President Donald Trump decided that he’d rather not go to a historic U. S. military cemetery in France because it’s raining in Europe.
President Donald Trump’s trip to France to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the end of World War I was set to be a historic visit. The centennial memorial of the great war — a conflict in which over 4 million Americans served.
But instead of paying tribute to the fallen soldiers at the U. S. military cemetery, Trump decided to stay in. In a statement, the White House said that his reason for not attending was “logistical difficulties caused by the weather.”
It was raining in Paris.
The president was supposed to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. The website for Aisne-Marne says it “contains the graves of 2,289 war dead, most of whom fought in the vicinity and in the Marne Valley in the summer of 1918.” Many of those buried there are Americans who never made it back to the United States.
The monument is about an hour’s drive from Paris, meaning that even if the rain was grounding helicopters or planes, it wouldn’t have been much trouble for a presidential motorcade to make the trip.
Trump began his visit to France with a Twitter insult aimed at French President Emmanuel Macron, writing that “perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO.” Later, he claimed that he was in Paris to celebrate the armistice.
I am in Paris getting ready to celebrate the end of World War One. Is there anything better to celebrate than the end of a war, in particular that one, which was one of the bloodiest and worst of all time?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10,2018
Trump did meet with Macron during the first part of his visit, but their relationship seems to have cooled since the French leader wowed Trump so much during a 2017 visit. During that trip, Trump was so enamored with a French military parade he witnessed that he decided to put on his parade in the U. S. Of course, the parade was later shelved.
While the American president shirked away from honoring the fallen heroes in France, other world leaders who were visiting for the celebration did pay their respects.
Today, I joined our delegation of Canadian veterans at Vimy Ridge — to thank them for their service and to pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our freedom.
We will never forget. #CanadaRemembers pic.twitter.com/txn66KcnDM
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 10,2018
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel unveil commemorative plaque at the spot where the Armistice ending World War One was signed 100 years ago #armistice100 https://t.co/DQkmIoqdap pic.twitter.com/SaxkbAjcSS
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 10,2018
This wasn’t the first time Trump has blamed his distaste for presidential duties on the weather. After the October mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, he talked about how his hair got wet while talking to reporters.
As the news went viral that Trump decided to stay inside rather than brave a few raindrops, critics on Twitter began circulating a photo of former President Barack Obama holding his own umbrella and giving a speech during a downpour on Memorial Day 2010.
President Obama delivers remarks at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Memorial Day, 2010. pic.twitter.com/c9ym3ZRDWg
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) November 10,2018
Unfortunately, it seems that we can expect Trump to tweet rather than act over the next few days during his visit to France. He’s been complaining about the midterm results on Twitter for the past few days.
