Mary Trump, the estranged niece and outspoken critic of Donald Trump, accused the president of showing “contempt” for military personnel, both serving and retired, in a blog post published on Friday.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for comments via email on Saturday.
Why It Matters
Mary Trump has been publicly critical of her uncle for years. In 2020, she released Too Much and Never Enough, a revealing memoir about Trump and their family dynamic. In her book, she argues that 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.
Recently, service members and veterans have drawn attention after four U.S. Army soldiers lost their lives in Lithuania this week, while hundreds of former service members were dismissed as part of Trump’s initiative to reduce the size of government and cut waste through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
What To Know
On Wednesday, U.S. Army Europe and Africa reported that four U.S. soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, were unaccounted for at the General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area near Pabradė, Lithuania, approximately six miles from the Belarus border.
Subsequent updates from the Army confirmed that an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, which the soldiers were operating when the incident occurred, had been located “submerged in a body of water.” Tragically, the soldiers have been confirmed deceased.
When a reporter queried the president on Tuesday about whether he had received any briefings regarding the situation, he responded: “No, I haven’t.”
Mary Trump began her blog post discussing this incident, criticizing the president for either being uninformed, forgetting, or lying about not being briefed, stating, “It should offend us that Donald can sit there and claim that he doesn’t know anything.”
She elaborated: “He has no regard for the concept of ‘service.’ He doesn’t care about active-duty personnel, veterans, or those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Mary Trump posited that the reason behind this is simple: “the only thing that matters to Donald is money.”
In addition to the details surrounding the four soldiers, she highlighted the president’s extensive cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as further evidence of his “contempt” for military personnel.
Veterans make up about 30 percent of the federal workforce, and the VA is the largest employer of veterans in the civil service sector. The VA also provides healthcare to veterans, although long wait times are expected to worsen due to staffing reductions.
The VA cut 1,400 staff members in February and is reportedly planning to eliminate another 80,000 positions. Trump’s administration’s initiative to downsize jobs is part of a broader strategy to reorganize the federal workforce under Elon Musk’s budget-conscious DOGE. In its initial month, DOGE has restructured numerous federal agencies and suggested mass layoffs, prompting backlash and concern from Trump critics, including some within his own party.
Mary Trump continued in her blog post: “Donald Trump knows nothing about service. In fact, he has contempt for it… He deferred his service in Vietnam five times using a fictitious injury as an excuse because he is, and always has been, a coward.”
Critics have pointed out Trump’s deferments from the Vietnam War draft due to bone spurs in his heels. In 2018, the daughters of the podiatrist who diagnosed the then-22-year-old Trump stated that the diagnosis was predicated on a favor for his father, according to a report by the New York Times.
At the same time, President Trump has faced scrutiny for past remarks concerning the military and veterans, and recent executive actions have disproportionately impacted the service community, including protocols regarding a return to in-person work and restrictions on union bargaining rights.
The president has praised service members on numerous occasions, such as during a 2018 White House event honoring veterans, where he stated: “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 commended the U.S. military as “the best in the world” during his addresses.
Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
What People Are Saying
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “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 the missing U.S. soldiers.”
Representative Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, remarked on X last month: “Nearly 6,000 veterans 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 veterans 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, commented in a Friday X post regarding a Trump order that ended union bargaining rights for certain federal employees: “Another Trump action that will hurt veterans and the workers who serve them. The betrayal never stops.”
VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz stated 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 shared on Truth Social in November 2023: “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 reductions are anticipated to take place this summer.
