Mary Trump, the estranged niece and a vocal critic of Donald Trump, accused the president of having “contempt” for military service members, both current and former, in a Friday blog post.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) for comment via email on Saturday.
Why It Matters
Mary Trump has been outspoken against her uncle for years, and in 2020, published Too Much and Never Enough, a tell-all book about Trump and their family. In it, she says the president is “utterly incapable of leading this country and it’s dangerous to allow him to do so.” Donald Trump returned to office in January, after winning both the popular vote and the Electoral College in November 2024.
Service members and veterans have recently been in the spotlight, as four U.S. Army soldiers died in Lithuania this week and hundreds of former service members have been fired from their posts as part of Trump’s effort to downsize the government and reduce waste through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
What To Know
U.S. Army Europe and Africa said on Wednesday that four U.S. soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were missing from the General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area near Pabradė, Lithuania, which sits around 6 miles from the country’s border with Belarus.
In a later update, the U.S. Army said that an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, which the four soldiers were using at the time of the incident, had been found “submerged in a body of water.” The soldiers have been confirmed dead.
When asked by a reporter on Tuesday whether he had been briefed on the situation, the president said: “No, I haven’t.”
Mary Trump opened her Friday blog post with the situation, calling out the president for either not knowing the information, not recalling it, or lying that he had never been briefed, saying “it should offend us that Donald can sit there and claim that he doesn’t know anything.”
She continued: “He has no use for the concept of ‘service.’ He doesn’t care about active-duty troops, he doesn’t care about veterans, he doesn’t care about those who have fallen.”
The president’s estranged niece added the reason for this is because “the only thing that matters to Donald is money.”
In addition to the lack of knowledge around the four missing, then dead soldiers, Mary Trump pointed to the president’s mass cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as another example of his “contempt” for service members.
Around 30 percent of the federal workforce are veterans, and the VA is the single largest employer of veterans in the civil service. The VA also provides health care to vets, with notable long wait times that are expected to increase after staff cuts.
The VA previously cut 1,400 staff members back in February and is reportedly planning on cutting around 80,000 more. The Trump administration’s effort to cut jobs is part of a broader push to reshape the federal workforce under Elon Musk‘s cost-cutting DOGE. In its first month of operation, it has restructured multiple federal agencies and recommended mass layoffs, sparking backlash and concern from Trump critics, including some Republicans.
Mary Trump continued in her blog post: “But Donald Trump knows nothing about service. In fact, he has contempt for it…He deferred his service in Vietnam five times using a fictional injury as an excuse because he is and always has been a coward.”
The president has faced criticism for his medical deferment from the Vietnam War draft, which he attributed to bone spurs in his heels. In 2018, the daughters of the podiatrist who diagnosed the then-22-year-old Donald Trump said the diagnosis was made as a favor to his father, Fred Trump, according to a New York Times report.
Meanwhile, President Trump has faced criticism for past comments about the military and veterans, and recent executive orders have disproportionately affected the service community, including directives on returning to in-person work and curbing union bargaining rights.
The president has spoken highly of service members multiple times, including at 2018 White House event honoring veterans when he said: “Our nation pays immortal tribute to the extraordinary courage, unflinching loyalty, and unselfish love, and supreme devotion of the American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice.” He also applauded the U.S. military for being “the best in the world,” during his speech.
What People Are Saying
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Lithuania greatly values the staunch partnership with the United States and deeply appreciates the U.S. military presence in our country. The people of Lithuania are heartbroken by the news about missing U.S. soldiers.”
Representative Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, wrote on X last month: “Nearly 6,000 vets have lost their jobs under Trump and Musk’s broad brush purge of public servants—up to 500,000 more could be next. These aren’t just numbers—these are vets who served our country and now risk losing their livelihoods. Congress and the courts must defend those who defended us.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and veteran, said in a Friday X post about a Trump order ending union bargaining rights for some federal employees: “Another Trump action that will hurt Veterans and the workers who serve them. The betrayal never stops.”
VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz in a statement last month: “We will not be eliminating any benefits or services to Veterans or VA beneficiaries, and there will be no negative impact to VA health care, benefits, or beneficiaries. We are always going to take care of Veterans at VA. Period.”
Donald Trump in a November 2023 Truth Social post: “To our heroic Veterans, I am grateful for your service to our Country and honored to wish you a Happy Veterans Day! There is no greater act of selfless service than defending America’s God-given freedoms and liberty. The traditions of excellence and integrity demonstrated by our men and women in uniform never fade after leaving the Military—once a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, Coast Guardsman, or Guardian—always.”
What Happens Next?
The VA workforce cuts are expected this summer.
The post Mary Trump Explains Donald Trump’s ‘Contempt’ for Veterans, Service Members appeared first on Newsweek.
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