Trump attacks opponents, judges on day honouring US war dead

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Arlington, United States | AFP

President Donald Trump marked the annual day for honoring the US war dead Monday by tearing into his "scum" opponents and judges who don't rule in his favor.

Trump performed the traditional presidential duties on Memorial Day of visiting Arlington National Cemetery -- the resting place for some 400,000 fallen soldiers and others.

And after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Trump delivered a speech that likewise stuck mostly to the typical presidential script of praising US war heroes.

However, the 78-year-old Republican began his day with a lengthy, all-caps tirade on his Truth Social platform in which he declared: "HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY."

The post claimed that "warped radical left minds" had allowed in millions of illegal immigrants, "many of them being criminals and the mentally insane."

As well as blaming his political predecessors, Trump accused "USA hating" judges of being "on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members, and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country so they can rob, murder and rape again."

Trump is locked in a series of court battles with federal judges who have repeatedly imposed temporary restraining orders to freeze potentially unconstitutional actions, pending further rulings.

With the Republican Party controlling Congress and rarely pushing back against the White House, the only significant remaining roadblocks to Trump's unprecedented drive to test constitutional norms are the courts.

One of the key cases being contested revolves around court injunctions stopping the use by Trump of an obscure wartime law to deport alleged illegal migrants or alleged foreign criminals without any due process.

In his Arlington speech, Trump hailed notable US battles throughout history and paid homage to several individual members of the armed forces killed in combat.

However, Trump did not entirely avoid his penchant to veer off script and begin talking about his own successes.

Overlooking the storied cemetery of white marble crosses, he mused about his luck in being president now, because he will preside over the 2026 soccer World Cup, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 250th anniversary of the United States also in 2026.

Had he not lost his first reelection bid in 2020 -- a result he tried to overthrow and still frequently claims he was cheated on -- he would have not been president for the three events, he noted.

"In some ways, I'm glad I missed that second term," he told the audience of military officers, top government officials and surviving relatives of slain soldiers.

"Now look what I have: I have everything," Trump said. "Amazing the way things work out. God did that."