President Donald Trump did not participate in a Veterans Day ceremony in Arlington, Virginia where tradition is to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — so the French U.S. Embassy continued the tradition instead.
Yesterday we participated in a ceremony at to honor the sacrifices of soldiers during by laying a wreath on the tomb of the .
— French Embassy U.S. (@franceintheus)
Trump decided to tweet an attack on French President Emmanuel Macron for his remarks about nationalism during his visit to France last week, and to blame his non-visit to Arlington National Cemetery on rain sweeping through the area. Local forecasts predicted rain after 6 PM EST, which would’ve been well after the ceremony concluded.
In Trump’s tweets, he attacked Macron’s approval rating in France and the French President’s speech about nationalism not being the same as patriotism, by pointing out that nationalism is more prominent in France than in the United States.
The problem is that Emmanuel suffers from a very low Approval Rating in France, 26%, and an unemployment rate of almost 10%. He was just trying to get onto another subject. By the way, there is no country more Nationalist than France, very proud people-and rightfully so!……..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Trump’s approval rating in France is 10 percent, which actually increased since last year.
He also sent out a tweet that seems eerily familiar to Trump supporters;
……MAKE FRANCE GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Trump recently returned from France where he was to honor the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I — however, the President once again cited inclement weather as a reason for not participating in a ceremony at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery where the Battle of Beleau Wood took place. Presidential aides said the rain prevented the Marine One helicopter from traveling safely to the site for the ceremony, and Trump tweeted that Secret Service advised him not to travel to the site.
By the way, when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving. Secret Service said NO, too far from airport & big Paris shutdown. Speech next day at American Cemetery in pouring rain! Little reported-Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
That reasoning didn’t prevent the heavy criticism of Trump for his lack of participation with some critics tweeting photos and videos of former President Barack Obama standing in the rain during ceremonies on numerous occasions.
Unlike Trump, a little rain never stopped President Obama from honoring our fallen war heroes on Veterans Day
— Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein)
Trump didn’t travel to the site last year either, but visited Vietnam veterans while on a 12-day tour of Asia.