Fact Check: Did Trump Jr say Arlington National Cemetery reminded him of his family's 'sacrifices'?
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA: President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, went viral online recently over his alleged comments about the Arlington National Cemetery.
Recently, a rumor claimed that Trump Jr said Arlington National Cemetery reminded him of his family's "sacrifices". But is there any truth to this, and did he actually say this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Trump Jr said Arlington National Cemetery reminded him of his family's 'sacrifices'
In May 2025, an online rumor claimed that Donald Trump Jr said a visit to Virginia's Arlington National Cemetery conjured a reflection on the hardships and sacrifices his family has faced over the years.
The rumor surfaced online after criticism of a social media post by the president on Memorial Day that offered scathing remarks about his political opponents instead of reflecting on the purpose of Memorial Day to honor fallen service members, according to Snopes.
The POTUS took to Truth Social and wrote an all-caps message wishing a happy Memorial Day to, among others, "the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country."
Trump’s Memorial Day message to America has zero mention of fallen soldiers pic.twitter.com/v1vj72Gsc3
— People For the American Way (@peoplefor) May 26, 2025
Meanwhile, the rumor about Trump Jr was shared across social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook.
A Facebook user posted a picture of Trump Jr and wrote, "As we drove past the rows of white grave markers … I also thought of … all the sacrifices we'd have to make — giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals."
True: Trump Jr wrote these words in his 2019 book
The claims made in the online rumor are true, as Trump Jr wrote these words in his 2019 book 'Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us', Snopes reported.
The president's son wrote, "Meanwhile, it also took two months for me to realize the enormity of what my father had accomplished, and the weight of the job that he'd won. It was the day before the inauguration, and we were driving into Arlington National Cemetery, where he was to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I rarely get emotional, if ever."
"I guess you'd call me hyper-rational, stoic. Yet, as we drove past the rows of white grave markers, in the gravity of the moment, I had a deep sense of the importance of the presidency and a love of our country. I was never prouder of my father than when I watched as he stood before the tomb, his hand over his heart, while the Army bugler played 'Taps'," Trump Jr added.
He also mentioned, "In that moment, I also thought of all the attacks we'd already suffered as a family, and about all the sacrifices we'd have to make to help my father succeed — voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were 'profiting off the office.'"
He concluded the point and wrote, "But it was a sacrifice we were more than happy and willing to make. Of course, we didn't get any credit whatsoever from the mainstream media, which now does not surprise me at all."
Trump Jr was criticized for his comments about Arlington National Cemetery
When Trump Jr wrote the above comments in his book, many political commentators and veterans criticized him at the time of the book's publication.
Vanity Fair wrote an opinion with the headline "Donald Trump Jr Thinks Not Doing Foreign Deals is the Same as Dying in Battle."
Similarly, the BBC reported, "Arizona Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego, who fought in Iraq, responded on Twitter: 'Eight men I served with are buried in Section 60 of Arlington' … 'I visit them monthly. Even if Donald Jr lived a 1,000 years, he will never even get close to being as good and honourable as they were.'"
Moreover, Salon's managing editor, Igor Derysh, wrote that the book "finds the son of the most powerful man in the world complaining that his family is the victim of unfair attacks."
"In one passage, Don Jr refutes critics who have called his father 'racist' by pointing out that Trump allowed him and Eric to play with Michael Jackson as children and let him go on vacation with former NFL star Herschel Walker," Derysh added.
