Trump honors veterans at Arlington National Cemetery after lashing out at political opponents in Memorial Day post

By Donald Judd and Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump honored fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day hours after blasting his political opponents and perceived enemies as “scum” in a social media post marking the solemn day.

Largely sticking to scripted remarks, Trump — who also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — paid tribute to veterans “who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation,” while acknowledging “an unfillable void and an unbreakable silence in the lives of all who loved them.”

That tone stood in stark contrast to his message on Truth Social earlier Monday morning, when he criticized members of the federal judiciary as “USA hating” and “monsters,” and his predecessor as “incompetent.”

In the all-caps message, posted just before 7 a.m. ET, the president wished a “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds,” which he said were responsible for illegal immigration into the country under former President Joe Biden.

Trump went on to suggest that 21 million people entered the US illegally under the previous administration — a figure not borne out by US Customs and Border Protection data, as previously reported by CNN.

He blamed “an incompetent president” for the influx of migrants and “judges who are on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members, and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country so they can rob, murder, and rape again,” for stymying his deportation agenda, claiming criminal migrants are “protected by these USA hating judges who suffer from an ideology that is sick, and very dangerous for our country.”

In the United States, Memorial Day honors those who died while serving in the armed forces; due to the holiday’s grave significance, it’s largely considered taboo to wish someone a “Happy Memorial Day.”

During his speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Trump seemed to diverge from his scripted remarks at two points to tout his achievements or slam Biden.

In a portion of his speech dedicated to the Minutemen of the Revolutionary War, Trump heralded “the most noble Republic ever to exist,” going on to add: “A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years – that was a hard four years we went through. Who would let that happen?”

“People pouring through our borders, unchecked. People doing things that are indescribable – and not for today to discuss – but the republic that is now doing so very well.”

Later in the speech, Trump again seemed to catch himself as he discussed the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary, which he joked he would’ve missed as president had his second term followed the 2020 election.

“In some ways, I’m glad I missed that second term where it was, because I wouldn’t be your president for that,” he said. “Most important of all, in addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. Can you imagine [if] I missed that four years? And now look what I have. I have everything – amazing the way things work out. God did that, I believe that too.”

During his first term, Trump largely kept to prepared speeches when delivering his Memorial Day remarks. He participated in the ceremony at Arlington for the first three years of his presidency before it moved to Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

This year’s Memorial Day message from Trump came two days after he gave a politically inflected commencement address at the US Military Academy at West Point, where he combined traditional advice to graduates with more overtly partisan themes.

In the speech, Trump touted his election victory last year and veered into litigating some of his grievances about investigations into him. He wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat during the speech.

He also told the graduating cadets they would be the first to serve in the “golden age” of the military, touting at length his efforts to rid the military of diversity initiatives and criticizing his predecessors for entering what he deemed to be wars of choice.

“The job of the US armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures (and) spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun,” he said. “The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime and any place.”

In his West Point speech, Trump also offered somewhat off-key advice about not marrying “trophy wives,” citing as an example a friend who moved to Monte Carlo with a younger bride, only to later suffer financially when he lost his “momentum.” Trump offered the story as a point of guidance to graduates.

Trump has previously drawn criticism for inserting political messages into traditionally apolitical occasions and settings.

During his first term, he took to then-social media platform Twitter in 2018 to wish Americans a “Happy Memorial Day!” writing, “Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today,” highlighting his own policy wins instead of the sacrifice made by America’s armed services.

And in August 2024, the US Army issued a rare rebuke after Trump’s campaign recorded a video while visiting the Arlington National Cemetery gravesites of some of the service members killed during the US’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. In a statement, the Army wrote that Trump and his staff “were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations, and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”

At the time, the Trump campaign pointed to a statement from the Gold Star families he accompanied, saying they gave his videographer and photographer permission to be there, although some imagery from the visit showed the graves of other US service members whose families did not give permission.

The president originally posted a different version of Monday’s Memorial Day post but appears to have deleted the original version (which had some minor grammatical errors) and reposted it again.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

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