The Vietnam vets who are fighting Trump in court
Shaun Byrnes did two tours in Vietnam. He had hoped to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery when his time came. Now he's not so sure — and Donald Trump is the reason why.
Byrnes, 83, is one of several Vietnam veterans who have filed suit to stop construction of a 250-foot triumphal arch that Trump wants to build between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. The structure, which resembles Paris's Arc de Triomphe and has been dubbed the "Arc de Trump," would stand more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial.
"It's disrespectful to those that I served with who didn't come back," Byrnes, a Navy veteran, told CBS News in a Sunday report. "And then, of course, to all those who are lying in Arlington National Cemetery."
Byrnes and his fellow plaintiff Jon Gundersen, 81, a retired Army Special Forces officer, argue the project has been rushed through without proper congressional approval and would destroy a carefully considered sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and the Robert E. Lee Memorial — a symbolic connection meant to convey national unity after the Civil War.
But their objection runs deeper than architecture. Both men spent decades in the military and State Department, including postings to Moscow and newly independent Eastern Bloc countries after the Soviet collapse. They say they know what this kind of monument means.
"We know how authoritarian dictatorships work," Gundersen said. "There's no rule of law, there's no consent of the governed, and there's monuments for the leaders there."
Trump himself, when asked by a CBS News reporter who the arch is for, pointed to himself. "Me," he said.
That answer didn't surprise the veterans. But it hardened their resolve. The lawsuit, led by the Public Citizen Litigation Group, argues the administration lacks legal authority to proceed. The Justice Department has moved to dismiss it, claiming the plaintiffs lack standing. Last month a federal judge denied a motion to temporarily halt construction, though the project has not yet broken ground.
Last week, the U.S. Commission for Fine Arts approved the arch despite what its own secretary described as overwhelming public opposition — "100% of the comments were against the project," he told the panel. An urban planning commission stacked with Trump allies could sign off on the project as early as June.
Gundersen dismissed Trump's claim that the arch would be paid for by private donations rather than taxpayer money. "Even if you took private donations, is that how we want to build monuments? To the oligarchs who give money for favors?"
For Byrnes, the suit is ultimately about the fellow fighters who never made it home from Vietnam — and what they deserve.
"It's more about the duty I feel towards my colleagues and friends who did not come home," he said, "to stand up against this project, regardless of who's in charge."