Some Veterans Planned to skip the Veterans Day Parade for Trump’s act to Politicize the Event
Reuters

President Donald Trump had participated in the parade for the New York Veterans Day celebration on Monday. Veterans Day is a holiday celebrated for the contribution of veteran soldiers to the country.

"Today we come together as one nation to salute the veterans of the United States Armed Forces, the greatest warriors to ever walk the face of the earth. Our veterans risked everything for us, now it is our duty to serve and protect them," said President Trump during his speech.

President Trump even dubbed the US veterans as "America's Greatest Living Heroes".

According to a statement on the website of the event, the parade is a "non-partisan, non-political event, and may not be used as a platform for any other purpose or political agenda".

Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York and former 2020 presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, sat in the front row while President Trump was giving his speech. He briefly recognized and thanked him.

As the president of the United States of America was giving his speech in Madison Square Park for the Veterans Day celebration, the voices of protesters can be heard saying words like "traitor and "lock him up".

Historically, the current presidents of the United States had always been invited to be part of the parade. According to the statement of Chairman Douglas McGowan of the United War Veterans Council, Trump is the first sitting US President to accept the invite.

"(Trump had) made a substantial donation in the mid-1990s to help the New York City Veterans Day Parade recover from years of neglect and rebuild into the institution it is today," said McGowan.

Despite saying that the veterans are "the greatest warriors to ever walk the face of the Earth", Trump's history or relationship with veterans is not in complete harmony. His frequent disparagement of the late Senator John McCain and calling him not a war hero had caused a great issue.

The veterans who attended the parade had expressed their criticism of Trump's attendance to the parade. Including those who are criticizing Trump is Paul Rieckhoff (Army veteran and founder and executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) planned to not attend the celebration.

"Veterans Day is usually about unity. It's not about politics. And right now, we have the most divisive president in my lifetime, so by showing up, he is politicizing it. Now some are protesting, some are coming out to support him. It's immediately made this entire event about him. He could very easily go to Arlington (National Cemetery), he could go somewhere else, we could avoid all of this controversy if he just went somewhere else," said Rieckhoff to CNN.

Rieckhoff said that President Donald Trump "reeks of politics".

Trump's speech during the Veterans Day celebration was about his recognition of veterans and the recent success of the current US military forces on the defeat and killing of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also included in his speech some parts of the history of the United States of America.