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Trump skips ceremony to honor fallen American troops due to rain

The president disrespects the troops by taking a knee.

Donald Trump departs Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on April 28, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Donald Trump departs Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on April 28, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Sunday marks 100 years since the end of World War I, the supposed “war to end all wars” that caused the deaths of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians.

Leaders from across the globe are in France to commemorate the centennial. German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined French President Emmanuel Macron at the site of Germany’s 1918 surrender on Saturday. British Prime Minister Theresa May and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also honored the fallen.

President Donald Trump, who departed for Paris on Friday, was also scheduled to visit a cemetery that contains the remains of thousands of U.S. troops who were killed in World War I.

That is, until there was a chance of rain.

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump cancelled their Saturday plans to honor Americans who were killed in service to their country due to the weather.

David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush who has been a frequent critic of Trump, provided some additional context that somehow makes the president’s decision even worse.

Frum noted that Trump wasn’t required to make the trip to Europe, but still opted to do so before bailing on a ceremony and moment of silence to honor fallen American soldiers.

The New Republic’s Jeet Heer said Trump’s decision was “a huge diplomatic insult” to France.

Nicholas Soames, the grandson of former British prime minister and current conservative icon Winston Churchill, ripped Trump on Twitter.

The president of the United States claims to love the troops, but his behavior says otherwise. Gold Star families demanded an apology from Trump in 2016 after he attacked the parents of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Last year, the president claimed a Gold Star widow was lying when she said the president “couldn’t remember” the name of U.S. Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, who was killed in Niger last year, when he made a condolence call to Johnson’s family. ProPublica reported in August that a “shadow cabinet” of members of Mar-a-Lago, the Trump-owned golf club in Palm Beach, Florida, has been making decisions for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Trump still hasn’t visited American troops in combat overseas.

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After Khan’s father, Khizr Khan, criticized the then-Republican nominee for having “sacrificed nothing and no one” during a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Trump claimed he had “made a lot of sacrifices” in an interview on ABC.

“I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”

The White House had already announced that Trump would not be attending a “global cooperation” meeting in France this weekend. By skipping the event to honor fallen American soldiers, which was attended by White House chief of staff John Kelly instead, it now appears as though the only purpose of Trump’s visit was to take part in one-on-one meetings with Macron and other leaders, including possibly Russian President Vladimir Putin.