Trump Brings Usual Lies And Political Attacks To Arlington National Cemetery

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump took his usual lies and political attacks to Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, making his Veterans Day remarks sound more like a rally speech.

“We were going in the wrong direction for a period of time, but we’ve never been hotter than we are right now,” he claimed, notwithstanding rising inflation and unemployment, while praising House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for their “victory” over Democrats in the government shutdown.

“Congratulations to you and to John and to everybody on a very big victory. We’re opening up our country. Should have never been closed. Should have never been closed,” he said.

He lied about tariffs — “We’ve taken in trillions of dollars in tariffs” ― and energy costs — “Energy prices are way down.”

In fact, Trump’s trade war against the rest of the world has generated about $130 billion in new tariffs thus far, and every dime has been collected from Americans. None has been “taken in” from other countries. Gasoline prices are about the same as they were a year ago, while electricity costs are dramatically higher.

President Donald Trump salutes at the conclusion of a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 11, 2025.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images

While portions of Trump’s speech featured traditional Veterans Day fare — thanking service members for their work and sacrifice — large sections of his 21 minutes behind the lectern were his typical rambling, meandering remarks that, at points, were difficult to comprehend.

“When I see other countries celebrating Victory Day, I watched it. I watched U.K., I watched Russia; they were selling ― celebrating — Victory Day, World War II, and I said, ‘We got to have a Victory Day.’ Nobody even talked about it in our country. But from now on, we’re going to be celebrating Victory Day for World War I, for World War II, and frankly, for everything else,” he said, referring to a “proclamation” he signed declaring that Veterans Day will also be known as Victory Day.

In fact, the United States already marks two “victory” days, one each for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945 and of imperial Japan three months later.

He then bragged about giving the Department of Defense his preferred nickname, the Department of War. “Under the Trump administration, we’re restoring the pride and the winning spirit of the United States military. That’s why we have officially renamed the Department of Defense back to the original name, Department of War. And remember, we won World War I, we won World War II. We won everything in between. We won everything that came before. And then we brilliantly decided to change the name of this great, this great thing that we all created together, and we became politically correct. We don’t like being politically correct, so we’re not going to be politically correct anymore.”

Trump’s claim of “officially” renaming the Pentagon is false. Congress named it the Department of Defense after World War II, and only Congress can rename it.

Trump in 2018 infamously refused to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France during the 100-year commemoration of the end of World War I because it was raining and he did not want to ruin his hair. The site is the resting place for 1,800 U.S. Marines who died in 1918’s critical Battle of Belleau Wood. Trump’s then-chief of staff John Kelly, a former Marine general, went with then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford.

(White House officials claimed at the time that Trump could not go because his Marine Corps helicopter could not safely fly in the rain – an assertion belied, yet again, on Sunday, when Trump flew Marine One through rain back to the White House from a football game.)

Kelly also confirmed that Trump had called those who serve in the military “suckers” and “losers” for their sacrifice. Trump himself avoided military service by claiming “bone spurs” in his heels during the Vietnam War.