Veterans opposing Donald Trump have organized on several fronts since 2016, running grassroots membership groups, political action committees, legal challenges, and coalition campaigns aimed at VA cuts, disability benefit reductions, and the domestic use of military force. The organizing spans the political spectrum, from the progressive Common Defense and VoteVets to the Republican-founded Veterans for Responsible Leadership, and it has intensified during Trump’s second term.
Common Defense and the Vets Against Trump Campaign
Common Defense grew out of anti-Trump protests in 2016, when a group of veterans, including co-founder Alex McCoy, organized around Trump’s failure to fulfill a campaign promise to donate money to veterans’ charities.1Labor Notes. Common Defense: Mobilizing Veterans and Labor to Beat Trump and GOP The group describes itself as “the largest grassroots membership organization of progressive veterans” and reports nearly 400,000 members with organizers and staff in 18 states.2Common Defense. Common Defense Endorses Pro-Democracy Candidates for Congress
Its central anti-Trump organizing runs under the banner “Vets Against Trump,” a campaign that mobilizes participants for online and in-person actions targeting Trump and allied politicians such as Kari Lake in Arizona and Mark Robinson in North Carolina. Enrollment is open to veterans, active-duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, military families, and civilian supporters.3Common Defense. Be a Veteran Against Trump
Executive Director Jose Vasquez, a 15-year Army veteran who has spoken publicly about receiving cancer treatment at a Bronx VA hospital, now leads the group. At an April 2025 rally outside the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Vasquez said: “Every veteran who walks into this building has already paid for that care with their service. We made a promise. And now MAGA billionaires want to break it.”4Common Defense. Common Defense Executive Director Slams Plans to Cut VA Staffers at NYC Rally
VoteVets: Ad Campaigns and Political Spending
VoteVets, chaired by co-founder Jon Soltz, is the most financially active veteran organization opposing Trump. It began targeting him in 2016, spending nearly $668,000 on an ad blitz declaring Trump “too dangerous for America.” The ads aired more than 900 times in Virginia, Colorado, and Tennessee, featuring retired Army Major General Paul Eaton stating Trump lacked “the temperament or judgment to be our commander-in-chief.”5Center for Public Integrity. Union-Backed Vets Super PAC Weighs In Against Trump
By 2024, the group had committed $45 million to support President Biden and Democratic congressional candidates, including a $15 million effort targeting veterans and military families in battleground states.6The New York Times. VoteVets Biden Democrats Ads During Trump’s second term, VoteVets has organized its work under the banner “VoteVets vs. Trump & Musk: The Veterans Fighting Back,” produced content criticizing former Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, and maintains a “DOGE tipline” for veterans reporting government waste.7VoteVets. VoteVets vs. Trump and Musk: The Veterans Fighting Back In 2026 the group launched a $750,000 ad buy for congressional candidate Matt Maasdam in Michigan’s 7th District and is supporting Nancy Lacore in South Carolina’s 1st District.8VoteVets. VoteVets Home
Republican Veterans Organizing Against Trump
Opposition is not limited to progressive groups. Veterans for Responsible Leadership was founded in June 2017 by Dan Barkhuff, a Navy SEAL and lifelong Republican who voted GOP until 2016. Barkhuff registered the group as a PAC with $500 of his own money to “promote integrity and rational thought in politics” and “defeat candidates who don’t show these qualities, the most obvious of which is Donald Trump.” Early interest came overwhelmingly from “Republicans disgusted with Trump.”9The New Yorker. The Veterans Organizing to Stop Trumpism
In the 2020 cycle the group spent nearly $100,000 supporting Joe Biden and $77,000 opposing Trump, and Barkhuff appeared in two Lincoln Project ads. Between January 2023 and October 2024, it raised over $1.27 million and ran two anti-Trump campaigns, “Trump Dishonors Us” and “Putin Won’t Stop.”10InfluenceWatch. Veterans for Responsible Leadership The organization remains active under Executive Director Scott Peoples, with Barkhuff still serving as president and treasurer. Recent activities include anti-war billboards in North Carolina and participation in “No Kings” protest rallies.11Veterans For Responsible Leadership. VFRL Home FEC filings show $314,975 in receipts and $229,764 in disbursements between January 2025 and March 2026.12Federal Election Commission. Committee Detail: Veterans for Responsible Leadership
The Lincoln Project built its own “Veterans and Military Community Leadership Coalition” in September 2020, including former Navy Secretary John Dalton, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, and more than 20 other military figures. The coalition ran ads in Stars & Stripes and the Military Times network responding to reports that Trump had called fallen service members “losers” and “suckers.”13The Hill. Lincoln Project Places Anti-Trump Ads in Military Newspapers
Veterans for Peace
Veterans for Peace, one of the oldest anti-war veteran organizations in the country, launched a “Veterans Challenge Islamophobia” campaign in February 2016 that directly confronted Trump at his rallies. Members disrupted events in Myrtle Beach with a banner reading “Veterans Are Not Props For Hate”; in Las Vegas with signs reading “Veterans To Mr. Trump: End Hate Speech Against Muslims”; and in Huntsville, Alabama, where Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were removed from a Trump rally for protesting.14Veterans for Peace. Military Veterans Are Taking a Stand Against Hate and Violence Toward the Muslim Community
The Fight Over VA Cuts and the PACT Act
The sharpest policy conflict between veteran groups and the second Trump administration is over Department of Veterans Affairs staffing and the PACT Act, the 2022 law expanding care for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.
A January 2026 report from Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal documented that in fiscal year 2025 the VA lost over 40,000 employees, the first annual net loss in its history, including 1,000 physicians, 3,000 registered nurses, and 4,500 Veterans Benefits Administration staff. The physician losses alone left roughly 1.2 million veteran patients without their VA provider, and national mean wait times for new mental health appointments exceeded 35 days, with some regions reaching 134 days.15U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Cuts, Cover-Ups, Chaos: Blumenthal Releases Report
Administration officials stated a goal of trimming the VA to pre-PACT Act staffing levels, and the Department of Government Efficiency pursued contract cancellations that affected cancer registries and halted clinical trials. Representative Mark Takano, the chief author of the PACT Act, said: “The Biden Administration understood what it meant to pay for the cost of war; it seems the Trump Administration does not.”16ProPublica. Trump Veterans Affairs Budget Staff Cuts Jeopardize Cancer Research
Rosie Torres, co-founder of Burn Pits 360 and a former 23-year VA employee, has been among the most vocal critics. In March 2025 her organization formally condemned a proposal to cut 80,000 VA jobs, calling it a “direct assault” on PACT Act implementation.17Burn Pits 360. Burn Pits 360 Condemns Proposed VA Cuts Testifying at a Senate spotlight forum in May 2025, she said, “I truly don’t think they understand the impact of the war that has followed us home.”18U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. At Blumenthal’s Spotlight Forum
Common Defense has organized this work under its “VA Not for Sale” campaign, opposing privatization and outsourced care. The group says grassroots pressure has forced the administration to reverse 37% of proposed VA cuts.19Common Defense. Common Defense Home
The TCAVA Coalition
On June 22, 2026, Common Defense led a coalition of 15 veteran and military service organizations opposing the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a package combining more than 60 veterans’ bills. The coalition supports provisions like the Major Richard Star Act, the Love Lives On Act, and caregiver reforms, but objects to Section 108, which would codify disability rating reductions for tinnitus and sleep apnea as a budget offset.20Military.com. 15 Military Veteran Groups Warn That TCAVA Will Burden 1.5 Million Future Veterans With $57 Billion
The coalition warned Section 108 would shift a $57 billion financial burden onto 1.5 million future claimants, disproportionately hitting post-9/11 service members and Reservists, and argued that writing a rating reduction into law to fund other spending sets a dangerous precedent. Signatories included Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Minority Veterans of America, Swords to Plowshares, the Black Veterans Project, the Hispanic Veterans Leadership Alliance, Veterans for Responsible Leadership, and the Union Veterans Council.21Common Defense. Veterans Coalition Opposes TCAVA Section 108 Disability Cuts
Lawsuits Filed by Veteran Groups
VA Abortion Ban
On May 21, 2026, Minority Veterans of America filed a federal lawsuit challenging a VA rule finalized on December 31, 2025, that reinstated a near-total ban on abortion services for veterans. The rule eliminated exceptions in place since 2022 for cases of rape, incest, or risks to a pregnant veteran’s health, permitting abortion only when the woman’s life is directly threatened, and prohibited abortion counseling.22Federal News Network. Advocacy Group Sues Trump Administration Over Access to Abortion for Veterans
The suit, Minority Veterans of America v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, argues the VA violated the Administrative Procedure Act by adopting the rule without citing medical evidence or proper justification. Executive Director Lindsay Church said the group’s members “include veterans with complex medical histories, those who have experienced pregnancy complications, and survivors of sexual violence and trauma, all of whom need access to abortion care and counseling to protect their health.”23Spectrum News. Abortion Access Veterans Trump Administration Lawsuit
National Guard Deployment to Chicago
In October 2025, Trump ordered 300 Illinois National Guard members into active federal service for deployment to Chicago and later added Texas Guard troops. A federal district judge barred the deployment, finding the administration had not shown it was unable to execute federal laws using regular military forces. The Seventh Circuit upheld that order, and on December 23, 2025, the Supreme Court denied the administration’s request for a stay in Trump v. Illinois.24SCOTUSblog. Trump Administration and Lawyers for Illinois and Chicago Battle Over President’s Deployment of the National Guard
Common Defense and a group of six veterans in Congress opposed the use of military personnel for domestic policing, with the congressional veterans issuing a video statement reminding active-duty service members of their “duty not to follow illegal orders.”25Labor Notes. How Vets and Labor Have Joined the Fight Against Trump The ACLU and partner organizations argued the deployment violated the First Amendment by chilling political protest and described a broader pattern of the administration surging armed federal agents into Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles to justify seizing command of Guard troops over governors’ objections.26ACLU. ACLU and Partners Urge Supreme Court to Maintain Block on Trump’s Deployment of Military Troops to Chicago
Endorsements and Election Work
Common Defense endorsed Kamala Harris for president in July 2024 and backed Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic primaries.27Common Defense. Veterans Endorse Kamala Harris In June 2026 it endorsed a slate of congressional candidates including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, and Summer Lee, along with Michigan state Representative Donavan McKinney.2Common Defense. Common Defense Endorses Pro-Democracy Candidates for Congress VoteVets continues to endorse veteran candidates and national security professionals running as Democrats and says one of its ads “helped flip a Trump +17 District.”8VoteVets. VoteVets Home
How the Broader Veteran Vote Compares
These organizations represent a vocal minority within the veteran community. Pew Research Center found 61% of veteran registered voters supported Trump in both 2016 and 2024 pre-election polling, with 63% of veteran voters identifying with or leaning toward the Republican Party.28Pew Research Center. Military Veterans Remain a Republican Group, Backing Trump Over Harris by Wide Margin Exit polls from the 2024 election showed Trump winning 65% of veteran voters, up from 60% in 2020, even after former chief of staff John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, publicly confirmed reports that Trump had described captured or wounded service members as “suckers” because “there is nothing in it for them.”29NBC News. John Kelly Confirms Trump Privately Disparaged U.S. Service Members and Veterans The Trump campaign called the accounts “debunked stories.”
One notable exception appeared in a fall 2024 survey of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America members, a group where 55% identify as politically independent. That survey showed an even split: 43% for Harris, 42% for Trump, and 15% for a third-party candidate.30Responsible Statecraft. Veterans Vote Trump The anti-Trump veteran groups occupy that minority position, but they have sustained legal challenges, coalition campaigns, and multimillion-dollar electoral spending across nearly a decade.