FORT BRAGG, N.C. — President Donald Trump’s rally on Friday followed a familiar plan: He entered to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” promoted GOP candidates, bashed his predecessor and implored the audience to vote Republican in the midterm elections. The speech ended to the thump of the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”
The setting, however, was an Army base, and the audience was in uniform.
It was not the first time Trump gave an overtly political speech in a military setting, breaking the tradition of keeping the armed forces separate from partisan politics. He told assembled generals and admirals in September the country was “under invasion from within,” and his visit here in June to mark the Army’s 250th birthday featured a booth selling partisan paraphernalia.
On Friday, Trump shared the stage with Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman now running for Senate who holds no government position. Trump used the platform to boost Whatley, attack Democrats and repeat previously announced military spending plans.
“You have to vote for us,” Trump told the troops, citing his restoration of the Fort Bragg name after Congress directed the Pentagon to rename military installations honoring Confederate officers. (The Trump administration avoided the law by renaming the base after Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, rather than the original Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.)
“If we don’t win the midterms, they’ll take it off again,” Trump said. “They’ll take it off again. You can’t let that happen.”
Most of the uniformed service members refrained from reacting during Trump’s speech other than raising phones to take photos or videos. They mostly left the applause and cheers to his staff and the assembled Republican politicians, including the home state’s Sen. Ted Budd and Reps. Richard Hudson, Brad Knott and David Rouzer. A few service members responded enthusiastically when Trump asked who had received the $1,776 bonus checks he approved in December.
Defense Department policy prohibits partisan political activity by active-duty service members. “The Army as an institution must be nonpartisan and appear so too,” the Army field manual reads. “Nonpartisanship assures the public that our Army will always serve the Constitution and our people loyally and responsively.”
A federal law known as the Hatch Act restricts government employees from campaigning in their official capacity. The law does not apply to the president.
While not explicitly telling people how to vote, past presidents have routinely visited the troops, paid respects at Arlington National Cemetery and spoken to military academies. George W. Bush infamously wore a flight suit to declare “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq.
On Friday, Trump disparaged his predecessors as commander in chief. “You’ve had a couple of good ones, not that many if you want to know the truth,” he said. “But we support you more than any of them.”
He criticized Democrats including former president Joe Biden and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and he touched on nonmilitary campaign themes such as the economy and immigration. The speech also mentioned existing plans to increase defense spending to $1 trillion next year, build new battleships reminiscent of World War II and improve on-base housing.
After the speech, Trump met privately for almost two hours with service members who participated in the raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump praised the troops and told reporters that one of them would be receiving the Medal of Honor.
The military remains one of the most trusted institutions in American life, but that public confidence has declined in recent years. Those views have become increasingly polarized: high confidence increased among Republicans from 48 percent in 2023 to 67 percent in 2025, while Democrats’ high confidence decreased from 47 percent to 33 percent, according to surveys by the Ronald Reagan Institute.
Democrats have criticized Trump for past military speeches and parades, as well as for deploying the National Guard for political objectives such as patrolling the southern border or policing the nation’s capital. Amid questions about the legality of the military’s strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, six Democratic lawmakers who served in the armed forces released a video reminding service members that their oath is to the Constitution, and they should not follow illegal orders; Trump called the video seditious, punishable by execution.
A grand jury this week rejected prosecutors’ effort to indict the lawmakers, and a federal judge preliminarily blocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from moving forward with disciplinary proceedings against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), a Navy veteran.
“This is the master alarm flashing for our democracy,” Kelly said in a speech on Wednesday. “It is threatening the very foundations of our system.”
Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
The post Trump tells soldiers to vote GOP in campaign-style rally at Fort Bragg appeared first on Washington Post.
