Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting the National Mall with relatives from out of town. Despite the Reflecting Pool eyesore that utterly disrupts the sightlines and visual magnificence of the view from the Lincoln Memorial, the individual monuments that dot the Mall retain their inspirational appeal. The visceral reminder one gets in seeing the sacrifice of so many men and women over 250 years depicted is especially timely, given the senseless war and wasted blood and treasure expended in the current Iran War.
From the World War II Memorial’s depiction of over 4,000 gold stars representing the 405,399 who gave their lives to defeat tyranny to the solemn Wall of Remembrance and Pool of Remembrance in the Korean War memorial enumerating the 36,574 American servicemen (and more than 7,200 Korean forces conscripted into our U.S. military) under the granite inscription “Freedom is Not Free” to the stark depiction of 58,318 names on the Vietnam War Memorial, one is struck by both the magnitude of sacrifice and the solemn obligation to remember and honor the fallen.
And that brings us to the current war and depraved commander in chief whose minions have the temerity to try to erase the sacrifice of the men and women who most recently gave the last full measure of their lives. The revolting decision to strip 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, Sgt. Angel Rampersad, and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton of recognition as U.S. military personnel killed in action is among the most cynical, selfish, and petty actions of a regime that repeatedly has shown it cares nothing for the sacrifices of our troops. Intent on maintaining a legal fiction that the war somehow stopped during a ceasefire and has yet to restart, the Trump ghouls decided to deprive these slain fighters and their families of the recognition they deserve — akin to taking a pickax to the WWII or Korean or Vietnam memorials to remove names, minimizing losses from those battles.
“Tell the families of these four Americans that the war is over. Their loved ones died serving this country and the Pentagon tried to erase them from the record because their deaths didn’t fit their disgusting narrative,” VoteVets Senior Adviser General Paul Eaton told me. (Eaton’s father was MIA for decades after his B 57B was shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War, and his remains were returned to Paul and his family only in 2007.) “That’s not a data error. That’s a disgrace. My father was missing for decades before we could bring him home, and I know what it costs a family to be denied closure and recognition. Enough is enough.”
A president who wraps himself in military glory (when not disparaging as suckers and losers those who give their lives) but cares so little for the well-being, morale, and reputation of the military (e.g., compelling them to commit war crimes on the high seas, refusing to properly investigate catastrophes such as the strikes on an Iranian school, minimizing injury reports) — and defiles our “honored dead” — is uniquely abhorrent in American history. Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The State and the Soldier: a History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States, told me that “the Trump administration disrespecting Gold Star families is nothing new, but attempting to erase the sacrifice of service men and women who died in combat is particularly shameful.” She added, “The Pentagon may now claim it was a data entry error, but this Pentagon has compromised the public trust with its statements and actions, and that’s a direct consequence of the command climate the president and secretary have shamefully created.”
Democrats, especially veterans and those with oversight responsibilities, such as Armed Service Committee member and CIA veteran Sen. Elissa Slokin (D-MI) (one of five members of Congress whom Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked for reminding service personnel they have an obligation to disregard plainly illegal orders) likewise called the action “shameful.” She and 11 Democratic Senate colleagues last week wrote to Hegseth demanding “a comprehensive accounting of the number of service members who have been killed, wounded, or injured in support of the operation.”
Meanwhile, other Democrats, such as veteran Navy reservist and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, blasted the Trump regime. Buttigieg told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “This denial about the war is especially shocking when you look at the disrespect that has been shown to those who are paying the heaviest price for it.” He continued, “The fact that the Trump administration deleted references to four American service members killed in action because that simple and tragic reality complicates their narrative that we’re somehow not at war, when everybody knows that we are, shows you just how far from reality they are. And I think voters are fed up with it.”
It is hard to fathom why the reaction has not been more furious and sustained. We have come to expect cowardice and spinelessness from Republicans, but silence in the face of such unprecedented disrespect for war dead, even for this GOP, beggars belief.
Every elected Democrat and candidate should be denouncing the Trump travesty, as Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico recently did, speaking on behalf of Texas native Gonzales and her fallen comrades. “They gave their lives for our country — the latest casualties of a reckless war that no one asked for and that keeps no one safe,” he said. “Now, their names have been callously removed from the Pentagon’s casualties website. To erase their names is to insult their legacy and dishonor their sacrifice. This egregious decision must be reversed immediately.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed on social media that Democrats would never let these slain warriors’ “patriotic service or sacrifice be erased,” but House and Senate Democrats and any stray Republicans with a shred of decency must do more. A joint resolution condemning the Trump regime’s disgraceful action and recognizing the full sacrifice of these four brave Americans would be a start.
In sum, Trump’s and Hegseth’s phony, nonstop veneration of the military should infuriate all Americans. We can surely do away with their insincere rhetoric, grotesque attempts to hide from accountability by invoking the troops’ sacrifices whenever their own failures are exposed, shockingly corrupt promotion decision-making that discriminates against qualified women and nonwhite officers, and stunning incompetence.
The way to truly respect the “honored dead” and keep faith with those who continue to sacrifice for our freedom would be end all funding for and conduct a full accounting of the current illegal, disastrous war; remove Hegseth; and elect House and Senate majorities dedicated to defending the Constitution and affording our military the protection and respect they deserve. Unfortunately, our troops must endure a commander in chief unworthy of their service until a new president takes office in January 2029.
"The revolting decision to strip 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, Sgt. Angel Rampersad, and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton of recognition as U.S. military personnel killed in action is among the most cynical, selfish, and petty actions of a regime that repeatedly has shown it cares nothing for the sacrifices of our troops."
Beyond despicable. I have no words.
If the war is "over", why are our troops still over there in harm's way?
I am an 'Army Brat'. I was polishing my Dad's shoes and brass when I was 8. He pulled a burning oil drum off of one of his soldiers in a firefight in Korea and to see the odious Hegseth try to massage the casualty numbers to make himself look better is just intolerable. He and the rest of the tRump regime need to be impeached en masse and removed from our sight.