President Trump and the First Lady surprised American troops stationed in Iraq when he dropped by to wish them Merry Christmas.
From White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders:
President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas. pic.twitter.com/s2hntnRwpw
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) December 26, 2018
More from the NYT:
The place Mr. Trump chose to visit is the one theater of war where he has not promised a rapid drawdown of forces — and it is where he claims his greatest military victory, the defeat of the Islamic State in Mosul, the Iraqi city where the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the beginning of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The assault on Mosul by Iraqi forces, backed by Americans, began under President Barack Obama but culminated in the summer of 2017 under Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, was expected to make two stops on his post-Christmas trip, delivering a holiday message to the more than 5,000 American forces stationed in the country.
In articles published Tuesday, news outlets criticized Trump for choosing not to drop in and visit troops on Christmas. Like this one from NBC:
On Christmas Day, President Donald Trump took part in a long-running practice of presidents who called troops stationed around the country and the world.
But he broke from a recent tradition of actually visiting troops and wounded warriors. He did so in 2017, when he visited wounded troops at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 21 (and invited Coast Guard service members to play golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida).
By staying home on Tuesday, Trump became the first president since 2002 who didn’t visit military personnel around Christmastime.
Based on a check of NBC logs, President Barack Obama visited troops at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe Bay, every Christmas he was in office, from 2009 to 2016.
Before him, according to a check of news releases, President George W. Bush visited wounded warriors at Walter Reed from 2003 to 2008. He did not visit troops at Christmas in 2002, in the run-up to the Iraq War, or in 2001.
Media reaction is pretty well summed up in this tweet:
Ya, Yer wife wears combat boots!
You mean, as long as he was already in Hawaii on a taxpayer-funded Hawaiian vacation, he dropped on and ruined some troops’ day, Christmas and year? How big of him.
This year they got to see a Commander in Chief they actually respect.
BREAKING: DNC says they will have the negative talking points on Trump’s Iraq visit, later this evening.Let them tell you it was in response to their bad mouthing him A Presidential visit to a war zone is planned weeks in advance. But he didnt tell the media…ah yuppers he did not.
@kitt: Don’t you know he had some pretty good giggles over them whining and complaining about him not visiting troops while he was planning to all along. Morons.
@Deplorable Me: Barrys visits were not delayed so the first lady could attend church services.
Kitt and Bill—–Do you 2 realize you are just talking to each other on EVERY post—NO ONE ELSE IS HERE—
@Richard Wheeler: yes whats your point?
@Richard Wheeler: And yet, here YOU are. Go figure.
@Deplorable Me: Guess he didnt have a point he hardly ever does.
@kitt: We’ll have to stop meeting like this.
I heard someone float the idea of Jim Webb for Sec. of Defense. Wouldn’t THAT make Rich’s head explode? Next, the Lawyer for Cows could be named Attorney General.
@Deplorable Me:
They freed Hillary didn’t they?
Just our latte liberal trying to control others speech. He never has anything to say about the subject of the thread.