Blame It On The Rain: Trump Skips WW1 Ceremony Because Of Bad Weather

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COMPIEGNE, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 10: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron inside the train carriage in which the ceasefire agreement between the German Reich and France was signed on November 11, 1918 ending World War I on November 10, 2018 in Compiegne, France. (Photo by Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung via Getty Images)

Donald Trump was in Paris to honor those who fought and died in the war to end all wars.

I am in Paris getting ready to celebrate the end of World War One. Is there anything better to celebrate than the end of a war, in particular that one, which was one of the bloodiest and worst of all time?

But then the rain came and before the ceremony, Trump suddenly bowed out because of the weather.

BBC reports:

After an hour of talks with Mr Macron and lunch with their wives Melania and Brigitte, Mr Trump had been due to visit one of two American cemeteries on his schedule.

But he cancelled his trip to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial due to “scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather”.

White House officials later explained that low cloud would have prevented his helicopter from landing, and cited security concerns about arranging a motorcade to the site.

Gen John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, attended on the president’s behalf.

Somehow Kelly could make it there, but not his boss?

Dan Rather says:

“Few places move me more, connect me more to the sacrifice and service that have made our country possible, than battlefield cemeteries. The ages of the dead, mostly oh so young. The price of freedom high. I’m saddened the President has chosen not to pay his respects in France.”

Ironically it wasn’t raining as several other world leaders marked the important occasion. Bloomberg writes:

The rain that grounded President Donald Trump eased as Emmanuel Macron welcomed Angela Merkel to Compiegne, scene of the Armistice signed 100 years ago ending World War I.

In November 1918, a defeated Germany was forced into an extraordinary humiliation by the Allies led by France under Marshal Foch, and handed punitive terms that sowed the seeds of another war just 20 years later.