Washington, December 26: US President Donald Trump broke a recent tradition of visiting troops and wounded military personnel on Christmas. By not visiting troops during the Christmas, Donald Trump became the first president since 2002 who skipped the meeting. It was George W Bush who did not visit troops at Christmas in 2002 due to the Iraq War.
Although Trump made calls to troops on the morning of Christmas, he decided to stay off of a military base or hospital. Last year, however, he visited wounded troops at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on December 21. Trump has been facing flak for not visiting troops in an active combat zone, after he cancelled a trip to an American military burial ground outside of Paris last month due to weather. Donald Trump Tweets Just 'Merry Christmas' While Barack Obama Shares Pic Kissing Wife Michelle Under a Mistletoe is a Perfect Christmas Greeting.
Former US President George W Bush visited wounded warriors at Walter Reed from 2003 to 2008 except in 2002. His successor Barack Obama would visit troops at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe Bay, every Christmas from 2009 to 2016 when he was in office. On the eve of Christmas, Trump took to Twitter and lamented how he was "all alone" in the White House due to the ongoing US government shutdown.
"I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security. At some point the Democrats not wanting to make a deal will cost our country more money than the border wall we are all talking about. Crazy!" the US President said on Monday.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2018 10:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).