On Wednesday, Trump traveled to Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, to promote his “Trump Accounts” savings program. Before he got to the pitch, he spent several minutes walking the crowd through a fallen lieutenant’s personnel file.
He’d come straight from Dover Air Force Base, where he’d attended the dignified transfer of four service members killed in the war with Iran, including 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. Feehan’s family happened to be traveling on to Georgia that same day, so Trump offered them a ride on Air Force One. He told that story to the crowd first, then described Feehan’s service record in surprising detail.
“When I go to Dover I read charts on all of the young people, and some are unbelievable,” he said. “Some, they’ve got a couple of little bad things put in. This is a son who is like a flawless, perfect person. Beautiful, beautiful son. Handsome in every way. Brilliant. Respected by everybody. His sheet read so beautifully.”
From there, the tribute kept building.
“And I told them that their beloved son — and his name was Lieutenant Tyler Feehan — and he was a person that was going all the way. He was going to be a general. He would have been a general very quickly. He was heading in that path.”
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Trump thanked Feehan’s mother Sherry, father Steven and uncle David by name, calling them “great people that I got to know a little bit on the plane,” and told the crowd Feehan’s memory would stay in his and his aides’ “hearts forever,” adding, “He’s looking down right here.”
Trump: “When I go to Dover I read charts on all of the young people, and some are unbelievable. Some, they’ve got a couple of little bad things put in. This is a son who is like a flawless, perfect person. His sheet read so beautifully.” pic.twitter.com/O3O2L334PB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2026
What people actually reacted to online afterward wasn’t the tribute itself, but the framing underneath it.
“Is he trolling dead American soldiers?” journalist Mike Rothschild wrote on X.
Is he trolling dead American soldiers? https://t.co/5fenf1mUf1
— Mike (not a) Rothschild (@rothschildmd) July 22, 2026
Attorney David Lurie posted on Bluesky: “Trump’s chart reads: Draft Dodger,” a reference to the deferments that kept Trump out of military service during Vietnam.
Trump’s chart reads: Draft Dodger.
The Bluesky account newmexicanextexan wrote: “He’s talking about the transfer of remains of US soldiers killed in his illegal war.”
He’s talking about the transfer of remains of US soldiers killed in his illegal war.
Another user, posting as The Volatile Mermaid, wrote simply: “Imagine being the parent of one of these dead soldiers.”
Imagine being the parent of one of these dead soldiers.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social) 2026-07-22T20:16:39.216Z
Some users went further, connecting the comments to a broader read on Trump’s character. “He’s a narcissist who views every single thing in life as a comparison where there is a winner and loser…” wrote X user Beth.
he’s a narcissist who views every single thing in life as a comparison where there is a winner and loser – the deciding factor is usually money or hotness but in this case it’s which dead soldier wins by having a cleaner file.
He does this in almost every single statement he…
— Beth (@bethmeredithva) July 22, 2026
Another, posting as NW Pete, kept it short: “Trump has zero humanity, zero empathy. He has to pretend to have these things and it always comes out wrong.”
Trump has zero humanity, zero empathy. He has to pretend to have these things and it always comes out wrong.
— NW Pete (@ptv1024) July 22, 2026
Feehan died July 17 in an Iranian missile and drone attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, alongside Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19. Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, went missing in the same attack and is now believed to have died as well. A fourth service member, Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, was killed in Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. All four were returned to Dover on Wednesday, the third such ceremony Trump has attended since the war with Iran began in February.
Featured image via X screengrab
