It wouldn’t quite be Memorial Day without statements of remembrance and thanks from the nation’s leading political figures and, as might be expected considering the subjects, our rerun presidential prospects carried through with that tradition this year while delivering starkly divergent messages.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both took time out of their respective days to remark upon the Monday holiday. However, in his usual bombastic style, after issuing fairly standard holiday messages the 45th President went quite a bit further than most observers otherwise might.
Trump’s first message of the day on the matter, shared via his Truth Social media platform, included a photo of him saluting a military grave site superimposed with text.
“We can never forget them. We can never replace them. We can always remember. Today, that is what we are doing — we remember,” the text read.
That entirely normal message in support of those who died defending our nation was followed with a holiday greeting aimed at everyone, including, apparently, “the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country.”
“(And) to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for ‘DEFAMATION,’ ” he wrote in part, capitalization his.
The former president followed that message with another, more traditional sort of Memorial Day outreach, quoting from the New Testament.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” he wrote.
President Biden had breakfast with Gold Star families and military leadership Monday morning before departing the White House for Arlington National Cemetery, where he met Vice President Kamala Harris for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Biden, speaking after laying the wreath, said that “everyone has lost and loved someone in the service of our country.”
“I know how hard it can be. It can reopen that black wound in your chest. I know. This week marks nine years since I lost my son Beau,” he said, according to pool reports.
“Freedom has never been guaranteed,” Biden said, speaking under light rain showers. “Every generation has to earn it, fight for it, defend it in the battle between autocracy and democracy, between the greed of a few, and the rights of many.”
“On this day, we came together again to reflect, to remember, and above all, to recommit to the future they fought for, a future grounded in freedom, democracy, opportunity and equality. Not just for some, but for all,” he said.
In social media postings, the president said that, on Memorial Day, “we honor the fallen heroes who served and sacrificed for our freedom and for our future. We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy.”
Herald wire services contributed.
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