On the campaign trail during last year’s presidential election President Trump was vocal advocate for supporting America’s military and veterans, which was in stark contrast to his opponent Hillary Clinton and predecessor Barack Obama.
Now, a simple act of courtesy by the president was caught on tape over the weekend and has rapidly gone viral. On Saturday, while President Trump was boarding Marine One, the wind blew off the hat (known as a “cover” in the military) of a marine who was standing at attention on the tarmac. The officer never flinched and remained steadfast as Trump paused in his boarding of Marine One to retrieve the hat and place it back on the officer’s head, while also giving the solider a pat on the shoulder.
The wind wasn’t letting up, however, and it blew the hat off again. Trump wasn’t letting the wind get the better of him, as he again went to retrieve the hat, when another military officer came in a grabbed it so that the president could board Marine One.
The video was covered by Fox News and shows Trump taking the time to offer a helping hand to a marine:
Sometimes the smallest acts can have the most profound impact and portrays the true feelings of a nation’s leader. You often get the true measure of a politician by observing how they behave when they are not on the campaign trail or in front of large crowds. President Trump, who has spoken often of his respect for America’s military, showed respect for all American service men and women on Saturday when he took a moment to retrieve a marine’s hat from the ground.
The 4Chan forum /pol/, which stands for “politically incorrect”, summed up the difference between President Trump and former president Obama when it comes to their views of the military in the following tweet.
As Obama was focused on scaling back military funding and support, while at the same time injecting social justice into the service by having soldiers wear “pregnancy bellies” and high heels to better understand how women feel, President Trump is more concerned with the military’s capacity to wage war and providing for the needs of veterans.
