12 November 2018 - Trump Cancels WW1 Memorial at U.S. Cemetery in France Due to Rain
Trump ditched cemetery visit to avoid causing Paris traffic jams, says Sanders
(The Guardian, 12/11/2018)
Donald Trump didn’t attend an event honouring US military dead because he didn’t want to disrupt the traffic in Paris, the White House said on Sunday, as the fallout for his no-show on Saturday continued.
The US president had been scheduled to lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence at the Aisne-Marne American cemetery and memorial at Belleau, about 60 miles (100km) north-east of Paris. The White House cited rain that grounded the president’s helicopter for the cancellation.
The move sparked incredulity among some of Trump’s critics: Nicholas Soames, the Conservative MP and grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, tweeted: “They died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen #hesnotfittorepresenthisgreatcountry.”
Trump criticized after White House cancels cemetery visit in France over weather
Tal Axelrod (The Hill, 11/10/2018)
President Trump Donald John TrumpKerry knocks Trump over cancelled cemetery visit due to weather Firefighters' union criticizes Trump over California fire comments Axl Rose roasts 'demented' Trump for threatening to pull California wildfire funds MORE faced criticism on Saturday while traveling in France after the White House canceled his trip to a cemetery in the northern part of the country due to bad weather.
The president and first lady Melania Trump were scheduled to take a helicopter to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, northern France, about 50 miles from where they are staying in Paris.
But the White House announced in a statement Saturday morning that the trip had been canceled "due to scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather."
Trump condemned for missing Armistice ceremony at US cemetery because of ‘poor weather’
Emma Snaith (The Independent, 11/11/2018)
John Kerry, the former US secretary of state and Sir Winton Churchill’s grandson led the criticism of Donald Trump after he cancelled a visit to a First World War cemetery because of “poor weather”.
The US president was supposed lay a wreath at the Aisne-Marne American cemetery in Belleau, but the White House claimed that heavy rain prevented him from arriving via helicopter to the site around an hour’s drive away from the French capital, where he was meeting with Emmanuel Macron.
The 1918 battle looms large in the history of the US Marine Corps in which the Americans and French repelled German forces. More than 1,800 Americans died there.
Trump's Paris trip marked by missed moments -- and a dire warning
Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins (CNN, 12/11/2018)
First it was a second-place replacement for his own grand military parade. Then it was a stately gesture to illustrate an alliance he's done little to cultivate. After a midterm election drubbing, it was an opportunity to retreat and regroup.
Yet by the time US President Donald Trump departed Orly Airport on Sunday, 44 hours after he arrived, the reasons for his trip to Paris had become largely obscured. It did less to bolster the transatlantic partnership than to expose its cracks. The 3,800 miles the President put between himself and Washington did little to buffer the boiling political crises back home.
And it was decidedly gloomier than the procession of tanks and troops Trump originally envisioned rolling through Washington on this date more than a year ago.