UKH

Good job they weren't.   

So he skips service due to "bone spurs" 

Doesn't like prisoners of war .

Would rather sit in watching TV in his hotel room rather than pay some respects because of light rain.

The depths of this man's lack of empathy never ceases to astound. 

It's been said before and will be said again.  

What a fu@king turd of a human being. 

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Just wondering if a little light rain ever stopped his campaign rallies.  

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Be fair - he has troubles mastery the intricacies of the umbrella.  And the results of his wig getting wet are, apparently, on par with that of a gremlin  getting wet.

In reply to Andy Gamisou:

Amongst the myriad things Trump has never had to do for himself (fighting in a war, telling people to their faces that they are fired, tieing his own shoelaces) putting up an umbrella and taking it down must be one of the most challenging. Therefore he has decided never to go out in the rain again.

This is the hero who, even if he had been unarmed, would have gone into Parklands school to take on the shooter... 

 

 

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Not wanting to get in the way of a good smear against someone nobody likes, but it is reported that his helicopter was grounded rather than him choosing not to go. 

Sounds more like poor planning that they didn't have a motorcade ready. But given any transportation of a president requires immense planning, I get that it's not as simple as simply deciding to drive instead.

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Whilst not cancelled, it was delayed.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-d-day-was-delayed-by-a-weather-forecast

In reply to Pan Ron:

Of course, if the President doesn't want to go, they're not going to say so. Blaming logistics is an obvious excuse.

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Straight upright, in our Secret Service black,
Earpieces, pistols, shades, we dragged to France,
Till on our minibars we turned our backs,
And towards the Belleau Wood aimed our advance.
We needed sleep. Time zones hit with a crash,
Men gulped caffeine. Arabica; fine grind;
Drunk from jet lag; deaf even to the splash
Of raindrops falling softly behind.

Rain! RAIN! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Snapping umbrellas open just in time,
But someone still was getting wet and stumbling
And grumb’ling like an old man past bedtime.—
Dim through the humid air and iPhone light,
As under a misting tent, I saw him frowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He wades through puddles, sputtering, tweeting, frowning.

If in some drizzly dreams, you too could float
Behind the limo that we threw him in,
And watch the raindrops drying on his coat;
His soggy face, like a waterlogged pumpkin;
If you could read, with every tweet, the pain
Come gargling through his slightly damp touchscreen,
Obscene as Stormy, empty as the brain
Of a deplorable who votes to vent his spleen,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To presidents who look like they died yesterday,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria madescere.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/11/donald-trump-aisne-marne-american-cemeter...

In reply to Pan Ron:well actually it is.  Every other president has had a contingency plan for this - Obama, Bush, Clinton etc Al.  It might be a bit of trouble but it's absolutely possible and planned for. See David Forum on twitter 

 If he wants to go, he can go

 

In reply to Pan Ron:

If you wanted to give Trump the benefit of the doubt it could be that the clusterf*ck around procuring the new Marine 1 helicopter fleet is starting to have consequences.with the aircraft getting so old they are unreliable.  According to Wikipedia they also use multiple identical helicopters so nobody can be sure which one the president is in which puts up the probability of one being faulty.

On the other hand if he'd really wanted to go I'm sure Macron could have lent him a nice new Airbus helicopter that wouldn't have any difficulty flying in a little rain.

 

In reply to GarethSL:

Was that light rain then ? 

 

In reply to Pan Ron:

They always have backup plans for moving the president by an alternative means, so saying he couldn't go because the helicopter couldn't fly is just pathetic.

 

In reply to Pan Ron:

He chose not to go by car because he is too important to go anywhere except by helicopter perhaps.  

Extrapoloating from his twitter feed it occurs to me that perhaps the overgrown toddler can’t cope with an hour in the car.  

 

In reply to Pan Ron:

No that's his excuse... "the helicopter couldn't fly" even if there was some unfortunately timed mechanical issue, it's 50minutes by road with an escort, and one of the biggest security operations in recent years is escorting the 70 other heads of state attending, I'm pretty certain those cavalcades could have fitted him in

If he wanted to be there he would have been.

In reply to CasWebb:

It might just be that it isn't practical. At a time when there are loads of other heads of state in Paris they can't shut down and secure an 80 mile route out of Paris for a US presidential motorcade.

I wonder if the US president only ever travels by road for a few miles to & from the nearest helicopter landing spot.

In reply to marsbar:

Yep, probably right. I think one hour exceeds his attention span by quite a margin.

Dave

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

He had a good reason for not going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's a sh*t

In reply to CasWebb:

Yep, though not as pathetic as fumbling for excuses in an attempt to paint Trump's critics as worse than Trump himself.

In reply to Luke90:

That is brilliant.

In reply to CasWebb:

Big assumption that's what he said.

I've thought Trump was a clown from back when I first saw his gold-plated helicopter.  The idea of him taking office was astounding.

But his detractors are becoming little different to tutting middle-Englanders enraged about breaches in royal protocol or the birther movement back when Obama was elected; for every action he takes, the worst possible motives or assumptions are made, then thrown around as if they are fact.  Its embarrassing to be the one to essentially come to the guy's support, but this is getting ridiculous. 

There could be a million and one reasons why he didn't turn up.  The claim that he didn't want to get wet?  Think about it for a bit.

It could of course be that he's a petulant child who doesn't like using umbrellas.  As someone above said, maybe he hates veterans (I think that's bollocks - his statements about McCain were political opportunism, and like most of the wealthy he avoided Vietnam, but the guy clearly has a massive hard-on for the military).  No doubt if he did turn up he'd be accused of grand-standing or we'd be criticising the colour of his socks. 

But perhaps it just far more likely that the helicopter really was grounded.  And for whatever reasons, his fault or others, other arrangements simply weren't in place.  In the grand scheme of things, how much of an event is it?  The US casualties in the war were on par with Vietnam and I don't see us going out of our way to remember them.    

If the virtuous stance to take is "He's a cvnt, so even if he didn't do X, X is the kind of thing cvnts do, so I'll say he did X" then fine.  But its misinformation and the kind of idiocy that had us writing dodgy dossiers about Saddam.  He does enough wrong on a daily basis that you don't need to go around using armistace day as a weapon to bludgeon him with.

In reply to Removed UserStuart en Écosse:

Would rather go on record defending someone I dislike than resorting to this sort of political muckraking.

In reply to Pan Ron: That's annoyingly honourable. 

 

In reply to Timmd:

Well, the moral outrage is pretty disturbing.  Presumably from people who would cry for this event not to be politicised if it went in the other direction.  

Does also make me wonder if lessons have been learnt.  The angry mobs got pretty worked up and misled by media outrage back in the early 1900s too.  Why, lets go distributing white feathers to those who don't appear sufficiently animated?

Anyway, it seems Trump is attending afterall - and presumably always was.

In reply to elsewhere:

There are other heads of state travelling the same route.  It's not that complicated.  

In reply to Pan Ron:

He missed one and went to a different one.  

In reply to Pan Ron:

I think Trump is obsessed with winning and looking like a winner.  Every negotiation has to be a fight and he always has to win there's no win-win outcome.   He likes the military when it is blowing stuff up on TV or parading to make him look good but he doesn't like visiting cemeteries because cemeteries aren't about winning.  He got a chance to avoid going to the cemetery and he took it.

 

In reply to Pan Ron: I can't think of many people who have done as much to foster people's well founded dislike of them to be honest. 

 

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

A good point. 

He did send a flying monkey though (oh sorry that was John Kelly )

 

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

This was shameful. The idea that there was no backup plan is beyond belief. I reckon for every Presidential visit there is always a backup plan. Suppose its raining so the helicopter can't take off and there is a serious terrorist threat or attack - I cannot imagine for a second the security services do not have contingencies.

In addition he is the President. If he had said, "You must get me there", a way would have been found.

I think its an example of Trump not being interested in anything unless he is the centre of attention.

 

Dave

 

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Before I read the rest of the thread, and as I don’t watch the news, who is this person? Honest I do not know who it could be

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

I hear his interest in visiting the D-Day beaches waned somewhat on learning that Gold beach wasn't actually made of gold.

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

of all the jaw droppingly stupid and nasty things Trump has said and done, slagging off Senator McCain was a particular low point. I would say he speaks without first thinking but I dont think he is capable of thought.

In reply to Pan Ron:

The part of the visit he missed was the part where he was to visit the American graves.  

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

Perhaps the USMC would benefit from time spent reading UKC threads:

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/winter_climbing/sar_helicopter_service_co...

 

In reply to marsbar:

He's got worrying blind spots and flaws for a president of the US.

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

For a little more detail

http://amp.timeinc.net/thedrive/the-war-zone/24839/dont-be-so-quick-to-blam...

In reply to marsbar:

Might that imply that the reasons for the no show were for things other than his hair?

In reply to GarethSL:

Wasn't just a bit of rain though was it? It was a proper storm which would have screwed the landings had they attempted it as originally planned. 

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

It seems just incredible to me that no one (I think) has mentioned the real reason that Trump didn't show up. He had just had a row/disagreement with Macron about the concept of an EU defence force (that Macron is promoting) ... he seemed to find this offensive, even though he was demanding the EU pay more to support NATO. It was nothing other than a petulant snub to Macron, disgracefully being more important for Trump than attending the Armistice ceremony.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I had considered such a factor.   I bet Macron's pat on the knee went down a storm with his over inflated ego.   The fact that Macron suggested a EU defence force showed that people might now be considering America is no longer a reliable ally.

Putin seemed pleased by it all with the big thumbs up .   I wonder why. 

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

Yes to all that. What's weird (seeing e.g. the 'dislike' to my last posting) is that some people appear to have no interest in finding out the truth. What I have said was very widely reported in diplomatic channels (through multiple tweets) on Saturday/Sunday. I'm not saying that immediately means it must be true, but it's by far the most plausible explanation I've seen for the POTUS not to be able to turn up at such an important world event - having already spent a huge amount of money flying him and the White House staff to Paris in Air Force One. The very minor technical problem caused by rain of using the helicopter option simply gave them a feeble official excuse.

In reply to Chive Talkin\':

I read Putin's thumbs up as nothing much more than a sign of friendship from his old mate, and of approval of his decision to eventually show his face.

In reply to Andy Gamisou:

You mean he isn't a Gremlin that got wet?

In reply to Dom Connaway:

Don’t feed him after midnight just in case...

 

In reply to GarethSL:

That's only part of the story.

Behind every great man there's a grunt doing his job.

"They asked for a check. 'Please check and repeat the whole report.' I was wondering what was wrong. I thought I had made some error or something like that. They sent a second message to me about an hour later to please check and repeat again. I thought this was a bit strange so I checked and repeated again. It never dawned on me that this was the weather for invading or anything like that. When I checked the report, I said: 'Thanks be to God, I was not at fault anyway.' I had done my job and sent over a correct reading to London."

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/weather-forecast-mayo-lighthouse...