Trump disparaged fallen Marines D uring a visit to France in 2018 on the centennial anniversary of World War I, Donald Trump reportedly told his staff that he did not want to tour the American cemetery at Aisne-Marne near Paris because of the inclement weather that day. Trump said to aides: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” While repeatedly labeling the Marines who fell in the bloody battle of Belleau Wood “suckers,” Trump again commented: “Who were the good guys in this war?” US Marines, along with British and French troops, stopped the German spring offensive on Paris in the 1918 battle of Belleau Wood.
One-thousand eight and eleven Marines lay buried in Aisne-Marne Cemetery. Belleau Wood is consecrated ground and is venerated in Marine Corps history. The French government renamed the wood in honor of the Marines fierce month-long battle, Bois de la Marine or “Wood of the Marine Brigade.
” But on the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I and the battle of Belleau Wood, a US president would come to France to disparage the memory of the Marines buried at Aisne-Marne Cemetery. Trump’s private comments were first reported by The Atlantic in 2020 and have been confirmed by numerous media outlets. Speaking on the record, Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, also confirmed Trump’s comments.
We can further see a pattern in how Trump views service members of the US Armed Forces when we read his current disparaging co.