Trump attending Veterans Day Parade

This particular event. Typically presidents have gone to events at Arlington.

Good point Hadrick. Other Presidents had no problems staying near home. Donald Trump OTOH had a big one during the World Series, so he needed to celebrate Veteran's Day somehwere else.

Mountainmanbob said:

President Trump made a good showing for our Vets. These days they need all of the encouragement they can get.
M-Bob

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Thank you for sharing this. God bless our President.

Comment under video:

"back in 1995 when the city of New York couldn't afford a veterans day parade our great president wrote a check for $1000000 to keep the parade going." ~Blasted Blasted

Gonna take a few more appearances to make people forget how he’s treated certain other well-known and decorated veterans and even a Gold Star Family with his crass remarks and lame excuses for never having served his country.

hedrick said:

This particular event. Typically presidents have gone to events at Arlington.

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Either way, good for him.

I haven't verified this, but believe it is true so will pass it on. Click image for large version.

paul1149 said:

I haven't verified this, but believe it is true so will pass it on. Click image for large version.

This pic was not taken on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day. It wasn't on his schedule. He told the Secret Service he wanted to go to Arlington Cemetery and without notice they took him there. No motorcade. No speech. He was met by the grounds keepers.​

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Thank you for sharing this.

Title is misleading. He's the first sitting President to attend the New York City Veterans parade. As written, the title wrongly suggests that no US Presidents have ever attended a Veterans Day parade while in office.

ChristianForCats said:

Good point Hadrick. Other Presidents had no problems staying near home. Donald Trump OTOH had a big one during the World Series, so he needed to celebrate Veteran's Day somehwere else.

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George W. spent Veterans Day in NYC -- twice -- but never actually attended the parade. In 2001, he attended a ceremony at Ground Zero, and in 2008, he was at the Intrepid.

So a title misleading enough to be a lie. Right in Trump's wheelhouse.

Personally I think much more of a president who pays his respects at Arlington or any of the other military cemeteries than one having to take the spotlight at a parade.

keith99 said:

So a title misleading enough to be a lie. Right in Trump's wheelhouse.

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Did Trump create the misleading title, or Fox?

keith99 said:

So a title misleading enough to be a lie. Right in Trump's wheelhouse.

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If this is in response to my post, technically it's not a lie. Bush was in New York twice, but never actually attended the parade.

Donald is indeed the first sitting president to attend the parade... which makes up for his complete snub of Veterans Day last year, so it all evens out.

hedrick said:

This particular event. Typically presidents have gone to events at Arlington.

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Only losers go to Arlington, right?

paul1149 said:

I haven't verified this, but believe it is true so will pass it on. Click image for large version.

This pic was not taken on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day. It wasn't on his schedule. He told the Secret Service he wanted to go to Arlington Cemetery and without notice they took him there. No motorcade. No speech. He was met by the grounds keepers.​

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My father is buried there.

RocksInMyHead said:

As written, the title wrongly suggests that no US Presidents have ever attended a Veterans Day parade while in office.

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And there's no doubt it was fully intended that way. =/

TLK Valentine said:

George W. spent Veterans Day in NYC -- twice -- but never actually attended the parade. In 2001, he attended a ceremony at Ground Zero, and in 2008, he was at the Intrepid.

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The Ground Zero ceremony was totally different, of course. He needed to be there.

TLK Valentine said:

Donald is indeed the first sitting president to attend the parade . . . which makes up for his complete snub of Veterans Day last year, so it all evens out.

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What was Donald's snub last year?

paul1149 said:

I haven't verified this, but believe it is true so will pass it on. Click image for large version.

This pic was not taken on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day. It wasn't on his schedule. He told the Secret Service he wanted to go to Arlington Cemetery and without notice they took him there. No motorcade. No speech. He was met by the grounds keepers.​

View attachment 266558

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fyi:
President Trump Visits Arlington National Cemetery in the Rain

keith99 said:

So a title misleading enough to be a lie. Right in Trump's wheelhouse.

Personally I think much more of a president who pays his respects at Arlington or any of the other military cemeteries than one having to take the spotlight at a parade.

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This.

The title of this thread is unequivocally misleading but the words the OP used were unfortunately true, not in sentiment but literally. Donald Trump, put on a good showing. A performance designed for Trump to receive applause and adulation from the audience of his base, to bolster his spirits and give him all the encouragement he can sponge for his battles ahead, rather than to earnestly shine the spotlight of glory upon the veterans the parade was given for, to honor those who have fought in actual battles at tremendous sacrifice to themselves and their families.

Both of my grandfathers are Purple Heart veterans, my mom was in the JAG Corps, and my dad was an oncologist with the U.S. Air Force, and all his living brothers also served. I've attended Veteran's Day events my entire life. It's a day when I look forward to listening to and giving my attention to veterans. My maternal grandfather never had a civilian job. His entire life he devoted to his country. I don't know exactly what he endured in the numerous combats he was in because he was too traumatized by them to ever talk about it to me, or even to my mom. I do know he was at the Pentagon on 9/11. He doesn't have fingerprints on his left hand anymore because it got burned so horribly that day. He is here with us now, he and my grandmother flew out for a Veteran's Day festival on the USS Iowa Battleship Museum. It was a reunion for him and those he served with who also came in from around the country. To come from there, to look on here, to see this thread, it's just.....so dismaying. The nation will never know their names like the way Trump's is known, and yet they are the ones who actually gave their everything for this nation. At the museum there was footage of presidents of the past on Veteran's Day, of dignified and heartfelt speeches delivered at Arlington that are in poignant contrast to Trump's appearance at the parade.

The OP is correct that "these days they need all of the encouragement they can get." For all his bluster and pomp that is what Donald Trump has failed to actually give in a meaningful way. Encouragement. U.S. military officers who fought in Syria say they are devastated and ashamed by Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish-led forces, whom they've described as some of the most noble people they've ever met. Donald Trump and his proxies have ridiculed General Mattis, General Kelly, General McMaster, who all willingly and dutifully served their country and answered his call to continue to do so through working for him. He spitefully and vindictively sought to smear and demolish the reputation of Lt. Colonel Vindman. He fails to understand integrity, or that true patriotism is putting the country first. Days after being fined for misusing veterans' funds, Trump urged people to celebrate Veterans' Day by donating to his campaign. His 2020 budget had a big boost but neglected to actually listen to veterans organizations and put money where it is needed. It's dispiriting.

Millions are being diverted from the budget for rebuilding the Air Force base in Florida that was decimated by Hurricane Michael last year, for his feckless wall. His wall is also siphoning off funds desperately needed for military schools. My grandmother in a way is a veteran too because she was for 41 years a teacher and then principal of schools serving military communities, and it's devastating to her how kids who are already having to grapple with a parent's deployment and all that stress are going to dilapidated schools with overcrowded classes, with overwhelmed teachers.

My dad is still haunted by his patients who died in their 20s, 30s, 40s, of cancers like testicular and Hodgkin's lymphoma that typically have high survival rates at those ages if properly treated. He wrote 22 letters of appeal arguing for this medication that was necessary for those at risk of developing febrile neutropenia, and was denied because its expense deemed it unnecessary. This young man who had survived tours in Iraq and Afghanistan but died in America because he was denied a medication he needed to spare his life. We need to have our focus on veterans like them today. On the veterans who are coping with PTSD due to all they endured in service, and how their needs are also not being met.
The total number of suicides among veterans has increased four of the last five years on record. From 2007 to 2017, the rate of suicide among veterans jumped almost 50 percent. Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than Americans who never served in the military. For female veterans, the risk factor is 2.2 times more likely.

Anyways, you'll read this post even if nobody else will, and with just a few minutes left before Veteran's Day ends I wanted to write it.