Donald Trump’s tribute to a 25-year-old soldier killed in an Iranian strike has sparked fierce backlash after the president used the ceremony to promote his administration.
Army 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan was killed on July 17 when Iran launched a missile and drone attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
He was 25 years old and from Hawaii. Two other soldiers, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, from Texas, and Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, from New York, were also killed in the conflict, along with a fourth soldier, Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, from North Carolina, who died during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone in Iraq.
Trump attended the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, describing it as “the toughest thing I do.”
He then flew Feehan’s family to Georgia on Air Force One and invited them to a rally at Wheeler High School in Marietta, where he paid tribute to the fallen soldier in front of his parents and uncle.
The line that sparked immediate criticism
Trump told the crowd he would carry Tyler’s memory forever and called it an honor to have the family there. But it was another line in the speech that drew immediate criticism.
“He’s looking down right here, he’s so proud,” Trump said of Feehan.
“Together we are making our country safer and stronger and far more successful than it has ever been before. That’s happening before your very eyes. That’s why I call it the golden age.”
Critics said using a fallen soldier’s death as a backdrop for political messaging, in front of the soldier’s grieving family, was deeply inappropriate.
Gold Star families react
The backlash has intensified in the days since the speech, with Gold Star families of soldiers killed in previous conflicts also speaking out.
One family member said Trump “is the one who chose to throw them into this unnecessary conflict in the first place” and accused him of “putting words into the mouths of fallen service members” to justify the Iran war.
Another said she was not surprised by the remarks, noting it was not the first time Trump had used a dignified transfer for political purposes.
On X, reactions were swift and divided.
“Disrespectful person, he’s the one that’s put lives in danger,” one user wrote.
“He’s the reason that kid is dead,” added another.
Others defended the president, with one writing: “So moving. God bless the soldier and his family.”
Feehan’s family released a statement following his death saying: “Our hearts are shattered. Tyler James Feehan, our son, our ‘Tivo,’ was taken from us far too soon, alongside other American heroes lost or wounded in this same tragic attack.”
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