Memorial Day
Memorial Day Veteran Perspective: Honoring the Fallen Means Defending What They Died For
Memorial Day is not a barbecue. As a veteran, my Memorial Day perspective is probably different from most — because I know what it actually cost for this country to exist. It is a day of mourning. A day to sit with the weight of what it took for this country to exist — the lives of young soldiers who never came home, who never got to grow old, who gave everything so that we could have the freedom we so casually take for granted.
And right now, that weight feels heavier than ever.
Think about what those soldiers died for. They died for the Constitution. They died for free elections. They died for the rule of law, for the idea that no one — not a king, not a dictator, not a president — is above it. They died for the principle that power belongs to the people, and that it can be transferred peacefully from one leader to the next without violence, without coercion, without fear.
Now look at what we have.
Donald Trump has spent years systematically dismantling the very things those soldiers bled for. Free and fair elections? Undermined. The peaceful transfer of power? Shattered on January 6th. The independence of the Justice Department? Gone. The rule of law? Bent to protect his allies and punish his enemies. The Constitution itself? Treated like an obstacle to work around rather than a foundation to build on.
And people voted for this. Twice.
I don’t say that lightly. I say it because I served this country. I wore the uniform. I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic — and I meant every word of it. So when I see the document I swore to protect being torn apart piece by piece, it doesn’t just anger me politically. It angers me personally. It angers me in a place that doesn’t have words.
I think about the 18-year-old kid who stormed the beaches of Normandy. I think about the soldier who died in a rice paddy in Vietnam, or the Marine who gave his life in Fallujah. I think about what they believed they were fighting for — and I wonder what they would think if they could see us now. If they could see the country they died for electing a man who pardoned insurrectionists, who rewards people for attacking the Capitol, who tears down every institution they fought to protect.
When you vote for someone who is dismantling the Constitution piece by piece, you are not honoring the people who died defending it. You are spitting on their graves.
A Veteran’s Memorial Day Reckoning
What breaks my heart most is that we don’t have to be here. We don’t have to be enemies. Americans have always had disagreements — that’s part of what makes democracy worth defending. But there is a difference between disagreement and division, between debate and destruction. There is a difference between disagreeing on how to balance the budget and whether everyone should be treated equally. One is politics. The other is a question of whether you have a moral compass. Trump doesn’t unite people. He profits from tearing them apart — and millions of people let him do it, cheered him on while he did it, and called it patriotism.
Let’s talk about that word for a moment.
The MAGA movement has co-opted the word “patriot” like it belongs to them — like loving America is something only they are allowed to do. They wave the flag the loudest while undermining everything it stands for. They claim to love this country while supporting a man who tried to overturn its elections, who rewards those who attacked its Capitol, and who treats its Constitution like a suggestion.
That is not patriotism. That is betrayal. And as a veteran who actually served, who actually sacrificed, who actually swore an oath to this country — I am done pretending otherwise. You are not patriots. You are traitors to what the United States is supposed to be, dressed up in red, white, and blue.
So this Memorial Day, before you fire up the grill, before you raise a glass, before you post your flag emoji and move on — stop. Think about a name on a headstone at Arlington. Think about a Gold Star family who will never stop grieving. Think about what was actually bought with that blood.
From a veteran’s perspective, this Memorial Day demands more than a moment of silence. It demands that we ask ourselves honestly: are you honoring that sacrifice — or betraying it?
