It is old news that President Trump neglects and disrespects veterans, but now, as he engages in a new war, he is maliciously targeting them. Veterans compose 30% of the federal workforce; by this time last year, the draft dodger who referred to fallen American soldiers as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’ had fired nearly 6,000 veterans. Now, Trump is coming after their disability ratings, putting millions of prior service members at risk of losing benefits. According to VoteVets, an organization advocating for troops, veterans, and their families, “The Trump administration…see[s] our newest veterans as a piggy bank. They are prepared to gut their veteran benefits to pay for all their giveaways to the wealthiest Americans and corporations.” Trump’s regime made the change behind closed doors, which is nonstandard, and now VA Secretary Collins claims this change “will have no impact on any Veteran’s current disability rating.” He’s lying. If you didn’t think Trump could possibly stoop so low as to rob veterans, think again.
In January, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal sounded the alarm: “The Trump administration is literally destroying the Veterans Administrationhe Trump administration is literally destroying the Veterans Administration.” This followed the release of a report on the damage Trump’s policies and budget cuts have had on veterans (e.g., in only a year, 40,000 employees were fired from the VA, 80% of them in health care). More and more, veterans have been speaking out about the unconstitutional actions of this government, and now they’re having their benefits slashed. What happened to “Thank you for your service”?
The playbook comes right out of Project 2025. Trump wants to privatize veterans’ healthcare, make it easier to replace dissenters on staff, and make it harder to remove loyalists. The Senate’s report states plainly in its introduction: “the chaos and corruption of the Trump Administration is deliberate and purposeful…[V]eterans are increasingly paying the price for this Administration’s self-sabotage… hard-working, talented VA employees are demoralized and exhausted by the malice and incompetence of their leadership.” As a new veteran, I feel disappointed and betrayed. As an American, I feel disgusted and ashamed.
Again, Trump’s VA just amended a rule that provides the basis for evaluating veterans’ disabilities in a way that is likely to slash compensation for millions of former service members. The new rule directs the VA to evaluate the severity of a disability claim after medication, which will do nothing but reduce the compensation veterans are owed for the injuries and ailments they suffer from due to their military service. Worse still, it could scare veterans into avoiding life-improving medication, which presents a brand new and imminent risk to veterans’ physical and mental health. Meanwhile, this past year, Palantir brought in $1.5 billion and paid literally nothing in federal income tax. They should have paid $330 million. Trump is giving billionaires a tax break on the backs of American heroes.
Serving in the military is physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. Patriotism alone is often not enough to compel a young person to sign up for that kind of lifestyle—but financial necessity can be. In fact, according to Jorge Mariscol, the term “poverty draft” refers to the belief that the enlisted ranks have been largely filled by young people with limited economic opportunities. William Ayers wrote in 2005: “The nation’s high schools have thus become battlefields for the hearts and minds of young people…recruiters dangle gifts and promises of future benefits before teenagers in an effort to fill the ranks of an all-volunteer military.” Now, those future benefits are in jeopardy.
How dare this government shirk its responsibility to take care of veterans. Already, 71% of the Department of Defense’s budget is spent on government contracts (over $430 billion) while only 27% is spent on personnel salaries; Lockheed Martin alone got over $61 billion in Defense contracts in FY23, while around 25% of active-duty service members are experiencing food insecurity. Once they get out of the military, it gets worse: nearly 13% of unhoused adults are veterans, 51% of them have disabilities, 50% have serious mental illness, 70% have substance abuse problems, and the suicide rate for veterans is 1.5 times higher than that of the general population. Among women, the rate is 2.5 times.
This is an utter disservice to the country and those who were ready to die for it. Even years ago, when President Biden was working on relieving student debt, multiple members of Congress came out and said the quiet part out loud: “The armed services have often used educational benefits as a top incentive in the recruitment process, and now that is gone,” “[cutting the legs] out from underneath them,” “weaken[ing] our most powerful recruiting tool at the precise moment we are experiencing a crisis in military recruiting.” For ages, the grand plan for recruitment into our armed forces has offered little more than, “we’ll take care of you, and we’re the only ones who will.” Now the VA is experiencing the largest decline in staffing in the agent’s history, and many wonder if it can survive another three years with Trump.
Obviously, dismantling the VA is a slap in the face to everyone who has already served. To do it while war with Iran loomed, in anticipation of a potential influx of new veterans with serious needs, should be criminal. Gutting the department means significantly longer wait times, fewer appointments, and less access to healthcare and other services. And threatening disability benefits feels cruel and unusual–even if it ends up just being a threat. Everyone in this country deserves care. But when working-class Americans have been risking their lives for a foot in the door to a better life in a rigged system, they better be taken care of on the outside. We must pay attention. We must care. We can’t let Trump get away with turning his back on those who served. Call your reps and stand up for the vets. They’ve earned it.Julie Roland was a Naval Officer for ten years, deploying to both the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf as a helicopter pilot before separating in June 2025 as a Lieutenant Commander. She has a law degree from the University of San Diego, a Master of Laws from Columbia University, and is a member of the Truman National Security Project.
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