Donald Trump’s National Guard Address ‘Particularly Galling’: Mary Trump

Donald Trump’s estranged niece has criticized the former president, saying he used the family members of fallen military members “as props” and calling his National Guard address “particularly galling.”

On Monday, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee spoke before the National Guard Association in Detroit. On her Substack, Mary Trump, a writer and psychologist, discussed her objections to the appearance.

“You see, Donald’s disrespect of American troops began in the early 1960s in a very personal way. My father, Freddy, who completed Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) when he was an undergrad at Lehigh University, entered the Air Force National Guard as a second lieutenant after graduation,” she wrote.

“Freddy was proud of his service, but rarely spoke of it, because nobody else in the family cared. My grandfather, in fact, had no respect for my dad’s National Guard service at all. Anything that took attention and effort away from the family business … was beneath Fred Trump, Sr.’s contempt. Donald, seeing the first of many openings to displace his older brother as their father’s successor, followed suit,” Mary Trump continued.

During his speech to the National Guard, Donald Trump said if reelected president, he would jail people who burned the American flag, promised to create a Space National Guard and attacked Democrats for being “very soft” on criminals.

Elsewhere in her blog post, Mary Trump wrote: “During his administration, Donald trashed veterans and fallen soldiers; he routinely insulted the military leaders; he pardoned war criminals. He made it clear then that he wanted the power to order the police to teargas and shoot peaceful protestors. Very little stood in his way then—nothing would if he is given a second chance.”

Mary Trump also criticized the former president’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery earlier on Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the 2021 Abbey Gate suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed 13 U.S. service members and about 170 Afghans. She called her uncle’s appearance at the event a “desecration.”

Donald Trump attended a memorial service for the military personnel and posed for photos with their families by their grave sites. He was widely criticized for smiling and giving a thumbs-up in the photos.

Mary Trump, who is a vocal opponent of her uncle, said in her blog, “Why was this unpatriotic coward allowed to lay at a memorial wreath at Arlington National Cemetery?”

“We know that, if he were to get back into office, Donald plans to follow, Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s fascist manifesto. He wants to use the military in major U.S. cities to quell protests of which he disapproves in American cities,” she wrote. “Soldiers would also be deployed to aid his deportation forces in their efforts to round up and incarcerate millions of undocumented workers.”

She added: “His appearance there was a desecration doing the only thing he knows how to do with members of the military and their families—use them as props; the ridiculous grin and thumbs up made it worse—as if he were attending a photo-op at a local diner.”

Some of the families of the fallen Marines posted a statement thanking Donald Trump for his attendance at the memorial on Monday. The former president shared the statement to his Truth Social platform.

“We are deeply grateful to the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief, offering his unwavering support during such a difficult time,” wrote relatives of Staff Sergeant Darin “Taylor” Hoover and Sergeant Nicole Gee.

Mary Trump wrote in her blog that her uncle had no right to attend the service because, in her opinion, he was not equal to the fallen soldiers.

“Donald knows that he does not in any way measure up to the men and women who have served this country, just as he knows he could never measure up to my father,” she wrote. “He’s a weak and insecure man who he mocks his betters to compensate for his own inadequacies. ‘I like people who don’t get caught,’ he said about Senator John McCain, who spent 5 and a half years being tortured in a prison camp while Donald lied about having bone spurs and received four deferments without any thought of who would go to Vietnam in his stead.”

She concluded: “That’s who he is. And any time he’s allowed an opportunity to convince people otherwise is just another desecration.”

The former president’s choice of pose by the graves was not the only incident that raised eyebrows on Monday. Members of his team, including a photographer, were involved in an altercation with staff at the cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery released a statement on Tuesday confirming that it had an altercation with the presidential candidate’s team. “We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement said.

It added: “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.

“Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

In their statement, the Gee and Hoover families said they had given permission for the former president to document the memorial, “ensuring these sacred moments of remembrance were respectfully captured.”

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Donald Trump’s campaign, denied that there was a “physical altercation as described.”

“We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” he said. “The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”

Cheung later posted a screenshot on X, formerly Twitter, of what seemed to be a media permission form allowing the former president’s team to have a photographer at the event.