When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.He had to ask who were the "good guys" in WWI. Think about that. Of course, when he visited Pearl Harbor, he had to be told why it was important. His lack of knowledge of history is astonishing. Mr. Goldberg's reporting has been confirmed by the AP and a senior defense department official. I wish John Kelly would come forward.
Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Belleau Wood is a consequential battle in American history, and the ground on which it was fought is venerated by the Marine Corps. America and its allies stopped the German advance toward Paris there in the spring of 1918. But Trump, on that same trip, asked aides, “Who were the good guys in this war?” He also said that he didn’t understand why the United States would intervene on the side of the Allies.
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.
So, there you have it, another look at the perfidy and malfeasance currently in office.
His ignorance and inability to grasp the most basic decency is heart-stopping
ReplyDeleteTrump, of course, denies all this. But I know enough about Trump to be sure that article is true!
ReplyDeleteTrump is truly a despicable man with zero compassion for anyone, is ignorant in the extreme of anything beyond his own life experience and he never does anything unless it benefits him personally. it astounds me that with every revelation of his complete disregard for anyone but himself that people still support him.
ReplyDeleteHe certainly is wallowing in his ignorance of our soldiers and our army. Bastid.
ReplyDeleteFebruary 23, 2021 will mark the 50th anniversary of my brother's death in Vietnam. I sometimes think there is a thick callus over the wound that his death caused in our family. Then something like this happens and I find there are always fresh tears to cry. My brother was so much more of a loving, empathetic, giving person than that lout. Our sacrifice matters. The only loser is the one who won't see it.
ReplyDeleteI fear that if Russian bounties on our soldiers' heads did not move his base, this won't either.
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