X/@EndWokeness
A resurfaced Memorial Day video in the Arlington National Cemetery has once again reignited the time-honored war about the former President’s military relationship. The video, dated Memorial Day 2017, shows Trump high-fiving Christian Jacobs, whose American Marine father had been killed in action, after the Healing Moment that had proceeded the Ceremony for the War Dead of America. Some praise the moment as a rare moment of true presidential sympathy; others use it to show the complicated military ties of Trump.
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The video was shared by a conservative Twitter account called End Wokeness, with an almost generic caption about the warm moment between Trump and the boy who was standing by his dad’s grave, then meandered back to the high-five exchange between Trump and Jacobs, observed silently by now ex-Vice President Mike Pence. This moment was lauded as a good one, and most of the media mansions portrayed it as Trump reaching out to a grieving military family.
Eventually, of course, the online sphere was divided-almost along ideological margins. One commentator deemed it “One of Trump’s best moments,” while another said, “His best excuse for still being in office.” And this split is very indicative of how America is still deeply polarized on Trump’s military legacy-a mix of half-hearted respect for soldiers and sometimes indignantly harsh rhetoric against said patriots.
The split discussion would kick itself a few times from derails. Some pointed fingers at Trump’s statements about soldiers. They referenced Trump’s infamous 2015 remark about Senator John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Others referenced Trump’s multiple draft deferments during Vietnam, with one commenter snarking, “Nothing says real hero like dodging the draft 5 times.”
Even military families were split in the responses. One user identifying as a veteran’s relative wrote, “I still want to cry every time I see this,” while another member of a military family viewed it as silly “stolen valor” theater. The increasing intensity of the responses suggests that this brief interaction at the cemetery has become another Rorschach for Americans to view the Trump presidency.
Not least of all, innumerable comments were oddly fixated on Pence appearing in the clip, rather than on Trump’s actions. “Look at VP Mike Pence, pretending to care,” one perplexed critic wrote, while others were hauling off with lamentations of “Too bad Pence is in the reel.” Pence fixation reveals how ever since that fateful day in January 6th, the rift between Trump and his former VP has kept coloring perceptions of that administration years later.
The debate spilled over from this one instance of his early ceremony to all military policies under Trump. Supporters set forth more defense spending and veteran health reforms as the glory of the Trump administration, while detractors cited his alleged calling of soldiers killed overseas “losers” and “suckers” – which Trump has denied with vehement fervor. One scathing comment stated, “Maybe Trump will trip and fall in an open grave and do the US a favor,” which speaks more to just how much bile is left to spew.
Like many conversations around Trump, things instantly shifted toward current politics. Speculation began about the possibility of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, questioning Pence’s relevance in Republican politics. One user even posed an apparently earnest query, “Is Mike Pence still VP in 2025?” – a statement that in and of itself indicates just how muddled the GOP currently is.
That very Arlington moment remains objectively touching-ress-dignifying a child’s loss. But in this ever-politicized world of ours, even such human moments have been turned into battlegrounds. A somewhat thoughtful statement read: “Maybe it was May 29, 2017…The moment was widely covered in a positive light, with Trump giving the boy a high-five. However, disagreement exists concerning Trump’s engagements with the military at large.” Very nuanced consideration in contrast to the others with less measured responses.
What the skirmish reveals is how Trump’s presidency has been turned into a Rorschach test for American values. Supporters see a leader honoring military sacrifice, while Atkins view the mover and shaker as hypocrisy from a draft-avoiding president. The truth, as always, probably resides somewhere in between-a complexity that has been all but lost in today’s two-sided political warfare. Five years since this cemetery visit, the video still triggers a deep reaction because it encapsulates all that people fervently love and intensely hate about Trump’s offbeat style of politics.
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This conversation does not seem likely to cool down anytime soon, especially with the 2024 elections just four years out. Moments such as these reaffirm the base’s perception of Trump as a living embodiment of patriotic values. For his detractors, they are reminders of the many controversies they refuse to move past. And for the rest of America? Probably one more chapter in our never-ending culture wars to follow. But for Christian Jacobs, it was likely just a brief moment when the president recognized his father’s sacrifice – a personal memory that stands above politics.
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