WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed the apparent near end of the nation’s longest government shutdown as a “very big victory” for Republicans during a Veterans Day speech that blended the traditional solemnity of the day with a series of pointed political arguments.
With Arlington National Cemetery as the backdrop, Trump celebrated his efforts to reshape the armed services into a “Department of War” more closely aligned with his political goals. After opening with customary tributes to service members, Trump quickly shifted into a brief victory lap just a day after the Senate passed legislation aimed at ending the government shutdown.
“We’re opening up our country,” Trump said, following congratulations to Republican congressional leadership. “Should have never been closed.”
The break in the congressional gridlock came only after a critical number of Democrats joined Republicans to back a spending package, despite the deal omitting an extension of expiring federal health care subsidies demanded by Democrats. The measure, now headed to the House, would address concerns over payment to federal workers and military personnel if the shutdown persisted.
During the shutdown, Trump paid the military by reallocating funds and accepting a private donation from a billionaire, though his administration warned that payments to service members could eventually be at risk.
“They said, Let’s close up our country,” Trump said of Democrats immediately after his speech, during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” a daily sports talk show. “They were not successful in renegotiation, and it looks like it’s going to open up.”
Trump also used the Veterans Day occasion to promote his decision to attempt to revert the Defense Department’s name back to the Department of War, a title it held for 150 years until shortly after World War II. A formal change would require congressional approval, which the administration has yet to secure.
“We brilliantly decided to change the name of this great, this great thing that we all created together, and we became politically correct,” Trump said. “We don’t like being politically correct.”
“So we’re not going to be politically correct anymore,” he added. “From now on, when we fight a war, we only fight for one reason: to win.”
Trump’s departure from the traditional tone of Veterans Day speeches reflects his broader relationship with the military, which he has used in unconventional and sometimes legally questionable ways.
He has shown increased interest in aggressive military actions over deterrence, including recent attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean accused of smuggling drugs. Legal experts have criticized these strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings.
Additionally, Trump has increasingly used the military to advance domestic policy priorities, thrusting the armed forces into the center of partisan political issues. He deployed approximately 10,000 troops to the southwestern border following his national emergency declaration over illegal border crossings — troops who remain despite a significant drop in crossings.
Under Trump, thousands of National Guard troops and Marines were dispatched to Los Angeles to help quell protests during immigration raids, a move that reportedly eroded morale among some service members. The administration has also sent Guard units to several other Democratic-led cities to curb crime, including Washington, D.C., where crime rates had already been declining.
These domestic deployments are highly unusual, according to military historians, who note that the military has traditionally maintained a nonpartisan stance and preserved public trust.
James R. Stark, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who served during the Vietnam War and worked on the National Security Council during the Reagan administration, reflected on the military’s mixed views of Trump.
“The military is not monolithic at all,” Stark said. “I think officers tend to be more questioning of Trump than the enlisted troops because he appeals to that macho side of people. But I think that you’ll find that most people in the military are ill at ease, are very uncomfortable, with the way that he’s starting to use the military.”
Stark himself was candid: “I think it’s ironic that President Trump is now lauding the military so much. He uses it as his own personal toy almost.”
Trump faced pushback from veterans’ groups earlier this year when he proposed renaming Veterans Day to “Victory Day for World War I.” Critics argued that such a change would overlook the sacrifices of most living veterans. While Trump did not follow through on the renaming, a White House statement on Tuesday acknowledged the holiday using his preferred name.
During his speech, Trump proudly noted the firing of “thousands of people who didn’t take care of our great veterans” at the Department of Veterans Affairs, labeling them “sick people.” However, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee have argued that Trump’s administration has downsized the federal workforce in a manner that resulted in thousands of veteran federal employees being fired.
This upheaval in the federal bureaucracy has also affected veterans’ programs. Efforts to cancel federal contracts with Harvard University sparked conflicts within the VA over medical research aimed at benefiting veterans. Moreover, Trump’s push to return federal workers to office forced many VA clinicians into crowded, makeshift workspaces, leading to complaints of patient confidentiality breaches.
Despite these challenges, the Trump administration touted its handling of veterans’ affairs on Tuesday, including the opening of 20 new veterans health facilities nationwide.
© 2025 The New York Times Company.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/11/12/breaking-news/trump-lauds-very-big-shutdown-victory-in-veterans-day-speech/