Trump's visit to troops was as overdue as it was welcome
Politically speaking, a presidential trip to a war zone is the antithesis of grabbing headlines by Twitter or shoutout to a press spray while heading to board Marine One on the White House lawn.
For security reasons, the world isn’t usually aware when commanders in chief fly halfway around the globe into a place where bombs might explode or rockets impact. The war zones are often so far away that most Americans are asleep when it happens. There’s no instant gratification.
Those are just some of the reasons President Donald Trump is to be commended for his Christmastime visit with U.S. troops in Iraq, paying tribute to those who are risking their lives and who are separated from their families during the holidays.
The trip was as overdue as it was welcome.
Trump, who avoided military service during the Vietnam War, was nearly two years into his presidency without having visited service members in harm’s way. This was in stark contrast to predecessors George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who each made several trips to Iraq and Afghanistan.
For months, Trump deflected questions about a war zone visit, telling The Associated Press in October that “I don’t think it’s overly necessary. I’ve been very busy with everything that’s taking place here.” That sort of hedging, by a president who plays a lot of golf and consumes a lot of cable TV, contradicted Trump’s self-portrayal as a champion of the military and veterans.
It didn’t help in November when Trump skipped, because of rain, a trip to a cemetery outside Paris to honor the U.S. dead of World War I. Or when he declined to visit Arlington National Cemetery on the Veterans Day federal holiday. Or when he seemed to use active-duty troops as pawns during the midterm elections by rushing them to the U.S.-Mexico border.
In damage control mode, Trump visited Arlington in the rain earlier this month to see graves bedecked with Christmas wreaths. A far more substantial gesture came when he flew out of Washington on Christmas night to Joint Base al Asad, west of Baghdad, even as he was pulling U.S. troops out of neighboring Syria, weighing plans to reduce the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, and searching for a new secretary of Defense.
The reality is that troops at war, particularly in conflicts as seemingly endless as the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan, often conclude that few people except their loved ones are aware that American service members are still serving in hot zones. They can feel their sacrifices are forgotten.
An antidote is the arrival of the commander in chief. For Trump to take time away from his own holiday at home to visit with combat-deployed troops reminds them that America hasn’t forgotten. Politics aside, what's important is the simple fact that he showed up.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's visit to troops was as overdue as it was welcome
