4 days ago
Veterans Are Marching Against Trump. Here's Why
In 1932, veterans pitched tents along the Anacostia River. In sweltering summer heat, tens of thousands of World War I veterans and their families formed a protest encampment in Washington, D.C. They called themselves the Bonus Army, and they came with one message: America must honor its promises to those who served.
That chapter in history is often forgotten, but it's being written again — this time not with tents, but with job cuts, broken benefits, and a full-frontal assault on the very federal agencies meant to serve and who employ those who've borne the battle.
On June 6 — D-Day — thousands will rally across the country to protest these cuts. With the largest rally taking place at the steps of the Capitol.
Veterans make up nearly 30 percent of the federal workforce. They serve in every agency, from Homeland Security to HUD. And now, many are facing the same fate: a pink slip, a hostile workplace, and a lie from Donald Trump and Elon Musk about how they need to find work elsewhere. Not a voice from the Republican Party is protesting this disgusting and false narrative.
Trump's so-called 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE), formerly led by billionaire Musk, with enforcers like Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, will gut over 15 percent of the VA's workforce — some 83,000 people, many of them disabled veterans. Those to be fired will include mental health counselors, suicide prevention specialists, LGBTQ+ outreach coordinators, and public health professionals. These are not bureaucrats on Fox News complaining about their 12-hour work days like Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino. They are hardworking professionals who go to bat every day to ensure our veterans live to see another day.
Veterans know the layoffs aren't about saving money. They're about weakening the institution and ultimately privatizing and gutting VA disability funding, as spelled out in Project 2025. Internal documents show plans to merge offices dedicated to homelessness, suicide prevention, women's health, and toxic exposure into 'generalized' departments — removing hard-earned expertise and scrapping programs that have saved lives.
And for the veterans who will still work in these buildings? They're being squeezed. Literally. With tens of thousands of remote federal workers being forced back into buildings without enough workstations, some VA hospital employees are working out of closets. The goal from the Trump administration is to make work so untenable at the VA, that people quit. Again, radio silence from GOP leaders on this.
Veterans know that Trump is gutting research grants for colleges who serve veterans and do research that saves and improves their lives. Columbia University's Resilience Center for Veterans & Families, which offers trauma-informed care and clinician training, is on the chopping block. Harvard's VA-affiliated research programs on cancer, suicide prevention, and toxic exposure were abruptly defunded by Trump. No explanation. No plan to replace it.
Black, Latino, gay, women, and other veterans are being purged from Department of Defense websites and programs.
Trump just reinstated his ban on transgender service members, with backing from his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), who introduced a bill to codify it permanently. This is not about 'readiness.' It's about hate.
Trans Americans have served honorably in every branch. They fly missions. They lead teams. But under Trump's second administration, they are no longer good enough.
Thousands now face medical screenings and purges, even as our military faces a historic recruiting crisis. This purge will drive talented linguists, medics, mechanics, and pilots out of the ranks — making our military weaker, not stronger.
Trump's executive order 'Remaking the Federal Workforce' has already cost thousands of federal employees their jobs and will disenfranchise and bankrupt many more. Veterans know all of this, and now they are standing up.
We are standing up because we see the writing on the wall. Trump wants to privatize the VA, handing over veterans' care to the same corporations that put profits over people. The goal? Sabotage the VA so it can be sold off to the highest bidder — Trump donors and corporate allies eager to profit from veterans' pain.
Veterans are more than a political talking point. We are not pawns in a culture war. We are patriots — Black, white, Latino, Asian, Native, gay, straight, trans, and everything in between. Our strength is in our diversity. Our sacrifice is our credential. Our unity will be on full display on Friday.
Trump's betrayal of the veterans community is unforgivable. But it is not unanswerable.
We are answering. In protest. In court. In the media. At the ballot box.
Veterans are standing up to Trump — not because we hate America, but because we love it enough to fight for the soul of it.
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