Bring back the Commander-in-Chief who puts America - and Americans - First pic.twitter.com/OpvGnBidES
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) May 27, 2024
On Memorial Day 2017, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery, a short drive from the White House. He was accompanied on this visit by John Kelly, who was then the secretary of homeland security, and who would, a short time later, be named the White House chief of staff. The two men were set to visit Section 60, the 14-acre area of the cemetery that is the burial ground for those killed in America’s most recent wars. Kelly’s son Robert is buried in Section 60. A first lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Robert Kelly was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan. He was 29. Trump was meant, on this visit, to join John Kelly in paying respects at his son’s grave, and to comfort the families of other fallen service members. But according to sources with knowledge of this visit, Trump, while standing by Robert Kelly’s grave, turned directly to his father and said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Kelly (who declined to comment for this story) initially believed, people close to him said, that Trump was making a ham-handed reference to the selflessness of America’s all-volunteer force. But later he came to realize that Trump simply does not understand non-transactional life choices.
The president and first lady Melania Trump braved a flurry of protesters Sunday, including a woman who charged their motorcade topless with the words "Fake Peacemaker" written across her chest, to attend a ceremony in Paris marking the centennial of the end of WWI at the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees.
The president at the conclusion of his remarks awarded an American flag to Maj. Gen. William Matz, the secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission who gave Trump a tour of the cemetery before he went up to the podium.
"Each of these marble crosses and Stars of David marks the life of an American warrior -- great, great warriors that they are who gave everything for family, country, God and freedom," Trump said in a speech at the cemetery. "Through rain, hail, snow, mud, poisonous gas, bullets and mortar they held the line and pushed onward to victory."
But even as he spoke, the president was still being widely mocked for calling off a planned trip Saturday to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, about 60 miles northeast of Paris, due to rain.
On Saturday morning, the White House sent out a statement, saying, "The President and First Lady's trip to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial has been canceled due to scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather."
While the president and first lady did not attend due to rain, Trump sent an American delegation to the cemetery led by his chief of staff, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"It's incredible that a president would travel to France for this significant anniversary -- and then remain in his hotel room watching TV rather than pay in person his respects to the Americans who gave their lives in France for the victory gained 100 years ago...," David Frum, a political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, wrote on Twitter
In a follow-up tweet, Frum wrote, "It's not even 60 miles from central Paris to the monument. If the weather is too wet & windy for helicopters, a presidential motorcade could drive the distance in an hour."
Kelly Magsamen, a high-ranking Pentagon official in the administrations of Barack Obama and George W. Bush, heaped on the criticism, tweeting, "Real low energy, @realDonaldTrump to not bother to honor the sacrifice of American soldiers in WWI due to some rain. Somehow everyone else was able to do so today. Obama never had this problem. He also visited our troops in war zones."
Trump scuttled the trip to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, where many Americans are buried among the 2,288 graves and where the names of 1,060 American soldiers are engraved on a wall, even as other world leaders attended similar events Saturday at WWI cemeteries and memorials outside Paris.
The contempt for nearly everything American continues.
If you're a Trump supporter, read this, then look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, "What the f*** happened to me that I've gotten to the point that I would vote to put this demented person back in the White House?" pic.twitter.com/sJ4Gk5NSP7
— Ivan the K™ (@IvanTheK) May 27, 2024
"Happy Memorial Day" said the former President- because for Donald J. Trump, the thought of hundreds of thousands of Americans having lost their lives in war is truly a cause for celebration.
No comments:
Post a Comment