Donald Trump used the traditional presidential Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery to honour fallen soldiers, but interspersed his tribute with personal boasting and partisan political asides. The US president laid a wreath and delivered accounts of battlefield courage, standing alongside Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, both of whom served in Iraq.
In prepared remarks, Mr Trump said of those killed in service: “Their sacrifice would mean to us… That valor gave us the freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist.” He then added: “A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.” The president also made an anti-immigration statement without directly naming his predecessor Joe Biden, decrying “people pouring through our borders unchecked”.
His rhetoric echoed a Truth Social post from earlier in the day in which he attacked judges who have hindered his deportation efforts as “monsters” and used sweeping disparagements against undocumented immigrants. At Arlington, he promised supporters: “We will do better than we’ve ever done as a nation.”
Mr Trump singled out an airman lost in a Vietnam raid and a soldier killed in Iraq, telling their families: “These warriors picked up the mantle of duty… They asked nothing. They gave everything.” He also promoted the upcoming 250th anniversary of the US Army, saying it “blows everything away, including the World Cup and including the Olympics”. He remarked on the timing of those events during his second term, adding: “God did that – I believe that.”
Elsewhere, the president said he is considering diverting a further $3bn in grant money from Harvard University to trade schools. Former Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust warned that American freedoms were at risk. Meanwhile, Mr Hegseth referenced men who sacrificed their lives but made no mention of women, while Mr Vance noted the cemetery is the “eternal resting spot for our nation’s sons and daughters”.
Later on Monday, Mr Trump pardoned Scott Jenkins, the former Virginia sheriff convicted in December 2024 of conspiracy, fraud and bribery relating to federally funded programmes.
