Veterans turn away from 'disrespectful' Donald Trump

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

For Wayne Collins, the "last straw" came last week when, in his view, Donald Trump appeared to use a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery as a political point-scoring stunt.

During the event, held to honour the troops killed during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Trump's team recorded campaign footage among graves in a restricted area, to the outrage of many veterans.

"I don't think he was respectful and that's because fundamentally I don't think he has respect for the military," said Collins, who served as a third-class petty officer in the United States navy. "He doesn't value the lives of people he would be sending to the front, and that should in itself be disqualifying."

Collins, 63, from a town in Missouri he describes as "85 per cent conservative", cast his first political ballot for the Republican president Ronald Reagan, but will be voting Democrat in November.

America's 17 million-strong veteran community is traditionally more likely to vote for Republican candidates but polls suggest their enthusiasm for Trump is waning.

The former president won a 61 per cent share of this vote in 2016 but only 54 per cent in 2020. In a Change Research survey released this week, support for Trump among veterans was down to statistical coin toss at 51 per cent.

The military vote is of outsized importance in the five key swing states. There are nearly 800,000 veterans in Pennsylvania, more than 550,000 in Michigan and 283,000 in Wisconsin. Arizona has more than 450,000 and Nevada more than 200,000.

Trump has always been popular among veterans and their families but there has been a "shift"STEPHANIE KEITH/GETTY IMAGES

"There's no question in my mind there's been a shift," said Fred Wellman, a US army combat veteran with VoteVets, a veterans' advocacy group and political action committee.

"The Arlington debacle was different," Wellman said. "Even my non card-carrying vet friends who water-ski on weekends rather than pay attention to politics were deeply offended. Arlington is sacred."

In the days after the incident, Larry Ellis, a retired four-star general who served under George W Bush's administration, came out for the vice-president Kamala Harris.

It was the first time Ellis, who served as the commander of the US Army Forces Command, has endorsed a presidential candidate, writing that "this is not a decision I take lightly, but one I believe necessary".

Kamala Harris has the endorsement of Larry Ellis, who served as commander of the US Army Forces CommandBRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS

Jimmy McCain, the son of the late Republican senator John McCain and a first lieutenant in the Arizona National Guard, called the cemetery stunt "extremely triggering" and announced he had decided to join the Democratic Party.

The 78-year-old Republican nominee has a track record that includes calling service members "suckers and losers" and saying McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was "not a war hero" because he was captured. Trump himself received five deferments from the military during the Vietnam War, including one for "bone spurs" in his feet.

In August he said he would rather be awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom than the congressional Medal of Honor because recipients of that award are often badly injured or dead.

When Change Research pollsters asked people who voted for Trump at least once, but do not plan to in November, to explain their choice, 53 per cent said his comments, attitudes and policies towards veterans and service members were part of their decision.

"He certainly doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief," said Collins, who posts on X under the alias Proud Navy Veteran. "At this point he has shown a consistent pattern of disrespect."

David Parke, a former Army Ranger sniper, disagreed, saying Trump should be judged on his actions, not his words.

"Why am I not more offended by Trump's Arlington stunt and his comments about the Medal of Honor?" he asked. "It's because I appreciate that he did more for vets than Biden and Kamala. The stupid stuff he says is temporary, the actual steps he took were important and lasting," he added, pointing to the former president's executive order boosting mental health resources for veterans transitioning from active duty.

Trump and Harris have sparred over who would stand up better for America's armed forces. Both have assembled surrogates with military experience to vouch for them. Trump named his running mate as JD Vance, a senator for Ohio and former marine who served in Iraq. Harris appointed Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who spent 24 years in the National Guard.

Harris has leant on the Biden administration's record on helping pass the landmark Pact Act, described as the largest expansion of veteran benefits since Vietnam. The law resulted in more than a million new benefits claims approved and more than 300,000 new enrolments in its healthcare programme, according to the department of veteran affairs.

"I have had friends say to me: the Dems hate us, but I really like my VA (veteran affairs) service," said Wellman, who voted Republican until Trump ran in 2016. "I say 'well who do you think made that happen?' It's about getting through to those people. It's a game of margins and if you can pull 3 or 4 per cent away from Trump it could be over."

Wellman said it was "not enough that Republicans wave the flag if they don't back it up with policy". "It's hard to forget the visual of Republican senators killing the Pact Act the first time we tried to pass it, and then fist-bumping and high-fiving in the vestibule when it failed," he said.

Veterans and military families are often concerned about "kitchen table" issues such as healthcare, education and the economy but they are also more concerned with, and directly affected by, national security and foreign policy matters than average voters.

Trump has urged Republicans to block Ukraine funding, suggested Ukraine should cede territory to Russia and threatened to "encourage" Moscow to attack US allies in Nato that do not pay their share.

More recently, he suggested that the Biden-Harris administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. "The humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world," Trump said. "It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us the October 7 attack on Israel, because it gave us lack of respect."

Harris has warned that Trump would undo the foreign policy progress of the Biden administration and embolden America's enemies. "I will not cosy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un who are rooting for Trump," the 59-year-old former attorney-general said at a recent rally. "They know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favours."

Collins sees a lot more at stake this time around, both at home and abroad. He fears a second Trump term would be a slide towards autocracy. "He's made it clear there is nothing he wouldn't do to retain power, from saying he will cancel future elections to firing 'woke' generals," he said. "If he gets to the White House this vote could be our last."