 'One Big Beautiful Bill' flies in the face of everything Republicans have long championed. For decades, Republican leaders demanded stand-alone legislation so each proposal could be debated and judged on its own merits - not buried in bloated packages stuffed with poison pills. Yet here we all are, watching the extension of the Trump tax cuts being held hostage inside a massive spending package.
And what about the Department of Government Efficiency cuts? If Congress was going to pass a bill of this magnitude, the least it could do is include those cuts and show real commitment to reducing the size of the federal government. Instead, we're staring at a $4 trillion debt ceiling hike. I expect that kind of recklessness from Democrats — not from a Republican-controlled Congress. Republicans used to draw a hard line on debt. Now, GOP leaders are caving to Trump's demands with little resistance.
But this isn't about fiscal responsibility — it's about the integrity of the Constitution. It's about Republicans in Congress abdicating their authority and becoming an obedient extension of the White House. The separation of powers is meant to safeguard liberty, not to be brushed aside for political convenience.
Democrats aren't off the hook. They're just as guilty — perhaps more so.
They lied about President Joe Biden's health and participated in a coordinated cover-up to deceive the American people. I don't need Jake Tapper's book to tell me what I saw with my own eyes: a frail president incapable of executing the duties of his office.
In choosing to gaslight the public, Democrats didn't just erode trust. They made it clear that holding on to power matters more than telling the truth, more than transparency, and more than the republic itself.
America deserves better.
Those men and women that Americans honored on Memorial Day did not die for a party or a personality. They died because liberty, freedom, and democracy are not just ideals to be admired — they are values worth defending, even at the highest cost. Their bravery is not simply a chapter in our history. It is the very foundation upon which our freedom stands.
If we truly wish to honor the nation's fallen heroes, it must be through action. That requires preserving the separation of powers, upholding the rule of law and respecting the checks and balances that form the backbone of our republic.
The greatest tribute we can offer those who died for our freedom is to prove ourselves worthy of their ultimate sacrifice.
Matt Wylie is a South Carolina-based Republican political strategist and analyst with over 25 years of experience working on federal, state and local campaigns.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
14 minutes ago
- CBS News
GOP-friendly group pouring in millions to try to boost support for Trump tax agenda
A leading GOP friendly group supporting President Trump's "one, big, beautiful bill" is readying a $4 million advertising buy aimed at helping steer the effort through the Senate after a number of Republicans voiced concerns about the legislation as it stands. The plans from Americans for Prosperity, first reported on by CBS News, come as the GOP-controlled Senate is expected to focus on the sprawling bill key to Mr. Trump's agenda after it narrowly passed the Republican led-House last month. The messaging from AFP includes "video and digital ads that will air on cable, connected TV, and other digital platforms," according to the organization. Television advertisements from the group will initially air in North Carolina, Louisiana, Maine, Idaho and the District of Columbia but could expand further. "The sooner the Senate advances the bill, the sooner Americans start seeing relief where they need it most," said Brent Gardner, the organization's chief government affairs officer in a statement. The statement also noted the group is well aware that as the process being used to fast track the bill progressed "the hill to climb was only going to get steeper." Crucial to the GOP bill is its continuation of key parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was a legislative trademark of Mr. Trump's first term in office. But the expansive bill that passed the House also includes Medicaid work requirements, a raise of the debt ceiling and a bevy of other major measures that could prove politically difficult to pass even with the relatively strong GOP majority in the Senate. "Look, I want to vote for it. I'm for the tax cuts. I voted for the tax cuts before. I want the tax cuts to be permanent, but at the same time, I don't want to raise the debt ceiling $5 trillion," Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." The new advertising move from AFP include testimonials that show not only the impact of the 2017 tax cuts but also what could happen if Congress does not act soon to extend those earlier changes along with "ads encouraging fiscal hawks in the Senate to find spending offsets by further eliminating wasteful Biden-era spending programs," according to details set to be released by AFP. Democrats in Congress have so far strongly resisted the Trump agenda legislation. While most legislation in the Senate typically requires bipartisan support because of the chamber's filibuster threshold, Republican leaders are using a procedural route that would allow them to pass the bill on the strength of their partisan majority alone. Already a messaging standoff has emerged around the bill that could play a major role in the 2026 midterms. "Senate Republicans are doing everything in their power to rip away health care and spike costs for hardworking families, all to give billionaires a massive tax handout," Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for the Senate Democrats campaign arm said in a recent statement. "Under the leadership of Senate Republicans, millions of people are at risk of losing their health insurance – and voters will hold them accountable for it at the ballot box in 2026." The Republican Party doesn't need every one of its Senators to vote for the bill in order for it to pass due to the party's successful 2024 election that saw the right take back the majority in the chamber and finish with a total of 53 seats. But losing the support of just four GOP senators could doom the push. "The Senate will have their differences, but focusing on where Republicans are unified is what will drive this bill forward – permanent tax cuts, energy abundance, secure borders, and the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse," Gardner, with Americans for Prosperity, said in a statement.
Newsweek
14 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Map Shows Where Americans Are Being Detained Overseas
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. More Americans are being held in Venezuela than in any other foreign country, the State Department revealed last week, buried in a travel warning urging U.S. citizens not to travel to the troubled South American nation. While a spokesperson for the department told Newsweek they could not provide specific numbers of wrongful detentions abroad out of security concerns, there are at least 43 U.S. citizens currently being held hostage or in wrongful detention, based on data provided by a group that advocates for Americans held overseas. President Donald Trump and his administration have taken an urgent approach to bringing detained Americans home, securing the release of 47 people since January 20. Dozens more remain either imprisoned in or unable to leave a foreign country. "The thing we need to keep in mind when we talk wrongful detention, this is hostage taking by foreign powers," Elizabeth Richards, director of hostage advocacy and research at the Foley Foundation, told Newsweek. "We are not looking at legitimate charges or legitimate judicial processes, as we understand them in United States. When we talk capture countries, we're talking about countries, and the leaders in those countries, who have purposely decided to treat human beings as bargaining chips." The Foley Foundation, set up in memory of the journalist James Foley who was brutally murdered by ISIS in 2014, advocates for the return of Americans being held overseas. Its most recent annual report, published in March, tracks those detained and released in the past year. It estimates that 54 Americans were held hostage or wrongfully detained in 17 countries in 2024, with between six and nine in Venezuela, eight in China, five in Russia and four in Afghanistan. Others were held in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Territories. What Is Wrongful Detention? Wrongful detention does not refer to the roughly 98 percent of American arrests overseas each year linked to legitimate law enforcement and judicial processes, the Foley Foundation says. In other words, it does not include those arrested following alleged criminal or civil actions in which evidence of a crime has been made public. The federal government typically allows those to play out in the respective country's legal system. In order for the State Department to consider a detention "wrongful", a case has to pass through a series of tests known as the Levinson Criteria. That includes whether a person is being held purely because they are an American citizen, if the foreign country is doing so in order to influence the U.S. government, and even if the person is being held in violation of the foreign country's own laws. Richards told Newsweek that this criterion does not cover all Americans who cannot come home. "Now we know the U.S. government doesn't publicly put out any numbers, and when we say 43 Americans, we count exit bans in our numbers," Richards said. "Our understanding is the U.S. government currently doesn't count exit bands as wrongful detentions, though we think that might be evolving, and we would hope that the U.S. government would eventually treat exit bands as any other type of wrongful detention." Exit bans stop people from leaving the country they are in, though they are not held in a prison or jail. The Foley Foundation estimated that around a quarter of Americans wrongfully held last year were subjected to such orders. A spokesperson for the State Department told Newsweek that the department does not provide specific numbers on wrongful detentions due to privacy, security and "other reasons." A Difficult Dance of Diplomacy Left: U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Marc Fogel back to the United States after being released from Russian custody, at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. Right: US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia... Left: U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Marc Fogel back to the United States after being released from Russian custody, at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. Right: US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina and her boyfriend South African boxer Chris van Heerden embrace as she arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, following her release from Russia on April 10, 2025. More Al Drago/ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images On May 6, the White House put out a list of some of the 47 Americans the Trump administration had successfully brought back to the U.S. since January, including ballerina Ksenia Karelina, held in Russia for 14 months, and Marc Fogel, a teacher also held in Russia for several years. While high-profile cases like these receive the bulk of media attention, Richards said many wrongfully detained Americans remain overseas without much hope. "Sometimes it's difficult for families to get attention to their case and we only know cases where there's public information available, or the family has come to us for support," she said. "Some families will choose to be quiet, choose not to work with anyone and that's fine, that their right, and we work with plenty of families too, where we don't publish the name of their loved one," she added. "But that's always the choice of that family advocating for them, but if we don't have clear metrics, it makes it difficult I think for the general public to understand the scale and the scope of the problem." The State Department spokesperson told Newsweek that President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were committed to bringing all Americans unjustly detained overseas home, but factors such as a lack of U.S. embassy or poor diplomatic relations can make the work of State Department officials difficult. Many Americans wrongfully detained are held for months or years. George Glezmann was taken by the Taliban in Afghanistan, where there is no longer an American embassy, and held for 836 days. He was finally released in March. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters as he celebrates the results of the parliamentary and regional elections at the Bolivar square in Caracas on May 25, 2025. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters as he celebrates the results of the parliamentary and regional elections at the Bolivar square in Caracas on May 25, 2025. FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images Venezuela, highlighted by the State Department on May 27, also does not have a U.S. embassy. The relationship between the two countries remains strained. "Venezuelan security forces have detained U.S. citizens for up to five years without respect to due process, in harsh conditions—including torture—frequently based solely on their U.S. nationality or U.S. passport," the department said in a press release. The Foley Foundation noted in its annual report that through the end of 2024, the State Department had not included those held in Venezuela as wrongfully detained. The Trump administration's announcement last week, which included a warning for Americans not to travel to Venezuela over fears of wrongful detention, marked a shift in U.S. foreign policy. Work Ongoing to Bring Americans Home The Bring Our Families Home project, funded by the Foley Foundation, lists the names and faces of those still wrongfully held abroad, including Wilbert Castaneda, an American sailor and father of four who was "forcibly disappeared" by the Venezuelan government, according to the project. The project lists nine others it is actively working on behalf of to secure their release, from Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan. Humanitarian organizations like the Foley Foundation and Amnesty International are continuing their work to free U.S. citizens alongside the federal government. In 2024, 17 Americans were released — including three hostages — with some freed as part of prisoner exchanges. That number has been far surpassed already in 2025, with the White House making the announcement in early May that the new administration had already secured the release of 47 Americans. "We are tracking more returns so far for this year than all of 2024, so that is excellent and we would love to see that continue," Richards said, adding that she believes there is always more which could be done by the government. "One challenge we know our families routinely face is just trying to get U.S. government leaders to meet with them, to learn the stories of their loved ones, and trying to get that up to the president of the United States."
Washington Post
18 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Scottie Scheffler joins Tiger Woods as only repeat winners at Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio — Scottie Scheffler is winning with such alarming regularity that describing his dominance is not a comfortable topic. So when he won the Memorial on Sunday for the second straight year, he at least had tournament host Jack Nicklaus at his side. Nicklaus is a great authority when it comes to Scheffler because the Golden Bear sees so much of himself in the world's No. 1 player.
