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| American soldiers who fought and died in rain and dirt for America during the World War I. U.S. President Donald Trump accompanied by his First Lady Melania Trump and a Delegation went to Paris on Saturday Nov. 11, 2018 for paying tribute to American and French soldiers who died in World War I. But President Trump suddenly canceled his visit to put a wreath and practice a second of silence for paying tribute to American fallen soldiers who died for the Country in World War I. The White House explained the cancellation was due to rainy conditions made it unsafe for President to fly there via helicopter as planned. |
“Veterans Day originated as
“Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War
I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11
became a national holiday beginning in 1938. Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day
pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives
thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or
peacetime.”
On
Veteran Day, Nov. 11, 2018, President Donald Trump, accompanied by his First
Lady Melania Trump and a U.S. Delegation went to Paris for paying tribute to
American and French soldiers who died in World War I.
At the
ceremony to the 100-year anniversary of the war’s end organized in Paris,
President Trump said:
“The
American and French patriots of World War I embody the timeless virtues of our
two republics,” Trump said during a ceremony at Suresnes American Cemetery near
Paris. “Honor and courage. Strength and valor. Love and loyalty, grace and
glory.”
“It is our duty to
preserve the civilization they defended and to protect the peace they so nobly
gave their lives to secure one century ago,” Trump said in a speech that lasted
about 10 minutes.
Trump thanked military leaders and foreign dignitaries who were
on hand to hear him honor service members “who shed their blood in a horrible,
horrible war, but a war known as the Great War.”
The president also
recognized six veterans of World War II who were in attendance. During his
speech, Trump mentioned the “legendary Marines” known as the “Devil Dogs.”
Looking toward his chief of staff, Trump said John Kelly, who
served as a general in the Marine Corps, is familiar with the term Devil Dogs.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and several members of Congress were also in
attendance.
On another matter,
Trump praised a 13-year-old U.S. boy who traveled to Paris to attend the
ceremony. Trump said: “Matthew is in the eighth grade, and he worked and saved
all of his money for two years to make this trip to France. He wanted to be
here in person to honor the American heroes of World War I. Matthew, thank you.
You make us very proud. You’re way ahead of your time, Matthew.”
Trump said he was
honored to be a part of the “very beautiful” ceremony in Paris that
commemorated the end of World War I.
“Exactly 100 years ago today, on November 11, 1918, World War I
came to an end,” Trump said. “Thank God. It was a brutal war.”
But for the moment to visit the 100-year old World War I
cemetery on Saturday at Aisne-Marne American cemetery within the village
of Belleau, President Trump suddenly canceled his visit to put a wreath
and practice a second of silence for paying tribute to American
fallen soldiers who died for the Country in World War I.
On Saturday, the White House scrapped the president’s visit to a
ceremony for fallen American soldiers at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and
Memorial in Belleau, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Paris, saying rainy
conditions made it unsafe to fly there via helicopter as planned.
The French military has
joined the outpouring of complaint over Donald Trump’s choice to cancel a
discuss with to a First International Warfare cemetery on account of “deficient
climate”, after posting a tweet mocking the president.
A put up at the
military’s authentic Twitter account displays a soldier crawling at the
floor within the rain, accompanied via the caption: “#MondayMotivation. There
may be rain, however it isn’t critical. We are staying motivated.”
Nicolas Soames, a
grandson of Sir Winston Churchill and Conservative MP for Mid Sussex
led the complaint, branding the president a “pathetic
insufficient”.
“They died with their
face to the foe and that pathetic insufficient @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even
defy the elements to pay his respects to The Fallen,” he wrote on Twitter.
David Frum, a former
speech author for President George W Bush, tweeted that Mr. Trump had “shirked
on grounds of climate the task of honoring those that fought and died in rain
and dirt”.
Others on social media
when compared Mr. Trump along with his predecessor’s efforts within the rain,
posting pictures of Mr. Obama talking all through downpours.
Read this report from Bloomberg on Yahoo News at:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-leaves-world-war-one-201318031.html VietPress USA News
Trump Leaves World War Commemorations Isolated Among Allies
Trump arrived fresh off midterm elections where his party lost control of the House of Representatives even as he kept control of the Senate. A Twitter storm over his failure on Saturday to attend a commemoration service of Marines who died a century ago on the battlefields of France is unlikely to affect him domestically, with his backers and opponents already well entrenched.
Abroad, though, the equivalent of any modern U.S. president’s base -- the network of alliances built up through two World Wars and beyond -- appears more fragile. That’s a risk for a leader who may need their cooperation as he confronts China in a trade war and Iran over its foreign and nuclear policies.
The weekend exposed tensions with U.S. allies in Europe over Trump’s decision to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, which has kept the continent free of theater-range nuclear missiles for more than 30 years.
Trump Tweets
Returning to Washington on Monday, Trump said he had accomplished a lot with the other leaders, but acknowledged tensions over his long-standing demands on trade and defense spending. “Never easy bringing up the fact that the U.S. must be treated fairly, which it hasn’t, on both Military and Trade,” he wrote in a flurry of tweets.
“We pay for LARGE portions of other countries military protection,.............hundreds of billions of dollars, for the great privilege of losing hundreds of billions of dollars with these same countries on trade. I told them that this situation cannot continue.”
It also underlined growing concerns over the reliability of U.S. security guarantees under Trump, and his wider commitment to a postwar international order the U.S. was largely responsible for building and has benefited from, including economically.
In Asia, Trump’s decision not to attend a pair of annual Asia summits this month -- the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea and events hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore -- is set to heighten concerns over U.S. reliability among allies there. Vice President Mike Pence will attend in Trump’s place.
Diplomatic Land-Mines
French President Emmanuel Macron peppered the field with diplomatic land-mines before Trump arrived in Paris, staging the weekend’s ceremonies to promote his own liberal and internationalist view of how the world should respond to the wave of nationalism that’s sweeping the U.S. and parts of Europe.
Even before the 60-plus heads of state and government hit town, Macron criticized Trump over the INF treaty withdrawal. Speaking to Europe 1 radio on Nov. 6, he repeated his calls for a “true European army” as part of a drive for greater Continental autonomy to defend against China, Russia -- and an increasingly unreliable U.S. Trump fired back on Twitter, moments after landing in Paris, describing the comment as “insulting.”
The two leaders appeared to make up as the weekend got under way. But on Sunday, at the main ceremony to mark the signing of the World War I armistice 100 years ago, Macron again appeared to have Trump in his sights as he attacked nationalism.
“France was shown as the bearer of universal values during these dark hours, as the very opposite of a selfish nation that only looks after its own interest,” Macron said, using language that seemed to target Trump’s “America First policies.” Macron stood beside German Chancellor Angela Merkel as he spoke. “Nationalism,’’ he went on to say, “is a betrayal of patriotism.”
Peace Forum Snub
The French leader also convened a “Paris Peace Forum” as part of the weekend’s ceremonies, drawing together international organizations and non-profits to discuss how to strengthen global governance.
Merkel, a fellow champion of liberal internationalist ideas, addressed the forum on Sunday, taking up some of the same themes.
“I want to speak of my concerns that are mixed in with today’s commemoration, the concern that national blinders are spreading again, that actions are taken as if to simply ignore our mutual dependencies, relationships and binding ties,” Merkel said. She went on to wonder if the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights could be adopted today, adding, “I fear, not.”
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