The origins of Memorial Day go back over 150 years. The Civil War had barely ended. The hardship and devastation from the loss of over 600,000 soldiers was fully felt. But Americans learned that we could find comfort and renewal in honoring those who died with ceremony and prayers of thanks.
Over the years, we’ve counted on our President, regardless of party or politics, to lead and help us honor the fallen on Memorial Day. One of my earliest memories of any President is seeing news coverage of President Kennedy laying a wreath at Arlington Cemetery. Republicans and Democrats felt pride in seeing President Reagan honor our fallen soldiers, knowing that his words would bring comfort and renewal to the families of the fallen and the rest of us as well.
We don’t have a President like that now. From the beginning of his charge onto the political stage, Donald Trump has discounted, diminished, and demeaned those who serve our nation in the military and those who died defending it.
Evidence of Trump’s patriotism bypass is damning and extensive – dating at least back to fake medical records alleging bone spurs to dodge service during the Vietnam War. In his disastrous first term, Trump smugly insulted former prisoner of war and true American hero, Senator John McCain, saying “I like people who weren’t captured.” Later in that first term, Trump shamefully refused to attend a ceremony in France honoring Americans who died in defense of Europe because he didn’t want to go out in the rain. He told his Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine General who lost a son in combat, that those who serve are “losers” and “suckers.”
Nothing has changed.
Less than two months ago, Trump refused to go to Dover Air Force Base and formally accept the remains of four U.S. Servicemen killed in Lithuanian, choosing instead to go play golf. This Memorial Day weekend, Trump spoke to the West Point graduating class. Instead of thanking and inspiring the young men and women who are our next generation of military leaders, Trump put on his MAGA hat to spew political attacks and ramble on with personal grievances that diminish the high office and demean the high calling of those charged with protecting America.
He greeted Americans on Memorial Day morning with a social media post that was a shameful screed of insults and political attacks and not one word of thanks or acknowledgment for those who have died in service to our country.
With Trump, we must accept that honor for service and sacrifice is not part of his make-up. His motor runs on toxic animus and terminal self-absorption that have killed any true sense of American patriotism.
But nothing and no one can diminish the men and women who served and died in defense of our nation. And as we remember, thank, and pray for those who served and fell, we do more than lift their spirits and honor their sacrifice. We also renew the spirit of America itself. We remind the living that American freedom has come at a cost, paid with the lives of our youngest, our bravest, our best. Memorial Day is for the living too – a reminder of our duty to assure that the lives lost for freedom are best honored with our protection of it.
