George Floyd Tribute Sparks Memorial Day BACKLASH….

Politicians sitting on the floor holding goats in a solemn gathering

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey posted a George Floyd tribute on Memorial Day and only mentioned fallen soldiers after a Breitbart reporter asked him why he hadn’t.

Story Snapshot

Mayor Jacob Frey used his Memorial Day platform to honor George Floyd, triggering widespread backlash from residents and veterans’ advocates.
Frey acknowledged fallen military service members only after a Breitbart journalist specifically inquired about the omission.
The incident reignited a years-long debate about whether Democrats have systematically elevated social justice figures at the expense of military tradition.
Video of Frey sobbing at Floyd’s casket in June 2020 resurfaced, reminding the public how deeply the mayor has tied his political identity to Floyd’s legacy.

A Mayor Who Had to Be Reminded What Memorial Day Is For

Memorial Day exists for one reason: to honor Americans who died in uniform defending this country. It is not a general day of social reflection, not a platform for political grievance, and not an occasion to rehabilitate the legacy of a man who died during a police arrest. Jacob Frey, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, apparently needed a journalist to remind him of that. According to reporting that set off a social media firestorm, Frey’s Memorial Day post centered on George Floyd, with a mention of fallen soldiers added only after Breitbart made an inquiry.

That sequence of events matters more than any single word in the post. The instinct — the unprompted, unedited instinct of the man running Minneapolis — was to use the most solemn military holiday on the American calendar to talk about George Floyd. That tells you everything about where this mayor’s priorities sit, and it tells you something broader about a Democratic Party that has spent five years treating Floyd’s death as a kind of secular founding myth requiring perpetual commemoration. ^[1]

The 2020 Casket Moment Was Real — but That Was Then

To be fair about the documented record: when Frey dropped to one knee and sobbed at Floyd’s casket in June 2020, that was a genuine moment of public mourning during a city in crisis. ^[4] Whatever one thinks of the politics surrounding Floyd’s death, a mayor visibly grieving at a constituent’s memorial is not inherently a political act. Minneapolis was burning. Frey was under enormous pressure. The moment was raw and real. The footage spread globally and defined Frey’s public image for years. ^[1]

But 2020 is not 2025. Five years on, the political landscape has shifted dramatically. Voters across the country, including many Black voters who supported criminal justice reform, have moved toward candidates promising public safety, law enforcement support, and a return to civic normalcy. Using Memorial Day — of all days — to foreground Floyd rather than the 1.3 million Americans who have died in military service is not grief. It is a political statement, and a poorly timed one that suggests the mayor has not read the room his own city is standing in.

Minneapolis Residents Are Not Having It

The backlash was immediate and came from people who live in the city, not just national commentators. Residents described the post as outrageous and tone-deaf, with some pointing out that Minneapolis has spent years dealing with the real-world consequences of defund-the-police policies that gained momentum in the wake of Floyd’s death. ^[2] The city has struggled with rising crime, a gutted police department, and neighborhoods that still bear the physical and psychological scars of the 2020 riots. Against that backdrop, a Memorial Day tribute to Floyd reads less like healing and more like a mayor who refuses to move on from the moment that made him famous.

Jacob Frey, Look at Tulsi Gabbard’s Memorial Day Post. That's How You Do It.

Such a stark difference between how the left and right honor Memorial Day. 😉

While Mayor Frey made it all about a career criminal (George Floyd), Tulsi Gabbard visited the grave of a soldier for a… pic.twitter.com/rWc8XYkqWW

— NWRain-Judi (@RYboating) May 26, 2026

The comparison being drawn widely on social media — between Frey’s post and Tulsi Gabbard’s straightforward, military-focused Memorial Day message — is instructive. One leader used the day to honor those who died in service. The other had to be prompted to do so. That contrast is not subtle, and it is not unfair. Common sense and basic civic respect demand that Memorial Day belong to the men and women who bled for this country, not to any political cause, however emotionally charged.

What This Moment Actually Reveals About Democratic Priorities

The Frey incident is not an isolated gaffe. It fits a pattern that American voters have increasingly noticed and rejected at the ballot box: a Democratic political culture so invested in the symbolism of 2020 that it struggles to read what the country actually needs in 2025. Elevating George Floyd on Memorial Day does not heal Minneapolis. It does not honor veterans. It does not reduce crime or rebuild trust in law enforcement. What it does is signal to a shrinking base that the party’s hierarchy of moral concern still places the events of May 2020 above the sacrifice of every soldier buried in a national cemetery. That is a politically costly signal — and based on the backlash Frey received, the public is done pretending otherwise.