'God did that': Trump marks Memorial Day and trumpets his second-term successes
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.
More: The Army's ultimate memorial honor: Horse-drawn Caissons funerals to resume at Arlington
"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.
More: How Arlington National Cemetery became a sacred site to honor our fallen military
"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."
More: Trump tells West Point grads to avoid 'trophy wives' in commencement speech
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 United States 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 all-caps posting, 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," while invoking the memory of Al Capone.
At the Tomb, the president also professed his excitement for the number of symbolic events occurring in the years ahead.
More: Trump says 2026 World Cup will be 'more exciting' due to trade war with Canada and Mexico
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 U.S. will co-host 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.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: On Memorial Day, Trump honors 'ultimate sacrifice' and trumpets his wins
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