According to a prominent journalist at the New York Times, Donald Trump was absent from a ceremony commemorating fallen soldiers. The journalist alleged that Trump’s absence reflects his diminishing concern for public opinion.
The ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware paid tribute to four soldiers who died during a training exercise in Lithuania. US officials received their remains during a somber event called the dignified transfer.
Trump, however, was absent from the ceremony and instead spent a long weekend in Florida, attending an LIV golf event at his Doral Golf Club.
During an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, pointed out Trump’s decision not to attend the ceremony, suggesting that he no longer sees the importance of such events.
‘I think long ago he stopped caring about certain optics, and he’s made very clear during this presidency, he’s going to do what he wants,’ the 51-year-old journalist said.
‘You know, it’s not just playing golf,’ she added. ‘He went down to a Saudi-backed golf tournament that his family business does business with, to speak at some event related to that. So yes, all of the time.’
The 78-year-old president’s apparent indifference, Haberman claimed, exceeds far beyond the ceremony and applies to other major issues, including the criticism or backlash he received over his tariffs.
On Wednesday, Trump announced the enactment of new tariffs, leading to retaliation from China, plummeting markets and raised concerns about soaring prices on everyday essentials.
On Friday, the Standard and Poor’s 500, or simply the S&P 500, dropped a whopping six percent, marking its worst two-day plunge since the start of COVID in March of 2020.
‘He is not messaging this in a way that suggests that he understands what average people might be going through right now,’ Haberman said.
‘And part of what it is, is he’s convinced he is right, he is going to show people he is correct, he has believed in terrorists for 40 years, he wanted to do this last time and he was stymied by a bunch of advisors who were much more pro-free trade,’ she added.
‘Now he’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s doing it in a very different economy post-COVID.’
Other White House officials have echoed the same sentiment about Trump’s nonchalant attitude, with one source in his inner circle claiming he just doesn’t ‘give a f***’, The Washington Post reported.
‘He’s at the peak of just not giving a f*** anymore,’ a White House official told the outlet.
‘Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f***,’ he added. ‘He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.’
Trump left Washington on Thursday afternoon, beginning his familiar and oft-taken trip to Miami.
He was photographed stepping off Marine One at the ninth hole of his golf course before attending a dinner for the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf tour, which was hosting a tournament that weekend.
Trump spent the night at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and arrived at his golf club by 9:45 am on the morning of the ceremony honoring the four soldiers.
It seemed to be a hectic day for the president, as he stayed in Florida the entire day, preparing to host a $1 million-per-head fundraising dinner called ‘MAGA Inc.’ later that evening, CBS News reported.
The families of the four fallen soldiers were all in attendance to the ceremony.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, the 3rd Infantry Division commanding general, announced the identities of the four deceased soldiers in a press release earlier this week: Troy Knutson-Collins, 28, Jose Duenez Jr., 25, Edvin Franco, 25, and Dante Taitano, 21.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to Newsweek that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would ‘represent the Administration at the dignified transfer for the four brave US servicemembers’.
Additionally, a Trump aide told HuffPost Review that the president had purposefully avoided traveling to Dover for nearly two years, as he was ‘snubbed’ by the father of a slain Navy SEAL over his ‘incompetence’.
Bill Owens, the father of William Owens, refused to shake the president’s hand at the 2017 ceremony and instead told Trump that he was responsible for his son’s death.
‘He refused to go back for two years,’ the aide said. ‘He was so rattled.’
Jon Soltz, a chairman of progressive political group VoteVets and an Iraq War veteran, told the outlet during Trump’s first term that ‘you can count on one hand the number of times Donald Trump has been to Dover’.
‘There simply is no bottom when it comes to what he’ll lie about,’ he said. ‘I wish there was more outrage about Trump lying about the dignified transfer of the fallen for political reasons, because as a veteran, it really disgusts me.’
Many people have since taken to social media to criticize Trump’s decision, with several pointing out that golf appeared to take priority over honoring those who serve and sacrifice for America.
Zac Petkanas, former senior advisor to Hillary Clinton, took to X to express his disappointment.
‘Trump is refusing to go to Dover Air Force Base to meet the coffins of the four US soldiers who died in Lithuania,’ he wrote.
‘He’s attending a gold dinner reception instead. However, the Lithuanian president found time to meet our soldiers’ coffins at his airport.’
Tristan Snell, a lawyer and political commentator, also took to X to condemn the president, claiming that he ‘abandons fallen soldiers’ and ‘goes golfing instead’.
‘This evening Trump was supposed to meet the families of 4 fallen US soldiers as their coffins return from Lithuania where they were killed in an accident,’ he wrote.
‘He canceled. Instead he dined with Saudi golf execs and sponsors for a golf tournament at one of his resorts.’
Fred Wellman, an Army combat veteran and podcast host, wrote on Bluesky that the president ‘hates the military.’
‘We are just props,’ Wellman added.
Although presidents aren’t required to attend a dignified transfer -one of the most solemn traditions in US Military protocol – it offers a chance for the commander-in-chief to publicly honor fallen service members.
However, critics have noted that Trump rarely attends the events. According to the HuffPost report, the president only attended four out of 96 ceremonies during his first term.
The four US soldiers went missing on March 25 following a training exercise near Pabrade, Lithuania, sparking a widespread search conducted by the US Army and Lithuanian authorities.
Their armored vehicle was discovered the following day submerged 15 feet deep in a swamp. From there, it took several more days to recover their bodies.
Officials have not offered any details regarding how the soldiers or their vehicle went missing nor the manner of their reported deaths.
