Every Memorial Day I have always taken time to stop to think about the reason for the holiday. Memorial Day was always a time when people hit the Gulf Coast beaches for the first time of the new season, picnics and backyard BBQs were popular, and Memorial Day was always a good time to buy the things we needed on sale.
Memorial Day weekend is the emotional beginning of summer, even though summer doesn’t officially arrive until June 20th. It’s a big party weekend to kick off the summer in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. Around the country, small and medium-size towns will celebrate with Memorial Day parades that in no way rival our Mardi Gras parades. Other big destinations this weekend in America include Orlando, New York City, Las Vegas, Miami, and Lake Havasu, where boaters and vacationers from Arizona and California start the summer.
The visual optics of Memorial Day weekend 2025 may look like many other Memorial Day weekends, but this Memorial Day weekend will be different.
Let’s be totally honest - America has changed. Some Americans are thrilled with the political direction of this country, but even those excited about this Memorial Day weekend should be cautious about what they are celebrating.
There will be more talk about President Donald Trump and the direction he and his administration are leading America, and while many Americans are supportive, the rest of us are aware of how America has changed.
I remember America when we paid homage to the Americans who died serving our country. Many died in the face of other nations that were on missions to rule the world and rob us of our precious rights. And that’s why we celebrate Memorial Day. We are honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in the battles to protect our rights.
It’s 2025 and our rights are being threatened - not by evil foreign nations, but by the current President of the United States.
President Trump has been on a consistent crusade to reshape our most fundamental freedom - freedom of speech. This is not a warning from a paranoid psycho who fears every shadow he sees. This warning comes from a rational member of the media that is witnessing the re-drafting of the Constitution to fit the self-serving needs and desires of one American - President Trump.
I applaud the president for getting the border under control, and it happened so quickly that it only makes Joe Biden look even more incompetent in his role as president.
But the randomness of the tariff war, the financial chaos that followed, the haphazard wiping out of thousands of federal jobs in the name of DOGE’s quest to cut federal spending while the president accepts a $400M flying palace that will require at least $1B to retrofit into being capable of serving as Air Force One - it all blatantly demonstrates that there is a self-centered and hypocritical method to the madness of the Trump administration. Never before in modern presidential history has America witnessed the daily uncertainty of decision-making currently being displayed by the Trump administration.
The most disturbing impact of the mentality of Donald Trump is that it has ignited a wave of judgment and hate across America. That wave of judgment and hate is so present, powerful, and persuasive to gullible Americans that it has profoundly changed us. From the hate and misguided attacks from listeners of my talk show to the keyboard crusaders who are standing by like modern-day minute-men to attack anyone who expresses an opinion of Donald Trump that differs from their own is a frightening and fundamental change in American politics.
At the beginning of this Memorial Day weekend 2025 when we honor the men and women who fought to keep our country free, I am thinking back on the America I remember.
I remember an America where people had passionate disagreements over politics, but we never failed to realize that we were Americans first and Democrats and Republicans second. I remember an America when after every election, one political side was deeply disappointed in the outcome and may have even predicted doom and gloom with the new president taking office, but there was no threat of violence, no threats of boycotts, and no bragging that a new America was being born that would forever shut out the opposition. There was also no rallying around the American flag as if it only represented one political side and the other political side was actually un-American. I remember an America where we could be divided along political lines, but we were still the UNITED States of America.
During the Cold War, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev said that communism would not need to destroy America because America would be destroyed by forces from within. I hate that we are seeing Khrushchev's prophecy fulfilled.
As more Republicans and devout Trump supporters join with other Americans and judges in standing up and opposing the words and actions of this president, I feel hope that the tide is changing and this march toward an authoritarian government will be stopped.
In the shadow of all of the dark negativity, I remain optimistic. I believe America will recover from this hateful divide and while we will always be passionate about our politics we will return to the day when we were the United States of America.