Trump administration: US military veterans express sadness and "shame"

Jay Carey, ancien combattant handicapé, dans son appartement à Arden, en Caroline du Nord, le 8 avril 2025. MIKE BELLEME POUR « LE MONDE »

By Ivanne Trippenbach (Norfolk, Virginia, Special Correspondent) INTERNATIONAL • | Traditionally close to Republicans, veterans are growing angry with the American president, whom they accuse of disdain for the uniform and betrayal of America's historic allies. At the Hampton Veterans Hospital, a collection of red brick buildings with its white chapel, in Virginia, the official portrait of Donald Trump Machine Translated by Google Trump got himself exempted The town of Hampton sits on a strip of land facing Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. From here, cargo ships departed to supply Europe at war with Nazi Germany. White US Navy caps, army fatigues, and sand-colored uniforms cross paths on the docks. Virginia is one of the states with the largest number of military personnel in the country, the most populated by veterans—there are more than 700,000 of them, or about 9% of its population. This is a significant electoral weight, given that the governorship, held by the Republicans, is up for grabs in november. Attached to order and the flag, the 16 million former military personnel traditionally vote for the Grand Old Party (GOP): two-thirds still chose Donald Trump in November 2024, according to the Edison Research Institute; a proportion that has remained stable since the 1980s. But the relationship between the president and veterans has never been simple. "He didn't do military service," they always point out immediately. Donald Trump had himself exempted by claiming a bony growth on his foot, a lie to avoid This Friday, April 4, financial markets are shaking and the bodies of four American soldiers killed in an accident in Lithuania are being repatriated. Donald Trump is not in Dover, Delaware, to welcome them. He's playing golf, under the Florida sun. "We veterans know he's an idiot. He despises us," says the former colonel, who lost a brother in the Vietnam War. adorns the hall, his gloomy appearance and his eyes shining like a dice. The veterans pass in front of the commander-in-chief of the United States in indifference. One of them, with black skin and a delicate, bent figure, is named Charles Wynder, 84 years old. fight in Vietnam. Everyone remembers that he called American soldiers who died at the front "suckers and losers," canceling a visit to the Bois-Belleau American Cemetery in France in 2018 to avoid the MORE AFTER THIS AD Machine Translated by Google rain doesn't damage his hair. Even the popular Arizona Senator John McCain (1936-2018), Republican candidate for the White House in 2008, considered a war hero after his captivity in Vietnam, was called a "fucking loser." Army veteran Colonel Charles Wynder in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, on April 5, 2025. MIKE Machine Translated by Google First, the Department of Veterans Affairs is not immune to the purges and cuts to Elon Musk's DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Second, the Trump administration is mishandling American history and strategic alliances, in a spectacular turnaround in favor of Russia. Third, veterans fear that this ultranationalist president will attempt to resort to armed force to further his ambitions to conquer Greenland, Canada, or Panama, or to target foreigners on American soil. Since January 20 and the inauguration of Donald Trump, the situation has worsened. Within the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA), thousands of federal employees have already been laid off. On April 4, at 5:51 p.m., in an email to agents seen by Le Monde, the Defense Department confirmed the reduction in staff, which was supposed to go from 470,000 to 398,000 employees. It encourages people to opt for a departure clause before April 30, otherwise "the department cannot guarantee the security of your position." The USS Wisconsin, a US Navy battleship that fought in World War II in the Pacific, is seen here near the Naval Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 5, 2025. MIKE BELLEME FOR "LE MONDE" BELLEMEFOR"L'MONDE" Read also the analysis | Donald Trump or the rhetoric of a new American imperialism Machine Translated by Google Many rely on these structures, which are threatened with slowdown. Psychological support and suicide prevention programs rely on federal funding. At Hampton Hospital, as at the one in Richmond, the capital of Virginia, staff are careful not to speak out officially. A senior official warned his teams: be careful what everyone says, as video meetings are secretly recorded, reported The Guardian. DOGE is reportedly tracking any signs of disloyalty to the government. Angela McConnell, a 22-year veteran of the military who heads an organization representing 4,500 Virginia veterans, reports that they are "all afraid of losing their jobs." Often poorly educated, sometimes disabled, Americans who have worn the uniform are embracing a new life and a sense of community in the Veterans Administration. devoted to social assistance or health. " International " Newsletter subscribers Rewriting History Register The essential international news of the week Machine Translated by Google Navy veteran Erin Murphy before a demonstration at Town Point Park in Norfolk, Virginia, to protest the Trump administration on April 5, 2025. MIKE BELLEME FOR "THE WORLD" associated Outside the walls, tongues are loosening. Charles Wynder receives his retirement pension from the ministry and fears that "the people of DOGE" will take it away. After the dismissal, announced on February 21, of African-American General Charles Brown, the highest-ranking officer in the country, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, Machine Translated by Google Read also | Donald Trump signs executive order to ban transgender people from the US military active military personnel took to the streets during the demonstrations massive anti-Trump demonstrations on April 5. A veterans rally is planned in Washington on April 30. "This is unprecedented, we're supposed to remain neutral," says Jay Carey, 54, a disabled veteran who fought in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. has just founded the association Resist and Persist in order to "make the voice heard" Charles Rogers, an African-American hero decorated with the military's highest honor, had his biography wiped from the Pentagon's website during the anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) purges—it was reinstated in the face of scandal. Hastily censored approximately 100,000 archival photos, including those of the Tuskegee Airmen, Black aviators of World War II, the first female graduates of the Marine Corps, and Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, whose name contained the word "gay." James Johnson, 81, a Vietnam veteran who is hardly hostile to Donald Trump, says he is "very disappointed that the government is ignoring [them]. 'Signalgate' [the exchange of classified information on the Signal messaging service about imminent bombings in Yemen] disgusted me. In the military, we would go to jail for that." Anger is becoming increasingly loud. In a rare occurrence, veterans and even from Norfolk. to "woke politics," it is the rewriting of history that outrages this veteran veterans and tell the truth about what's going on." In March, he challenged Republican Senator Chuck Edwards in Asheville, in the neighboring state of North Carolina, during a town hall meeting. The congressman was booed, and the video went viral. "He kept lying, saying no one was being laid off from the VA," Jay Carey said. "Enough! This is a little man who needed the police to save him with nothing but words." "This could be the beginning of a civil war." Machine Translated by Google Disabled veteran Jay Carey in his apartment in Arden, North Carolina, on April 8, 2025. MIKE BELLEME FOR "THE WORLD" Machine Translated by Google A sense of shame is spreading among the former soldiers. In the Norfolk suburbs, Mary and Mark Brock share thirty-four years of life together and almost as many years of service in uniform. Family photos tell of their attachment to the army: an uncle who served in Vietnam, two I see the American flag, I am sad and I am ashamed." This exceptional law, previously used against the Ku Klux Klan or against states that did not enforce the end of segregation in schools, was last used during the Los Angeles riots in 1992. "Trump is designating his political opponents and immigrants as enemies within, we fear abuses in the use of armed force. This could be the beginning of a civil war," warns Jay Carey. On January 20, Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency, which ordered a report from the Departments of Defense and Interior on "the appropriateness of invoking the Anti-Insurrection Act of 1807" to address immigration in the southern United States. The Insurrection Act would allow him to deploy the military and the National Guard in the country. grandfathers fighting in World War II, a brother in the Army, a son-in-law in the Special Forces… Mary Brock began serving under Ronald Reagan, in the middle of the Cold War. “I was in Alabama, it was so hot the sun melted the equipment, but I was so proud of being an American that I got goosebumps. And now, when Read also | What Donald Trump did in fifty days in power in the United States Machine Translated by Google Navy veteran Mary Brock and her husband, Army veteran, stand outside their Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, home on April 5, 2025. MIKE BELLEME FOR "THE WORLD" Machine Translated by Google below "Signalgate" was, in the eyes of both retired and active military personnel, the farce that was too far. "He's surrounded by unfit people, chosen on a single criterion: allegiance to Trump. They are not loyal to the Constitution, nor to the country. They lie, again and again, and everyone knows they're lying," laments Mary, who attack sailors. “He has no honor, no integrity,” he lists. “We must stand with our allies. Putin is nothing but a dictator, Trump wants to be in his image. He’s a tyrant, a coward who beats people to the ground. Before, Republicans stood for a cause, for principles; now, they don’t seem to stand for anything, except winning and staying in power. Reagan would certainly be against all this mess.” Donald Trump's attitude toward Europe and the war in Ukraine was a turning point. "I am disgusted and heartbroken that my country has come to this," adds her turquoise-eyed husband, a former soldier assigned to army tanks in Hawaii and Korea, before spending eight years in the Mary Brock with a photo of her husband and a group of military personnel at their Chesapeake Bay home on April 5, 2025. MIKE BELLEME FOR "THE WORLD" "Trump is not all of America" Machine Translated by Google Read also | United States: the danger of an imperial presidency The Brocks embody a patriotism that is passed down from one generation to the next. "The flag covered my grandfathers' coffin, it covered my father's coffin," Mark Brock concludes. "One day it will cover my coffin and my wife's. My daughter will have it too. But today, I am ashamed." Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, the couple have folded the American flag, a splendid six-meter-long Old Glory, which has always decorated their house. She says she fully agrees with French Senator Claude Malhuret's much-discussed speech on March 4, which portrayed Washington as "the court of Nero." "It's important for the French to know that Trump is not all of America. Not even a majority, but 34% of registered voters. And many of those who voted for him didn't vote for that." "Thank you to the French," her husband says, "without them, we would never have become a free country!" A ubiquitous reference to France's help in the American Revolution against the British Empire in 1776. in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and fears more difficult exchanges of information with allied countries. work Ivanne Trippenbach Norfolk, Virginia, Special Envoy Machine Translated by Google