The Brexit remark was completely out of place in this column. I am personally in favor of Britain staying but I don't think that they are somehow traitors to the ideals of World War II if they want to leave.
62
@PaulSFO 100 million war deaths from 1914-1945. A completely devastated Europe in 1945. The EU is an attempt to prevent this from happening again. Brexiteers must have missed the history lesson on the blitz
103
@Nana2roaw
the EU is a massive bureaucracy which has removed the sovereignty of its member states and replaced it with an agenda led mainly by Germany, aided by France. In the 1970s, the British people voted for an economic alliance with the other member states. They were never consulted on the additional social and legal policies which have gradually crept in. Brexit was a signal to the EU elite that we wanted our voices to be heard. I don't know why this is viewed by some as a bad thing.
13
@PaulSFO It's all of a piece with Trump's populist and isolationist views. Brexit is "Make Britain Great Again" by another name, as doomed to failure as Trump's attempts to MAGA. Both Britain and America were pretty great before Trump and Brexit, and both Britain and America have been diminished by Trump and Brexit. The Washington Post is entirely right to call out the links.
56
You apparently missed President Trump's D-Day commemoration speech. He said nothing about himself and praised World War II veterans as the "glory of our Republic."
108
@Charles - VeryGoodBrain was obviously reading (and poorly at that) a speech written by a paid wordsmith. The rest of his actions and his demeanor are well described by Mr. Cohen.
471
@Charles. Scripted words written for him by others. When left to his own devices he disparages John McCain, a true hero, and Gold Star families, and praises dictators and strongmen the likes of whom we fought against in WW II. There is a moral vacuity, a hollowness to the man that no amount of staging and scripting can disguise.
575
@Charles Two minutes of proper decorum does so very little about a man who refused to denounce white supremacists in Charlottesville. Two minutes of staying on script does not make up for while mouthing the mayor of London as his plane lands for a state visit. This article points to a boor of a man not worthy of the office.
469
A few years ago, a colleague and I brought a group of college students to the Normandy American Cemetery as part
of a course. Possibly the most moving and heartbreaking moment was seeing all those tombstones facing west toward home. I wonder how all those Americans who gave up their lives would feel knowing that fascism is on the rise again and now it is in America.
3501
@tomg
I've been there many times, it's quite a sight, immaculately tended graves stretching as far as the eye can see.
And yet, it contains less than 1/10,000th of the dead of World War 2.
77
@tomg
We can never let this hijacking of our government and the presidency happen ever again. It’s the least we can do for those brave men.
85
@tomg
This just made me cry.
76
I have to speak here. Our so-called President...talks the way one of my sons tried to do when he was about ten years old. Although I did not approve what his Catholic Nun teacher did when she slapped his face and sent him to the hall...I do believe the
Donald could use a little of that type of discipline. Pity it can’t be done because of his position. Very disgusting behavior for a 70 something man. And it’s not lack of intelligence, it’s lack of discipline and training...My father had a strange old Texas saying that fits here. “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” You can’t make a gentleman out of a spoiled brat either...
161
Simply....BRAVO.
79
Bravo, Mr. Cohen. Your column hit the bull's-eye.
91
In truth, you can make a sculture from rotten wood. It just wouldn't be something you'd be proud to own.
34
This author would be critical of Trump if he walked on water, he would say it’s because Trump can’t swim. Trumps speech on the beaches of Normandy was eloquent and was well received. Trump derangement symptom consumes this author.
24
And, 75 years later, on the beaches, where the sand will keep forever the blood of all those young heroes, America sent... Donald Trump!
59
It has seemed to me that God has gone out of His way to provide Donald with exactly the sort of speaking opportunities DT would have chosen for himself.
D-Day?
Give me a break!
Are You testing We The People to see just how ignorant and incompetent and worthy we are to be the Chosen Nation when it comes to being able to discern Good from Evil?
Are we THAT near the "Apocalypse"?
If so, just get it over and shoot me, Lord...
18
After I finished reading this I stood up and cheered. I am so ashamed of this horrible President. He strutted around England and the events in Normandy like a clueless peacock with the brain of a pea. His words were empty because he commands zero respect. He is a no good nobody and as you say so well Mr. Cohen, is a tin-pot dictator. He is a donkey if you know what I mean. He’s a joke except it’s not in the least bit funny. To see him showing off at D-Day made me sick, and incredibly sad because he has no credibility whatsoever. I am afraid that too many Americans are more interested in what he has to say about Ms. Midler than the D-Day commemorations. Will these Americans send him back to the W.H.? What have we become?! How far has he dragged us down? We have no one to laud and emulate. But first things first: I agree with Ms. Pelosi, let’s get him in an orange suit.
156
This opinion is, hands down, the best depiction of "whatsisname" tRUMP published to date!
64
I am not a Trump fan but the author suffers from Trump hysteria. He may have something to say but I cannot get past his hysteria. Come on man, I can't write to your level. I need you to write better.
14
Trump is the symptom, not the disease. Are we brave enough to ask ourselves why nearly half of the American population felt the need to elect a lying, misogynistic, egomaniacal conman and opportunist? It's easy to write off all his supporters as clueless, xenophobic country hicks, but the real truth is that people are turning to Trump out of pure and utter desperation. America hasn't been working for many people for quite some time, and Trump is the logical outgrowth of systemic decay.
53
What's "low level [campaign] volunteer" George Papadopoulos doing there--to the right of Bolton in the accompanying photo? Payback for trashing the "Russia probe" after his prison release? Are we taxpayers paying his travel expenses? Just wondering.
44
"America is much better than this" It certainly was on 6 June 1944 but apparently not on 6 June 2019 for otherwise Trump would not be POTUS! What a strange twist of history that such a disgusting person as Trump, a "bone spur" Vietnam War draft dodger represents the U.S. at the 75th D-Day Memorial Celebration! It is so embarrassing to be an American!
70
I am ashamed of Trump, ashamed of his voters, and ashamed of his enablers in Congress and elsewhere. And they should be ashamed of themselves.
90
It was hard to contemplate the moral collapse of the US and the sacrifices of D-Day in one head. When Trump said that Vietnam was not a good war, but he could have got onboard with WW2, I just thought, really? Wouldn't he have been the guy hanging with Lindburgh and the isolationists, saying the Nazis were good people too? He certainly would have liked the immigration policy of those days, which was right in the America First / MAGA zone. I tend to think he would have been a great admirer of the demagogue Father Coughlin. No, I don't think Trump would have wanted to go to war against the Nazis. Like many little boys, he just likes the pageantry of soldiers, matching music, and flags. And he liked the winning ... yeah a clear-cut win. But I don't think he would have been in the forefront of a Marshall Plan. He's the "kick 'em when they're down" type.
83
Hear, Hear.
8
During the war his family tried to pass themselves off as Swedes (Trump lies span generations).
Today he was likely thinking of the golf resort that could have been, or the Nazis he could have defended and befriended.
28
You go Roger! My feelings exactly. My father served in WW2, my grandfather in WW1, and they would be spinning in their graves to see this man-child, draft dodger, misogynist, pathological liar, narcissist, representing our country in this anniversary. I am ashamed. Courage and coward begin with a c, but have nothing in common.
55
Even when sticking to his boring predictable script, Trump is all Pomp, no Circumstance, a superb specimen of Primp, Pretense, Posturing. And Proud of it. Pathetic.
44
It is absolutely terrifying to me that people as unqualified and delusional as John Bolton and Stephen Miller (pictured behind Trump here) could even come close to the halls of power in our own country, yet alone represent us on the world stage at pivotal events like this with world leaders. They are ignorant cowards.
84
Thank you Angela Merkel for NOT wearing a ridiculous hat. Why do foreigners feel they mist wear them just because the “ royals” do? Please tell me they didn’t bow and curtsy as well. I know, trivial, but could get past the picture without commenting.
15
Cohen’s essay is stirring, but sadly America has the president it deserves. We are an arrogant crew, and we somehow elected and still tolerate this small man. I am hopeful that his election, a negative reaction to the positivity of Obama, highlights the filthy, racist, and small-minded underbelly of this nation so that it can be exposed and cleansed.
48
Why the remnants of the Republican Party validate him escapes me. He is the kid in school every third grader hated. A simpleton, a baby, a bully whose insecurities control his impulsive, embarrassing behavior.
46
Let’s cut to the chase - donald trump is nothing more than a vain, petty, self-centered, ignorant bully. And if it were not for Russian subversion he would not have been elected.
Most rational and thoughtful people throughout the world see him for what he is, and are sick and tired of him and the disgusting way he acts.
45
President Trump’s speech on Thursday honoring the brave Allied fighters who "stood in the fires of hell" on the 75th anniversary of D-Day drew unexpected acclaim from two of his biggest mainstream media critics: CNN’s Jim Acosta and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough.
“This is perhaps the most on-message moment of Donald Trump’s presidency today. We were all wondering if he would veer from his remarks, go off of his script but he stayed on script, stayed on message and, I think, rose to the moment,” Acosta said on CNN immediately following the speech. “It was really one of those moments that Donald Trump needed to rise to in order to, I think, walk away from the cemetery, walk away from this hallowed ground and have people back at home saying, ‘You know what, no matter what I think about the current president of the United States, he said the right thing at Normandy. He did the right thing at Normandy.’”
Acosta then said Trump “hit all of the right moments” when paying respect to the D-Day heroes.
Over on MSNBC, recurrent Trump critic Scarborough echoed Acosta’s thoughts.
“[Trump] delivered what, again, I believe is the strongest speech of his presidency,” Scarborough said, noting that it was a “beautiful moment” when Trump acknowledged that many of the troops feel the “heroes were the ones that never came back” but the survivors formed a remarkable generation.
4
Perfect.
5
"the coddler of autocrats"
The public admirer and the comforter off murderous torturing death camp imprisoning one-man-ruler-for-life dictators.
13
How repellent to see that serpentine and sinister Miller, behind dark glasses of course, standing side-by-side with warmongering Bolton at such a delicate and sensitive gathering? How low, low, low America has sunk .... in less than three years. Shame on us.
40
Mr. Cohen,
You hit the nail right on the head! Donald Trump is a disgrace to his office, and a
danger to democratic institutions here and abroad. I would call it sending a child
on a fool’s errand except that is an insult to any child.
CTT
21
Oh dear, Mr. Cohen's raging rant against the president is surely helping him win the next election. Up comes the bone-spur incident which, despite all claims to the contrary, has been validated more than once. Would Mr. Cohen have said the same thing if Bill Clinton had been making the speech? Bill C. only wrote his senator to beg him to get him out of the draft, because (I'm paraphrasing here) he had better things to do with his life than to waste two years of it in the military. Granted he wasn't subject to the draft, but how much time did Mr. Obama spend in the military? Or even George W. Bush (who at least was in the Reserves)? It's one thing to be against a president and write the reasons why. It's quite another to write a really disgusting diatribe against a sitting president (a visiting Martian reading it would surely conclude that Trump was worse than Stalin, Hitler and Mao-Tse-Tung rolled into one, yet he has still to commit his first murder!).
It is sad that Cohen writes this way, but it is sadder that the New York Times prints such columns, and downright tragic that we all know that the Times is his enabler, and that all such columns appearing in its pages reflect their own thinking.
10
Thank you.
5
thank you.
3
Gee Mr. Cohen!
You must have read my Comment last weekend to Maureen Dowd.
It makes a swell title for you today, eh?
It's in this comment:
"Mocamandan
Erie PA. June 1
So many words.
So much confusion.
The whole saga is like entering a Roundabout and not knowing how to Exit!
Sometimes, a fellow wayfarer points you the way. Dowd does it in this line:
"If you believe Trump committed a crime, even if you can’t indict him now, why not say so? Otherwise, what was the point of the investigation?"
And now...back to "crickets" for everyone but Trump.
He is off to Europe for D-Day...only because his staff told him the "D" is for "Donald".
May all our voters eject this imitation president so we can begin the repair on the infrastructure of our Ship of State."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D-Day
My birthday
Bobby Kennedy Died
The day, June 6th has always been sacred to me.
Until today...
I had to share it with
Dishonest Don. :/
3
Do you allow a European to say something here ? (my previous post was apparently not acceptable)
My father was a decorated resistance fighter and he for the rest of his life he was a strong supporter of America. To see today, among true European Leaders, this 'president' of yours and the creeps behind him (Bolton, Miller, Mnuchin, Mulvany etc..) is a disgrace. Your sons died on these beaches to fight the very same fascist types.
How low can you go as a nation.
44
Where's "Be Best" from Melania when you need it?
8
Let's compare....
Trump, a man (some would suggest otherwise) who was so upset because the picture of his inaugural crowd wasn't the millions he had imagined it was in his distorted reality. He couldn't accept that (it) was smaller than his predecessor and assumed it was not the real picture because HE was so great a man in his own mind, the crowd must be great as well.
To the 160,000 brave men...
Who stormed the beaches to fight the Nazi Germany! 5,000 ships, 13,000 aircraft, who supported this invasion and then unfortunately, 9,000 were killed or wounded.
Think about Trump vs the WW2 soldiers!
Trump has the spine of a jellyfish. His father got a doctor to lie about his bones purs to avoid being a soldier. He cares more about his interview with Fox News and the ability to put down Mueller and Pelosi than he does about the commemoration. He uses every opportunity to WHINE about himself and his political slights.
Trump is not a man. He's an immature spoiled brat who's worst nightmare is that President Obama is be more beloved than he is. That will never change.
Trump spends his days rewriting the truth of his presidency by lying and spinning his time in office into his imagined reality and then selling that version to his Base. :/
The world sees Trump for the charlatan that he truly is. He's not fooling the majority of us in the world and the person he fools the most is himself.
21
Trump’s childish temper tantrums- be it over NATO contributions and/or trade imbalance and his neo-Nazi stance has made America small and not great. Thanks to this contemptible narcissist, the Ugly American image has made a comeback.
15
Roger, this megalomaniac sociopath think "Everything" is about him.
Didn't you get the diagnosis?
6
Trump is an embarrassment beyond bearing. He has coarsened discourse and lowered the prestige of the office holds to the point it will be decades before our friends and enemies respect us again. I am going to tell Europeans I meet while traveling I am Canadian because I am ashamed that a racist, whining, shallow idiot is revered by half of Americans. What a cipher he is. A mirror of modern American " culture".
9
The Trump blimp as a big baby floating mindlessly above the London streets said it all about this megalomaniacal ignoramus who each new day endangers the United States more, along with his sycophantic, self-serving Republican Congress personnel.
14
Trump and his OC gang has embarrassed us before the world by attending the DDay ceremonies.
Trump and his ilk are flagrant grifters who know NOTHING of sacrifice.
All gave some, some gave all, Trump gave nothing.
18
This is just one more bitter & twisted journalist venting his hate for the President. Do writers like Roger Cohen simply not comprehend how pitiful these rants are? They know there are no standards a writer has to meet anymore, in this upside down, inside out world we are now living in where objectivity of any kind is viewed as a hindrance.
For these people the hate & resentment must be relentless, there must be no let up in the attacks & it must always be attacking of a kind that always attacks his character & his personal attributes.
Roger Cohen attacks Trump for verbally insulting London Mayor Sadiq Khan in response to Khan's out of the blue extremely personal attack on the Queen's guest....President Trump. Not a single word of criticism of Sadiq Khan though, by the writer of this article Roger Cohen, on the contrary, he praises Khan. That's some amazing objectivity from Roger Cohen, eh?
Cohen calls Trump a 'coddler of autocrats'.....really, was Obama accused of coddling up to the murderous Mullah's of Iran when he bent over backwards to accommodate them with the JCPOA?
Did Cohen accuse Obama of coddling up to Putin when he leaned over to whisper sweet nothings about 'more flexibility after the election'? Or by Obama's admin approving the licensing of a Russian company to mine for US uranium? I'm guessing not.
Cohen's small minded bitterness stems from seeing Trump look so statesmanlike & Melania looking the picture of sophistication & elegance in the UK & Europe.
6
The hypocritical amnesia of liberals is rancid. Back in the day, Viet Nam Vets were the slime of the earth. Elitists like Cohen, who never had to register for the draft, mocked and spit on VNVs. Draft dodging was a sign of high moral courage. Ali was a saint. "HELL NO WE WON'T GO!!!"...Burning your draft card, or your bra if you didn't qualify for a draft card, was the highest sign of contempt for the "War" and those who fought it...Nowadays, liberals look the other way when one of their own lacks the newfound bona fide of boots on the ground. Biden and Sanders? Not a whimper. De Niro? The Clintons? The list goes on and on.
3
Over the past two years, we have read countless op/ed pieces about this uneducated, immature, inarticulate, narcissistic, and most importantly, dangerous personality who "won" his office not as the choice of the American people but through the back door of the Russian cyber assault and the Electoral College. So it's rare finding original commentary in this matter. Yet in his op/ed, Cohen somehow pulled it all together. From beginning to end, his anger and frustration (like ours) are palpable, but as with any good writer, he rises above the din of emotion to articulate a message that resonates with truth and dignity. This is op/ed journalism at its best.
38
Dear Mr. Cohen,
A quick note of thanks for creating such a well written piece on the realities of all things Trump.
I believe we (Americans) have been hit over the head so consistently by Trumps bizarre, destructive, self aggrandizing, and narcissistic rhetoric that we’ve become numbed to the level of long term damage he’s caused to all things American.
It’s important to keep us, the citizens and voters, in a place of balanced reality.
This is not normal, this is not acceptable, this is not who we are.
Keep writing, keep us grounded and keep us sane!
26
To those who rue how American has fallen, let's not forget that the popular vote did not elect this charlatan president. I agree with Cohen that, on average, America is much better than this, and so it may continue. But this means the news media need to continue to report (however painful it is to read), protests need to continue to happen, and most important, people have to get out the vote. And those who see the vulgar mean spirit that guides this man's actions and fumbling words should do everything they can to help the blind see as well.
17
Before I get started let me say this. I will not be voting for Trump or any republican in 2020 or any other time.
Your article is very critical of him, and while I share most of your sentiments about him, I need more objectivity even in an editorial. I think that the New York Times and many of its readers are part of a George McGovern syndrome. Gee, I don't know why McGovern lost, everyone I know voted for him.
Let's look at this guy objectively because he still has millions delusional voters loyal to him. I want a realistic assessment of his chances next year, not criticism of which fork he uses.
4
He doesn't think it's about him. He knows it's about him.
9
Mr Cohen, all nations creates myths about themselves that don't bear close examination. The problem here is that the United States has a series of aspirational myths that set a high bar, but it is failing in the delivery of many if not most of those oft-repeated aspirations. It's that glaring gap that hurts. But it has done so for decades. For all the fine words spoken of late about the sacrifice of the 'greatest generation' on the beaches of Normandy it's worth recalling that Roosevelt was only able to persuade Congress to come to the UK's assistance, after the US was herself attacked by Japan. No active defence of democratic ideals apparent there. In doing so, and in marked contrast to other allied forces, the US government famously restricted active service roles to "whites", many of whom actively supported that policy. The irony of fighting the Nazis with a 'whites only' army was not lost on the Europeans present - on both sides. In short, for anyone familiar with US history - slavery, reconstruction, internment camps, healthcare, Chile, Vietnam and Iraq - it's clear the problem isn't simply Trump, nor even his supporters. There are deeply entrenched views in the US that are antithetical to her proudly proclaimed myths. These forces have been there there since the end of the civil war. I can offer no solutions, other than to suggest that sugar coating history doesn't help. Trump isn't abnormal for the US. He's just more visible.
18
I spent most of my diplomatic career standing up for and explaining NATO and our other alliances to foreign audiences. I was stationed at our embassy in Warsaw when the Soviet Union collapsed. I found most Poles to be the most pro-American people of any nation in which I served, including West Germany. Yet, here we are, nearly three decades after the Cold War ended and the European nations behind the Iron Curtain were able to establish democratic governments and join NATO. Our president derides our NATO allies while lauding the North Korean dictator that lets his people starve and puts to death any he doesn’t like. Here we are with a president that makes obsequious remarks in praise of Vladimir Putin who suppresses free media and dissident groups and individuals. Here we are with Senator McConnell doing the president’s bidding by holding up vital legislation in favor of a nationalist, nativist political ideology. Here we are with a clown of a president paying lip service in Normandy to the final sacrifices of thousands of American soldiers that carried the war to France and mainland Europe in defense of democratic freedom. One of my ancestors died in Amiens, two weeks after landing on Omaha Beach. I have seen his name engraved on a war memorial in Ohio where he grew up and gave his life for us. Where will the president’s name be engraved?
22
Thank you Mr Cohen for an excellent summary.
10
I am old enough to remember a time when Americans took pride in their country and their President. Perhaps, if we're lucky, those days will return.
Every time I think that surely Trump has hit his lowest, he again surprises us by dragging this nation even lower, reducing everything that was once honorable in this country to another cheap political ploy to appeal only to the bigoted Trump Christian Taliban. Jesus wept.
20
We do all understand that today, on June 6, the President of the United States of America stood pretty much on top of our honored dead, and attacked, among others, a Marine combat vet who fought in a war that Trump’s rich father bought him out of? Which he lies about to this day?
Graves. Normandy. Marine combat vet. Petty screaming.
Any of this ringing a bell?
15
He is not The Donald. He might be barely a Donald, more likely just a donald.
Do you call him The Donald because you think his ego needs a boost?
Dan Kravitz
3
Why do you beleive this?
"It was not to “fulfill any ambitions that America had for conquest.” No, it was “just to preserve freedom, systems of self-government in the world.”
2
It is an obscenity to have Donald Trump participate in the D-Day ceremony. The essence of D-Day was selfless sacrifice. When has anyone among the Trump grifters--starting with his father and down to his offsprings-- sacrificed anything for anyone other than themselves? Or even shown any indication they understand the concept? They represent greed and selfishness and dishonesty. It is an insult to the dead to have him there.
23
Imposter indeed.
And after this traipse on the very soul of what America is and has done—
I predict a rise in public outcry for his removal.
9
Thank you for a no-holds-barred look at this terrible man. I’m on the other side of the Atlantic and it’s plain to see that Trump is slowly dismantling some of America’s most cherished values (cherished not just by your citizens). It is happening so quickly and so effectively, thanks largely to the likes of Fox News and the simpering, cowardly, even mendacious, Republican Party that cares only for its own hold on government. Trump will bring the whole democratic “house” down and America’s noble post war place in the world will be diminished for generations. Wake up !
19
"In less than two and a half years Trump has stripped his office of dignity, authority and values."
This is the worst of the whole bad lot that Trump has done and caused. How long will it take our country to get back what he has trashed in so little time?
13
It is D-Day isn't it? Donald's Day.
4
Watching Trump during D-Day was like watching a wildebeest crash and befoul a performance of Romeo and Juliet. His very presence puts everyone on edge and distracts from a full appreciation of something perfect and sacred. It's nothing short of disgusting to see the ignorant narcissist who is bent on destroying the American system--what those young heroes died for--called upon to recognize their sacrifice because of the outdated vagaries of our electoral system. He cannot begin to understand the solemnity of the occasion, and yet, here we are.
19
I have read many of the insightful positive and negative Comments. I'll take a different focus.
Speaker Pelosi , Chairman Nadler, Member of Congress: Following on from yesterday's (June 5th) NYT superb Opinion 'The Articles of Impeachment Against Donald J. Trump: A Draft' by Mr. Ian Philbrick - this Opinion by Roger Cohen provides ample justification and willful proactive undermining many decades of USA's building solid and dynamic international institutions for a Fourth Article of Impeachment of Mr. Trump. Understandably, conduct selective open reviews to educate the USA and world populations. But, these two NYT Opinions provide the essentials for Articles of Impeachment of Pres. Trump.
9
"I made up for skipping of out of 'Nam by increasing the Pentagon's budget"
12
Trump is a mountebank, as are all his children. Their selfishness and self-promotion, garish clothing and grating remarks have no place at events remembering the young men who flung themselves at evil and were ripped apart on Omaha Beach this day 75 years ago. I find myself mourning for the values of my grandparents' generation: service, selflessness, true bravery and a will to try to heal Europe after World War II through the Marshall Plan.
16
I have nothing to add to your insightful piece, except that I believe you actually hit every nail directly on the head. Well done.
13
This kind of stuff is why we no longer hire Republicans here in Silicon Valley..
12
Is there an appropriate cleansing ceremony to rid these hallowed spaces of the pollution that the bone spur coward has spread by his words, actions, and very presence?
13
There is an additional irony in having Cadet Bonespurs invoking the valor of the GIs in Normandy. Only a few years before, a movement auto-denominated America First fought FDR tooth and nails in getting involved in WWII. It would be unfair to picture all of them as veiled Nazis - some of its leaders such as Charles Lindbergh certainly sympathized. Many were wary of their sacrifices in the first war which Europe in their eyes had squandered. But as their British contemporaries who in the millions hailed Neville Chamberlain as the savior after Munich, they were on the wrong side of history.
To this day, paleo-conservatives resent FDR's cunning maneuvers to lure the US public into WWII. It is to these dubious predecessors that The Very Stable Genius allured when he picked up the "America First" slogan. Should one be really thankful that he paid homage to the war heroes or should one be troubled by that degree of rank hypocrisy?
5
Some of the hyped up false outrage from the left is laughable. They loved Clinton, a draft Dodger with multiple cedible accusations of assault, yet they rage against Trump and his medical deferments and because he made a crude joke in private.
The author (full of vitriol and hate) claims NATO is the reason Europe is free. Yes, NATO helped but the reason Europe is free is because of the millions of U.S troops stationed there after 1945 providing force protection. 10,000,000 U.S soldiers (myself, my brother, and sister included) served in Germany alone between 1950 and 2000. The author most likely hasn't served or he would know before the fall of the wall we would provide show of force exercises on the border with 50,000 U.S soldiers along with a few hundred NATO countries.
8
Trump is incapable of giving a prewritten speech without verbal stumbling.
10
If trump stopped behaving in a reprehensible, embarrassing manor then people might stop calling it out and criticizing him. He keeps on behaving like an ignorant, petulant child. As Cohen states “In less than two and a half years Trump has stripped his office of dignity, authority and values.”
He should be removed from office. He is incapable of performing the job to an acceptable standard.
14
I'm disgusted before I even get past the photo caption: "President Trump [sic] and other world leaders..." Nope, not a world leader. A world destroyer, perhaps, but not now and not ever a leader.
13
This piece is pure hatred for the sake of it. But enough about tired anti-Trump opinion pieces, especially ones that compare him to people in very different situations in a very different world order.
America is not now and never has been a "European power." It is simply of European descent. In the 20th century alone, Europe gave us two world wars that came close to annihilating European civilization, and much of the rest of the world's, as well as Fascism and Communism. They're still playing dress-up and the etiquette pantomime with monarchies. How is this in any way American?
Mr. Cohen gets thrown on the growing pile of NYT opinionators I will not be reading from now on.
4
I have to give credit where it is due.
I give credit to Trump for letting us all have a true feel for what people of some/many banana republics live through, day in and day out. Many of them have leaders whom they despise, but probably none of them is as disgusting as this sorry example of a human being.
10
How truly tragic that Trump is doing everything he can to destroy our alliances but stands before the world giving a written speech honoring those who gave their lives fighting for our alliances. I will never forgive the republicans for supporting a coward, a traitor, and a grifter destroying our institutions. Tump is incapable of understanding the bravery and self-sacrifice these war heroes gave. They were heroes and leaders ... Trump is a coward and a man who praises dictators and sells out for a hotel to tyrants. Our war heroes deserve a country that has a moral leader with strong values and loves their country not bow down to people like Putin for a hotel.
12
Very well written.
America has certainly lost its way. I worry that, unless American voters send a strong message at the ballot box in 2020, the catastrophic damage the Trump maladministration and GOP have inflicted may be irreparable. I for one am close to giving up on a country that has chosen these repugnant, ignorant, selfish people as its leaders.
9
It says everything about how degraded & corrupt the Republican party is that Ronna McDaniel, the gasbag running the Republican National Committee, tweeted that the 75th anniversary celebrations honoring the sacrifice of D-Day should be about honoring #CadetBoneSpurs the five time draft dodging coward. Just a guess, but I'd say that the boys who got mowed down on Omaha Beach were not fans of German machine gun fire.
The world order Trump is doing his best to destroy & which has promoted peace & prosperity for 75 years was paid for by the blood of these heroes. To have this gutless coward at the center of this commemoration is an utter travesty.
11
My sense from this article is that you used extra big words to assure Trump wouldn't have a clue what it means.
9
I am not a supporter of President Trump. However, don't The Times's columnists see what a bunch of crashing bores they have become, with their incessant railings against the president? Earth to Times columnists: people don't care that you hate the president. I don't much like him myself, but I don't presume that a general audience is interested in my opinion.
Too much spittle is hitting my face. I'll have to add Mr. Cohen to the ever-lengthening list of Times columnists I no longer read.
Find something interesting to write about, please. Hatred is seldom interesting when it is also predictable.
6
Absolutely Brilliant.
6
Bravo, Roger. This is possibly your finest work, in a career of consistently informative, passionate and cogent columns.
You've said it all and said it so well.
My stomach has been turning for quite some time now, from the upcoming "4th Anniversary" of Trump's announcement when he bragged about himself incessantly and castigated Mexican "rapists" to the astonishingly bizarre and shameful spectacle of this predator, prevaricator and profiteer pontificating a weird mixture of idiotic drivel and scripted cliches in a place that he clearly doesn't fit, receiving honors and recognitions he does not deserve.
We cannot afford to minimize the impact of Trump and the culture and mentality he exemplifies. Columns like yours are inspiring examples of what we must fight back with.
You encapsulated the thoughts and emotions of so many of us. And motivated me to do more to effectively resist what is happening in our name. Thank you for this.
8
Mr. Trump has no business going anywhere near a D-Day commemoration. Trump is a demagogue and his ideals are fascist to the core. I am named for a great uncle who was seriously injured by German poison gas in WWII. He died young and is the only great uncle whom I never met.
9
Oh.....So REAL, So HONEST, the Loss of American Integrity & Morality!
Thank You for Naming the Signs & Specifics of the degradation of American politics.
The man & the Republican Party who supported & enables him is rotten wood!
And rotten wood needs to be discarded...to the waste dump.
Replaced with something Eisenhower, would support......
His ideals, speeches, values, thinking we’re what I was raised upon...What I came to believe in, because of the great sacrifices that were given to protect mine/our Democracy.
Certainly not to protect this Republican Party & this piece of rotten wood! !
This moral decay is worthy of revolutionary action.
5
These comments give me hope!
6
That's one heck of a look on his face - disdain? (specious) superiority? confusion? It's weird.
4
The videos of barricades along thoroughfares with no crowds cheering says it all.
7
Donald J. Trump used the backdrop of sacred hollow ground, with rows of white marble crosses that marked the final resting places for our fallen war dead from Operation Overload, to conduct an interview with Trump TV’s (Fox) Laura Ingraham prior to delivering his remarks as our president for the D-Day 75th anniversary remembrance ceremony. I initially gave him his do in delivery a fine speech, (which is a very low bar for this POTUS) but it turns out that the boy wonder had already got in his dally criticism for his enemies. (Pelosi and Mueller)
Due to the fact that you couldn’t set aside your pettiness for even one day in honor of our fallen heroes, Mr. President, you are a disgrace to the United States of America. Shame on you and Fox Television Network for your bad taste in using the Normandy cemetery as a prop!
10
Trump's new cap can be:
AMWH
A man without honor. He has ZERO clue what that means.
6
Too much hate on a day when we should all stand together.
4
And yet today, journalists are going out of their way to laud Trump's recent horrifyingly insincere and sugary speech. Even journalists who clearly despise him are ready to laud him at every turn. Don't they realize that the man who denounced fascism so prettily this morning is a fascist wanna-be himself? The cloak of authoritarianism is upon us, vigilance is required at all times.
6
I’m sorry to be disrespectful but I have been wondering if “America is better than this” (quote in this op ed). Or have you been hiding your ugly side and giving the world an illusion that you are a progressive nation? I see such moral bankruptcy and greed right now. Was this there all along hidden and now exposed with the house of mirrors called Trump? Please tell me I am wrong. Demonstrate your better angels in 2020.
9
On second thought, maybe it is about him.
A platform for him to make a fool of himself,
Again.
4
Remarks that he struggled to read like a child suffering with homework in a subject he doesn't understand. Painful to listen to the total lack of historical comprehension and emotion.
8
Exceptionally well stated. Our President is a self-absorbed grifter, nothing more, nothing less. VOTE!
5
The way I see it he hasn't yet given us riots in the streets, looting, burning and calling out the National Guard, but all of that is coming.
3
My father was a Marine on Iwo Jima and spent a year in hospital afterwards. He would not be able to stay in a room with the likes of Donald Trump. Those men didn't brag or divide the world into winners and losers. No, because they earned wisdom the hard way. Trump is a FOOL and shouldn't be leading a dog let alone a country.
8
I will quote your own words, "I don't think..." Your are absolutely correct.
Too funny
BTW :
it was Ronald Reagan that caused the USSR to collapse.
The failed mayor of London attacked Trump not the other way around
NATO should pay it’s fair share especially Germany
Great Britain is a sovereign nation. If it wants to leave the EU that’s their decision not the nyt
Trump has done more for veterans than last five presidents combined
Obama and Clinton and W did not serve either
Russia turned the tide against Germany in WW2 . It wasn’t DDay. Too late and too little.
3
Another N.Y. Times article castigating Donald J. Trump, as if he will read it and be overwhelmed by shame over his actions as President.
Donald Trump is a creature of his time, TThe more he is hated by his enemies, the more enjoyment over his power as President to act on any impulse that seizes him at the moment. He is not about to study history, political science, the roots of human and primate behavior or the vast complexity of scientific knowledge the world has amassed.
We all hate Hitler, yet he too was a creature of his time and place. John Maynard Keynes wrote about the catastrophic consequences of the Treaty of Paris in 1919, describing the malaise of the Germans for reparations that would make them vulnerable to one like der Fuhrer. He predicted that disaster of WWII, only off by a week
We are stuck in a two party system, both of which shun reality in their own ways. One example is that both accept our motto of "In God We Trust" which negates the monumental challenge of a world that is not under the loving care of an all powerful deity
Democrats will not defeat Trump, only a new reality party has any chance.
Probably in Normandy to scout out locations once he's fled US justice (post barr).
1
Not nearly enough is spoken or written about the impact of the political cancer Donald Trump represents on the world stage. Thank you, Mr. Cohen for writing this raw, unvarnished assessment of Trump. Several decades worth of goodwill with US allies is ignored, tested and trampled on, as the egocentric, thin-skinned, illegitimate President once again makes the most solemn and dignified occasions all about him. For incurious Donald, history is not about the past but about what he is doing right now. History books and scholars will undoubtedly be brutally unkind in their assessment of Donald Trump. In our digital world, there exists a wealth of damning tweets, audio and video recordings and unflattering personal documents and testimonies that should shock and disgust future generations for centuries. The train wreck that is Trump is another cautionary period in history, not unlike the rise of some of the world's most infamously deplorable despots, that must be told again and again to prevent it from ever happening again.
5
Too little, too late, New York Times.
To tell the unvarnished truth now helps us not. Where were you when he could have been stopped? The Times, like the rest of the "mainstream media" gave this vile beast a pass when it was most important, during his ascendancy to what was the most powerful position in the world (though its current status as such is arguable).
Which begs the question, "is this all you've got?"
Tell us how to rid ourselves of him. Lead the way.
You owe it to us.
3
The Dunning-Kruger effect is also known as the “too stupid to know they’re stupid” problem; it “concerns how low-ability subjects are often unable to recognize their own ineptitude”. - P. 51, “Post-Truth” by Lee McIntyre, MIT Press (2018).
“I am an extremely stable genius” - Donald Trump,
8
To those who say there was no one at the ceremonies to speak for America, you are wrong.
.
The person who spoke for America, and, indeed, for all of western democracy, lived through those times.
.
She served her country, and was proud of it, and said so.
.
She is the enduring symbol of stability, reliability, and steady determination.
.
She knew Churchill.
He was a frequent visitor when she was a teenager.
.
She knew Eisenhower
And was his honoured guest.
.
She left no doubt, whatsoever, of the importance of fighting and winning that struggle - for all of us.
.
She left no doubt, whatsoever, of her regard for the United States, and for importance of the post-war multi-lateral institutions that maintained the peace, and form the foundation of our prosperity.
.
She gave a special first edition copy of Winston Churchill's history of The Second World War as a gift, so that a foreign visitor might benefit.
.
She still serves her country.
There is no doubt that she will do her duty as long as she draws breath. She is, indeed, "resilient".
.
She is 93 years old.
She wore bright pink.
12
I wish I had the eloquence of Roger Cohen. His words in this article have expressed the thoughts that I continually build upon since Trump's inconceivable ascent to the presidency.
Well said Mr. Cohen.
26
Germany was apparently dissipated in their strategic attacks against Russia which is considered very important for the ultimate Axis defeat. I did not watch the ceremonies, and so wondering if the speeches also duly credited the Russian people. If not for their heroic resistance, do historians think the Allies
would have won? I was coincidentally born
at time when von Stauffenberg attempted rebellion, 20 July.
4
Is it possible that he might actually read some of the comments, that whatever it is that makes him so impervious to empathy might take flight, and expose some smidgen of decency in his soul; even I, an agnostic, believes that within every one of us there is some innate need to reach out a helping hand, especially to the less fortunate.
I read the comments, so many of them, and one would have to be a truly terrible person to not be moved to tears by the reports from those who lost loved ones, loved ones who selflessly went off to face an awful evil, knowing that death was waiting for them.
Something must be terribly wrong with a great many of us, because over two years on, we still tolerate this living breathing abomination which wanders the planet professing to represent us.
2020, Election Day, is 17 months from now, which is far too much time for him to remain our President and continue to wreak havoc; surely there are a few decent souls left in our government who can put together the wrongdoing he has engaged in, and use it to successfully impeach him.
14
@Mel Farrell
No, it is not possible he will read any of the comments.
7
Terrific piece, Mr. Cohen. But I take issue with the line that has been trotted out for two years now: "America is better than this." Oh yeah, really? A country drowning in the blood of gun violence victims. A country where police shoot first and ask questions later. A country which watches desperate refugees treated like dirt and blackmails the country they're traveling through. A country which strips away a citizen's right to vote and a woman's right to control her body. I could go on. Stop this thinking that America is "better" than the way it treats human beings.
32
Mark
We hope that America is better then this. I see so many examples of “better” and I hope they are the rule that will defeat the exceptions
9
That's trump's America. Not mine. Don't forget, the majority of us didn't vote for the man-boy. We've never had to deal with such a creature. We have had to deal with the republican party tho, and in truth they don't obey any rules either.
We're learning how deal with these immorals, and it's a slow learning curve, but I do believe it's curving upward.
7
You realize everything you’re addressing is a direct result of the GOP and their shameful tacit acceptance of Trump and big lobbies, as well as their systematic and relentless gutting of the American core ideals and values, right? They’re far more afraid of getting voted out of office than doing the right thing. This is solidly on them, not the majority of Americans who disagree with (and are repulsed by) them.
6
My great-uncle, who was close, fought at D-Day. A couple of weeks later he stepped on a landmine in the French countryside and blew off part of his leg. He spent days lying there before he was found, sure he would die. He never talked about the invasion. Reading this column made me wonder what he would have thought of Trump as president if he was alive today. I think he probably would have voted for him, but I don't think he would have liked him.
4
I did think America was “better than this “ before Trump got elected and Americans in their tens of millions voted him in.
The incredibly brave men and women, many thousands of Americans among them , who gave their lives to save Europe from fascism and who now lie in their graves in the June sunshine are heroes for all time and we in Europe owe them everything but don’t let anyone dare compare modern day Americans to those fallen heroes.They don’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath.
I thank the heroes of WW 2 and will continue to do so each DDay because to me that was absolutely the last great American generation and they’ll never be forgotten.
17
In reading Mr. Cohen's piece and these comments, I am at least encouraged to remember that this miserable presidency will end, and will be taught to future Americans as something to be guarding against. Nancy Pelosi has it right: "He's just not worth it." Vote in 2020 as if democracy depends on it. It does.
19
You missed the Trump family’s most favourite of all superlative: amazing. Everything’s amazing. Amazing.
6
The real problem is half of America like and support him . It is extremely disturbing. I feel America is totally lost.
16
Of course he thinks it is about him. Isn't everything about him? Doesn't the D stand for Donald?
5
I am a German with the priviledge of an American mother. When Trump attacked the judges and the press, I thought he was tearing up the reasons your men died for at D-Day. We Germans owe them so much. Americans freed the prisoners, abolished torture, helped to rebuild democracy, treated their POWs according to the Geneva convention, which was your best propaganda.
So far for those heroes. Now another:
My American uncle wanted to become a pilot. For someone with little money the army was the best option to do so. He passed the tests, was an excellent trainee - but towards the end of his training he advised my aunt what to do in case he would be court marshalled. He had been shown movies about actions he was expected to do and as a Cristian, he would not follow those orders. (At that time the war in Corea was going on, maybe he did not like to throw bombs on rice peasants).
In the end he was spared the decision. It was one of the last training flights his plane gave him trouble (in fact, it should have never left the ground). Flying in formation he radioed twice for the permission to turn round, which he was denied. The third time he did not wait for an answer, he turned back but it was too late. On a field in Texas burned the only son and brother. Me and my siblings never got to know him, but the pain is inherited. We keep the flag, that covered his coffin.
But what does this flag stand for?
And Trump? Is he an alien? Or a perverted answer to unsolved problems?
6
A word used in 3 out of every 4 comments that are critical of Trump is ‘sycophants’. Common uses usually follow a common construct such as ‘Trump and his sycophants’. It is not meant to be a compliment. As a Trump supporter, I take it personally.
I began to wonder to myself, “what is the opposite of a sycophant?” So I looked it up on that google thing and was delighted by the result. According to my search results, people calling me a sycophant are best described as “underachievers”. It fits perfectly. Underachievers!
So, now every time I hear that word from the mouth of Pelosi or Warren or those 18 other no names, I can sit back and nod - another underachiever.
3
Wow, Mr. Cohen, what a well-written article!
As a New Yorker, I'm with you 100%.
Donald want to isolate. So does the UK. Bad idea. Together, we are strong.
6
Dear Mr. Cohen, Thank you for a well written article and I agree with everything you said. It is so very sad and yes scary. I can no longer listen to the news, even NPR disturbs me. It is only about this man, the unmentionable, everything good seems to go out the window and I worry so very much for the future of our children and grand children. I really hope the 2020 elections will have a positive outcome for our democracy or we will lose it all...
16
"America is much better than this, much better than an American president who, as the cartoonist Dave Granlund suggested, probably thinks the D in D-Day stands for Donald..."
Narcissism is very close to solipsism, the notion that the world only exists as a projection of your own mind. As a philosophical concept that is likely well beyond Trump's grasp. But as a working principle it describes his behavior. For Trump things are only real to the extent they manifest some relationship to his ego.
13
Very nice column, thank you. This D-day commemoration is stark contrast to "America First" and a president who governs by conflict.
20
@Jane How is D-Day a stark contrast to an 'America First' policy? Have you been misled into thinking other nation states don't have governments who put their own country & their own citizens first, that they don't put the interests of their own nation before the interests of foreign countries?
Do you think Macron doesn't put the interests of France & the French people before the interests of other countries?
Trump doesn't govern by conflict, it's just that Democrats & liberals create a conflict of almost all of Trump's policies.
They created bad feelings & deep resentment & big conflict with their relentless allegations & accusations by fabricating a hoax over Russian/Trump collusion to undermine 2016 election. Don't blame Trump, none of that was his fault, he told everybody it was a Democrat fantasy & so it proved to be.
5
On this day of remembrance,I wore the peace symbol button that I have owned for years. It was interesting to hear the comments about the button. The young people didn’t have an idea what it was...had some veterans give me a smirk or a thumbs up...it just made me long for something that seems that we will never achieve with the current administration just longing for more conflict.
It would be such a welcome feeling that the sacrifices of all who perished would not be in vain.
9
Oh, would that we would be granted one world leader as great as Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or Dwight Eisenhower once more. What was in their upbringing or character that we have lost?
19
Nothing.
Obama wasn’t quite at that peak, but he’s certainly up there close. And hate to say it, but cinsidering how the fall of the Soviet Union was handled, Reagan wasn’t all that far behind.
6
@Robert: I think it would have been better if Ike had run as a Democrat in 1952. There might be less military industrial complex in the US psyche.
10
@EB
They had all gone through the Great Depression. My parents did too. It was a tough generation, tested and community oriented. I remember my Grandfather's ranch where he established businesses where it met the 99Hwy. He built homes for his daughters on another part, with stables for my Dad's two horses. He built a large home for my grandmother. He also filled old pickups from the Dust Bowl for free, and gave the people bags of groceries. My grandmother fed 'hobos' on the back porch; my cousin and I looked for them on local roads so we could bring them home. I remember my grandmother set up a Thanksgiving table on a covered side porch with china, silverware and napkins. We were too young to know anything about the Great Depression; however, we did know about poor people on the roads. The lessons learned then have stayed with me all my life.
11
Roger, I guess it's OK to recite the long list of valid anti-Trump tropes; most of them are reaffirmed by him every day.
But, be careful,
Today, the 75th D-Day anniversary, DJT delivered a well-written commemorative speech with all the skill of a practiced TV performer. If you didn't know it was him, you'd think it was a fine speech by a US President.
The lesson - when he wants to sound acceptably normal, Trump can pull it off. If he does this enough, he may achieve re-election. As 2016 showed, he doesn't need too many votes added to his 40%+ base to win.
15
@minimum: I hope you recall how Trump ridiculed Obama for reading teleprompters. I find Trump's delivery utterly robotic, imparting no feeling at all.
9
Trump’s state banquet at Buckingham Palace was held June 3 2019. The Queen of Britain and the President of the United States listed their countries, and "other Allied countries" involved in the Invasion of Normandy on D-Day 6 June 1944. The list of countries involved in this assault is not very long so I must finish the the list for the two monarchs. Canada invaded Juno Beach with The 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade and The 3rd Canadian Division. Also left off the list, the Belgian, Dutch, French, Norwegian, Polish, Czechoslovakian, Greek, Australian and New Zealand Forces. Our thoughts are with all the young people and soldiers who bravely fought so we could be free. These young men and women should have been part of the list. It is my opinion the Queen purposely did not mention these counties by name. She was afraid of trumps reaction to the "facts".
16
@DTMak
Looks like some other Torontoans might soon be victorious: the Raptors.
I loved the President’s speech today. The best On-site D Day Presidential performance since Reagan at Pointe du Hoc. Trump represented our Country well and his words were appropriate and moving.
13
@William
The words rang hollow because Trump lacks conviction. In order to deliver a speech one needs to grasp what it means and display heartfelt emotion. Coming from Trump they were nothing more than meaningless words.
22
his delivery left a lot to be desired. nah, Obama and George W. Bush were more effective under similar circumstances. The FOX interview afterwards destroyed any good he might have done today.
16
Trump always lacks conviction when he has to read someone else's words. He was the same way in his speech in front of the queen. You can tell he hates it. He just wants to rant and insult people or he's bored.
5
Can you imagine what Eisenhower would say about trump? That is how low we have sunk.
30
Couldn't watch it live - thank God. Watching trump speak (at all, but particularly him live on the world stage) is like watching your 4-year-old in their first pre-school pageant.
You can't relax until all is done, without the kid going blank, using "bad words," or eliminating onstage.
So trump used a good speech writer and did not suffer any of the mishaps mentioned above. (That we KNOW of.) And even his most severe critics - I'm lookin' at you Joe and MIka - praise his oratory like he's Winston Churchill.
12
@Anonymous 2 Do 4 yr olds know when a capital letter should & shouldn't be used in their writing?
3
Many readers have already lauded Mr Cohen's eloquent Opinion Piece, so I will just add that his "You can’t make a sculpture from rotten wood" is formidably apt.
This expression will stay with me forever.
39
I chose to honor on my own, away from the crass, phony, narcissist reading a few prepared words. Watching this disgusting example of a leader and representative of our country is not good for my health. I am sure the sycophants feel the opposite. Hearing prepared echoes from a snake oil salesman makes the phony medicine seem so effective.
32
Thank you, Ron. I'm still incredulous that our system of democracy could be so flawed as to allow this type of megalomaniacal con man to take control of the most powerful elected office on the planet.
We have to do better. Eliminating the Electoral College is the first step, bringing us that much closer to true democracy.
9
@Ron Cumiford Be grateful this president is, at least, proud of his country & of Western civilisation & isn't too scared to say so when he speaks. A vast improvement on the previous incumbent who when speaking on foreign trips made it perfectly clear he wanted to apologise for his country's past. When Trump says the UK is America's best friend & ally he means it, whereas Obama clearly didn't feel any particular fondness for the UK or any of our Western allies for that matter.
1
@Steve How depressing. Only those people who don't have a comprehensive grasp of all the election systems would think a straight popular vote count means 'true democracy'.
There's a reason why far wiser men than you or I devised the EC. Do you seriously think the Founding Father's overlooked a simple PV method of electing POTUS, or maybe they just didn't want 'true democracy' as you put it.
The FF understood perfectly well that a simple PV could be anything but democratic.
No President, Prime Minister, Chancellor, or Taoiseach, in any developed country is elected by a popular vote. Great Britain, who gave Parliamentary democracy to the world, uses a voting system even further away from a popular vote system than the American EC system is.
I suspect your complaints stem from the fact the tried & trusted American way of electing their leaders didn't give you the result you wanted. Tough, that's life, it's called 'democracy', you win some you lose some & everybody accepts it (or at least they're supposed to).
3
I am sitting here feeling such emotions reading these comments. These young men knew that many of them were going to die. They risked everything to give us something better than what the world had seen. I will not critique Donald Trump's speaches as the bar is so low. He is an imposter, a pretender, a provoker a very dangerous one and I am tired of people giving him credit for something that is common decency.
These boys sacrificed their lives, may we never minimize that sacrifice. They gave everything.
29
@Joanne N.H. Forgive me Joanne, but the mere sending of this President to commemorate the Omaha Landing is of itself a minimizing of the great sacrifice and patriotism of all those brave men.
5
@Joanne
The moment when Macron turned to them and thanked them from his nation, France, brought me to tears. Then he pinned a Legion of Honor on each of them. They are now so old and so frail. It was an honor to see them, and to remember what they did at Normandy when they were young and probably afraid. They had to run past their fallen friends mowed down by German bullets. And then the heroes of Pont du Hoc who took that German machine gun nest out, climbing up ropes, past their dead, moving up until they reached the German gun. A German General later said when he saw 7,000 ships coming in, he knew the war had ended, not before St. Lo et al. were taken. Not before The Netherlands were freed. Not before Patton reached Berlin.
3
Trump gave the British a preview of what it will be like if they elect Boris Johnson. (Although Boris is not as awful as Trump.) Most of the Brits will also cringe when their leader makes speeches, especially to an international audience.
17
It isn't just Trump, it is his supporters and the party he represents, they all now seem to think that everything is about Trump. On Fox Business News the woman who is the head of the RNC said "this is the anniversary of D day, this is the time when we should be celebrating our president"....if GOP voters had one shred of decency left, they would be screaming that this woman be fired. We don't celebrate D Day, we remember it, for the brave men who sacrificed themselves trying to take that beach, who selflessly basic went on what was likely a mission they wouldn't return from.
It is especially galling to have someone tell us to celebrate a president who refused to serve but did so for selfish reasons, and didn't even have the courage to state convictions in doing so, it was because he was afraid to go, he was too busy having a good time, not because he thought the war was wrong (Trump through the years has said that the Vietnam war was just and that people who refused to serve were traitors.....). Trump has never sacrificed anything to do something for his fellow Americans, even today while his policies are hurting people, while he likely will end up causing ordinary Americans real pain, he and his family are doing just fine, being President for him was no sacrifice either, it was a 'branding move'.
27
@music observer: It is sadomasochistic narcissism. These people are devoid of introspective capacity. They can only project.
1
Good, insightful article. A bit American-centric but that is fair enough given the day, the author, and the publication.
I disagree with the sole American focus on Europe being free today because of the US alone, per paragraph 3. It does a grave disservice to the Allied contribution and casualties in WW1 who did just as much to blunt German/Prussian aggression. While WW1 did not complete the job, given the exhaustion of the Allies after 4 brutal years of conflict, its Allied casualties kept Germany from its goal of European conquest.
It is important to remember that, in many ways, 1918-1939 was only a hiatus from the unfinished business of WW1.
Yes, D-Day is important. But, in the bigger picture, it is only a small part of the 10 years of brutal conflict from 1914 required to crush German aggression (of which Russia played a significant role), and rebuild Europe in a pro-American image. Even though many of those who landed on those beaches were not American.
As an aside, while most commentators are focused on Trump, look behind him and you see the even more despicable person of John Bolton. To have him at the remembrance, given his even more destructive beliefs, was an even greater travesty than Trump himself.
I would love to know if Bolton spent the whole ceremony thinking about what a D-Day in Iran would look like... and if he will get to be in the front row for the remembrance coming from such an event.
18
@Face Facts: WW II in the Pacific was a race war.
So way was Trump even invited to the party? As long as everyone around him, let him sit at the table dispute his vile behavior, they are enabling his behavior.
11
@ad
he is POTUS
1
Who wrote this speech? It sounds like a commercial for hand soap.
This President has no concept of what the experience of D-Day was for everyone who lived & died through it. There is simply nothing he could say without it being a revelation of his own lack of empathy.
A simple thank you for what they did would have been far better.
18
I wanted to know the same thing. It didn't sound like a Stephen Miller production.
4
The really embarrassing thing about this DDay commeration is it has presented the antiTrumpites a new platform to vent their spleens about his presidency. They are even prepared to usurp the heroism and sacrifice of the soldiers sailors and airforce personnel by making it about Trump and his supposed unworthiness even to the point of enlisting the dead in their diatribes against him. He’ll ride this into his second term.
3
Nobody is enlisting the dead in “anti-Trump diatribes.” Apart from a well written speech (not written by him), this entire trip has been excruciatingly embarrassing. The honored dead have nothing to do with this repulsive circus.
1
The Left is going to slam our President no matter what he does.
All they can do is focus on their hatred of Trump...and nothing else.
Which is why they will lose in 2020.
9
No. His words (apart from a well written speech) do all the work for us. This abysmally incompetent, illiterate vulgarian is going down all by himself.
6
The right focused largely on their hatred of Obama and Obamacare for 8 years. That seemed to work out pretty well for y’all.
3
You're confusing love of country with bashing Trump. Trump has no country to love.
1
Trump expects North Korea to denuclearize without a peace treaty. How crazy is that?
7
To all the critics of the Royal Family, they have served and with honor in their military roles. This includes the women as well. It's a shame to see a leader who actively avoided military service standing alongside figureheads who took part and take part in their duties.
12
When I heard our lame president read the immortal words of FDR after the Normandy invasion at the Portsmouth UK ceremonies I was so revolted by his imposture that I had to turn off the TV. I fear that our country has taken the low road to greed and America for the good ole boys who care only about their extravagant lifestyles and damn the rest of those losers. If this is what pride in America has come to then I fought in vain during the Korean War.
Good folks must reject Trump the impostor and start back on the high road to democracy and respect for all human life and the lofty ideals of our constitution.
22
@MeadowFields: The war never ends, lest the dead shall have died in vain, in martinet minds like that of Trump.
Simply, thank you for your comment.
Semper Fi
This opinion piece appears to have been written several days before the anniversary, using the writer's preconceived notions, prejudices and dislike of the President in place of those pesky facts. The President gave a moving speech at the St. Laurent cemetery, honoring those who served and those who died. The President also commemorated survivors of the invasion and WWII who were still with us. It was a focused and impactful speech, delivered with all appropriate solemnity.
Mr. Cohen states that to understand the word “imposter” one should look at the President. In fact, one only need read this piece of preconceived opinion, lacking in anything more than the surface of facts about the existence of NATO and the EU, to understand the word “imposter.” This piece demonstrates his lack of understanding of Europe and the relationship between the US and the EU as a whole and it’s member states. Instead it glosses over the many real problems faced by the EU and the countries which comprise the union. Perhaps Mr. Cohen has never been to Europe, or if he were there, he failed to see and understand the problems created by the EU and other multinational organizations.
12
@David, Cohen is a Brit, so naturally he will look to undermine Trump. For decades, Britain and other European allies have been getting a free ride through their alliance with the most powerful nation on earth. That free ride got endangered by Trump, so the hit pieces from the likes of Cohen.
10
It doesn’t matter when this article was written, the President’s reputation precedes him. He has no understanding of history, of duty or of honor. Everything is about him, and he is about nothing.
26
@Andrew Danston Andrew, it is a shame you cannot see the other side of the coin.
That side is American military support created demand for its products from Disney, to Nike, to military hardware in a first world market with increasing discretionary spending power. What if the Europeans fully funded their own defense, built their own defense industries to compete with those of the US, and other associated industries? Do you think for one minute your economy would not have been negatively affected by that?
In many ways, it is the US that has been getting a free ride on the goodwill of the Europeans for the last 70 years, as it did with its actions after 9/11.
Only thinking about yourself, Andrew, is why the US is increasingly seen as the greedy, self-serving country it has become as evidenced by many of the American based comments below.
Please try to look at both sides of the economic and political equation next time.
8
• As Eisenhower, speaking at the Normandy American Cemetery, last resting place of 9,387 Americans, told Walter Cronkite for the 20th anniversary of the D-Day landings: “These people gave us a chance, and they bought time for us, so that we can do better than we have before.”
Even as Fascism raises it's ugly head yet again from the ashes of WWII, a modern day Phoenix at the dawn of the 21st century in Europe, South America, Britain, Asia, even in my haven of Canada, led by Donald Trump and the amnesiac,manifestly regressive, historically obtuse U.S.A.
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
~ MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
History indeed repeats itself!
14
In regard to Trump’s lack of time in the military, I’m trying to remember how many more years Obama served than Trump. Can anyone out there assist with this?
10
He is about 20-25 year younger and there was no draft in place.
28
@Chuck
Obama being born in 1961 he would have been too young for the Vietnam War which ended in 1973. Trump by avoiding the military service by a "bone spur" and five college deferments had in effect require another American to take his place and be in harm's way in the Vietnam War.
23
@Richard
there have been other conflicts since then.
1
FOX entertainment may agree with you. Their coverage of the 75th anniversary of D-Day featured a rehash of Ronald Reagan's D-DAY speech.
Maybe even FOX knew that Trump standing on those who gave their lives for all humanity is too vulgar and sickening for even their loyal fans.
14
Today, Trump cracked-wise about the Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, second in line to the presidency, to a Fox News "journalist" in an American cemetery on foreign soil. On the ground of dead heroes who attempted to liberate a continent from evil. This disgraceful act is beyond words.
The very fact that impeachment and trial by Senate is a political process must exclude it as a remedy for Trump's illegal acts. Somebody please indict the guy and let someone else try to prove that he's immune from prosecution. There are thousands of local DA's who can bring charges. Get 'er done!
14
What about that vice president? Isn't the vice president 2nd in line?
@Mike B
NY State can do it as soon as he is out office. Patience. Obviously, the ignorant President does not remember "Politics ends at the waters' edge". He also insulted London's Mayor who might be short; however, he is not a bloated pig with a huge rear end.
4
the hatred and vile toward Trump is certainly well steeped in this paper but what does it accomplish. Very self indulgent and I think most of the politician's who follow a similar tale of making promises and then acquiese into conformity and echo chamber speech. You are an echo chamber and I am no fan of Trump but the constant bashing is very tired. Try a new topic and offer some solutions.
7
How else do you want the Donald to think? I am certain he believes the D in D-day stands for DONALD!
4
Honoured to have met and talked with many veterans of the Greatest Generation who in my opinion were amazing folks who faced a challenge like none of us ever will God willing and responded by giving their all . Their blood and sweat and tears as they fought to liberate the citizens of Europe and Africa and Asia from the armies that terrorised them.
What the boys did on D-Day should never be forgotten - and every effort made that Europe does not descend into that madness again. It seems that is what is a natural course for those nations - to descend into chaos and bloodshed unless they are blocked by a strong external factor ( such as the USA from 1949 till 2016 - they had 67 years of relative peace and now are down the path of stupidity again ) .
3
Stop making everything about Trump all the time. He feeds on what you're throwing at him. Please.
6
At least The Donald hasn't told us that he scaled the cliffs barehanded to lead the attack.
4
The modern GOP was born at the 1964 GOP convention in San Francisco which became a response to the Civil Rights Act and became THE RESPONSE to America's vision of all men created equal. It was the 20th anniversary of D Day and George Orwell's response of some are more equal than others became the motto of too much of America.
Trump is only a bed sore, he is the infected carbuncle on America's posterior from an America refusing to get up and get back to work on making the world a better place.
In 1964 Buckley was still the Franco Fascist his father was, Reagan was still America's most successful snake oil salesman, and Nixon was still getting over losing the California Governor's election because he knew the John Birch Society was angered by his refusal to join them in their mission to make America about those who looked, prayed and believed like real Americans.
Trump is the ghost of Christmas Present to see him as anything more or less is to deny what American leadership has done for 65 years. Nothing screams America like Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. However it is worth considering that it is also America that created today's Mexico which if it upholds its promise of truth and justice and its promise to battle corruption will make Mexico the next leader of the Americas.
5
At times like this, I think with love and remembrance of the sacrifice of my dear Dad - an enlisted soldier in the US Army Air Forces, 15th Air Force. I say this not because Dad was atypical or special in his valent service - but because Dad was so humbly typical in his WWII service. Dad's uncles and cousins at the time thought he was a war hero because he flew 36 B-17 bombing missions in the European strategic bombing campaign against Nazi oil fields, ball bearing plants and rail yards, after finally being shot down, almost perishing, and escaping through no man's land - By his own eyes Dad never thought himself a hero - He would only say that he did nothing more than what needed to be done- Indeed he was so modest about his war time efforts that he almost never spoke of them - Modesty, Humility, Courage, Honor, and Grace under Pressure- Truly special indeed - but so evident and so, typical of the many tens of thousands whose sacrifice purchased our freedom. Are you caring to listen, President Trump. Actions and attitude speak so much louder than words. If only you tried to nurture these traits, maybe then you could understand what real leadership involves,
9
Trump's critics think this is all about themselves. Their pettiness and self-absorption is vulgar.
8
@AACNY
The non- Orwellian statement is: "Trump's adoring uninformed fans think this is all about themselves. Their pettiness and self-absorption is vulgar (Trump leads the pack in that regard) and self-destructive".
8
My mother's father worked on the home front, teaching navigators how to use bubble sextants and make sight reductions to calculate their positions. There was nothing like GPS then.
1
A draft dodger pretending to understand what the sacrifices of WWII were all about. And trying to score political points during these solemn events. The height of chutzpah.
13
Roger Cohen ... you are right on the mark in this opinion column. I would laugh, but the reality sobers me.
11
“In less than two and a half years Trump has stripped his office of dignity, authority and values.”
I’m a veteran, my wife is a veteran, and my brother-in-law is veteran Green Beret. Cadet Bone Spurs is the first President who hasn’t served either in the military or public office. To have his level of ignorance and ego, at the helm, is dangerous and damaging.
“Trump doesn’t like being President. What he likes is winning the Presidency.”
— Howard Stern
9
I am a Navy veteran of the Vietnam war ('65-'69) and a retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-21010). I visited the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, home of my maternal grandparents, in 2012.( My grandfather served in the French Army during World War I.)
For me, the only thing worse than Trump's participation in the ceremonies at in Normandy is the the more than cringe- worthy sight during the 2016 campaign when veterans stood behind, the disgrace of a human being, and disgrace to all veterans, Donald Trump as he spoke.
It is my considered opinion, based upon numerous interactions with these individuals, most of whom, if not all of them, are members of the VFW or the American Legion have forfeited the right to call themselves a veteran.
And lest you think that I judge these individuals too harshly, then I suggest that you visit Colleville-sur-Mer like I did; listen to the voices of the 9387 souls interred.there; and then judge my comment with some perspective.
9
Donald J. Trump, his Administration, the Republican Party, and his supporters are an insult to those veterans of D Day.
If it were just one person, even a president, our nation would get past it. But, an entire administration, an entire political party, and a too large percentage of our citizens have been infected by the disease that Trump represents.
I fear that we’re past the tipping point...the moral rot in this Country has gone too far.
7
I miss my grandfather, a WWII veteran, every day. But I am glad he didn't live to see a Trump presidency. He was so, so proud when this country elected Obama. It seemed that the beautiful ideals of equality and freedom and opportunity that he had fought for--but our segregated homeland fell short of--finally were becoming real. He would despise everything about this crass, selfish, dishonest little man in the White House.
9
I must be a lone wolf here, twisting in the wind. While I was/am not happy, pleased, nor proud that Donald Trump represented the U.S. at the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, he is the President of the United States. He was elected, not by most of us commenters, but was elected.
And even though I did not think he did a wonderful, stellar, outstanding job – my focus was and always has been on the many souls that were taken on June 6 and all of the days, weeks, and months subsequently. My focus was and always has been on the many brave, courageous, and never-batting-an-eye when the call to enlist was heard after the attack on Pearl Harbor. My uncle was one of those men. I miss him dearly.
The primary focus of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day should have been those individuals. PERIOD! I am disappointed about the many, many stories about Trump and how the media has highlighted and made the focus about him. I wish his many blunders and the fact that the First Lady never took her sunglasses off was NOT constantly pointed out as the lead in to every story.
This comment will probably not be published, but I’m okay with that. I just think this once in a life time opportunity where "never was so much owed by so many to so few" (to quote Winston Churchill) could or should have been covered without the constant reminders of someone’s inability to be effective in the position in which he was elected when most of us have known that this for 16 months.
Deepest apologies for my rant.
8
@Marge Keller
I wondered about those sunglasses, too. Most of the veterans and others in attendance were not wearing them. Her father was a Russian apparatchik; she married an American millionaire; she has no skin in the D-Day event.
4
@Marge Keller: Trump is a selfish coward who could have abolished the electoral college. I will never think of him as a gentleman and scholar.
2
My wife and I were in France on election day 2016. I woke up to her sobbing, having been watching the results come in from the U.S. "He's winning", she cried.
A few hours later we were standing on the raised ground overlooking Omaha Beach next to German bunkers. We went through the museum and out into the American Cemetery. The weather had been gorgeous all week but this day it rained which seemed entirely appropriate. We spoke barely a word. Took no pictures. Just sobbed our way across the grounds.
That this repulsive excuse for a man, let alone a president, represents our country at this honored site is nauseating.
15
Good column. Left unsaid, much of what he is talking about is likely done at the behest of Putin, such as:
1) Contempt for our allies, especially NATO.
2) The headlong rush to Brexit.
3) Praise for the likes of Boris Johnson.
Even without a formal contract, one suspects this fealty would be richly rewarded in due time.
5
Yes, yes, yes to allthe wonderful commenters. And now what? How are we to rid ourselves of this meddlesome contagion to democracy, decency and civility? Why do we endure it when the framers in their wisdom foresaw exactly what we have before us now and provided a
clear solution?
6
@OldLiberals: They did not foresee a Senate majority leader doping his conference with Taiwanese dark money.
5
Rather than a Presidential speech, I wish we could have had a veteran who spent D-day on Normandy’s beaches reflect upon the meaning of that day.
My father landed in Normandy 10 days after the initial invasion. He was seriously wounded in Luxembourg and his children saw a huge scar on his back whenever we went swimming together.
For my college graduation, he gave me one of his monthly disability checks from the
government. It took a while for me to understand the meaning of that $15 check.
No one can match the achievements of those Americans....raised in the Depression and called upon to save the world from evil.
10
@James Noble
many veterans spoke at the commemoration, as did the Queen and other Heads of State. Mr Trump, as POTUS had a perfect right to be there and to speak. It would have been viewed as incredibly disrespectful if he had not done so.
1
In a Navy gets the gravy and the Army gets the beans story, everyone who was in the Army Air Corps academic officer training program got sent to D-Day because there were already enough pilots in the pipeline to meet the expected production of planes for the war. The students in the Naval training program continued on in academia. My father was one of those, and graduated from Princeton courtesy of the Navy without going to war.
1
Rest of America wants him impeached and then in Prison. So, everybody wins, America wins. MAGA
With thousands of white crosses behind him in the graveyard at Normandy, our president denounced Marine war hero Robert Mueller as a “fool” and “nervous” Nancy Speaker Pelosi as a “disaster.”
So much for respecting the honored dead in the lines he repeated without a drop of emotion.
A disgrace. An embarrassment. A shame upon us.
1083
@Deb
A "misdemeanor" as in "high crimes and misdemeanors".
Keep counting.
Impeach.
32
@Deb Yes!
21
All I can say is I am so embarrassed by this fool. And by his GOP enablers and by Congress that has the power to remove him from office, but does nothing. Mostly I guess, that means I am embarrassed by us.
10
Trump isn't worthy enough to wash the socks of WWII veterans. Their generation would have ridiculed him as a coddled coward for feigning bone spurs to evade service.
9
Bravo, bravo, bravo! Trump is a national disgrace and one can only hope history registers as much.
3
I agree with Cohen, except for one point.
He writes that “America is better than this.”
In fact, America is precisely “this” (good)—and it’s terrible.
Hard look at.
But, if we’re to treat the disease (and not just the symptoms), we must accept that we country we are is the country we are, shameful as it is.
As the evils of America First! in an era of massive planetary upheaval, species extinction, and human annihilation, caused in no small measure by the outsize greed and sense of entitlement of Americans, become increasingly clear, our kids and grandkids will face much the same need to confront their progenitors’ dark side that the kids and grandkids of the Germans who supported the Third Reich did during the decades following WW2.
8
As the daughter of a man who landed on Utah Beach 75 years ago, I thank you, Mr. Cohen, for giving words to my heavy heart today.
10
I was about to start bloviating about war and peace, and current politics, and was searching for the appropriate metaphor. Thank you Mr. Cohen, you summed this administration so much in so few words...I tip my hat to you "You can’t make a sculpture from rotten wood."
15
"As the Stomach Turns", Carole Burnett's parody of soap operas sums of the Trump administration.
12
@Mike:
Spot-on.
2
Good one!
What would the greatest generation think of our move towards socialism? Hmmm?
Could they have imagined a time when the justice department and FBI collude with an opposition party to overthrow an election?
Could they imagine a time when free thought and speech and the free exchange of ideas is met with violence?
In the immortal words of DJT, sad.
8
Could they imagine a president who gives aid and comfort to neo-Nazis and white supremacists, just days after they murdered a woman and maimed dozens of others? Or a president who publicly takes the side of a hostile foreign government on foreign soil and treats American law enforcement as the enemy? Who had told a documented 10,000-plus untruths to the people he falsely swore to serve? Who denigrates people who served out country while dodging military service himself? That’s beyond “sad.” It’s pathetic.
4
Wow. Someone finally said everything that I have been saying OUT LOUD. Thank you. Now, could we please put someone in position who can begin to repair the damage that he has done to our country on the world stage?
11
@Kim
if you wish, you can do so at your next election
1
"His contempt for allies undermines American diplomacy, or whatever is left of it, from Iran to North Korea, from Venezuela to China.", we have a rocky alliance with China. The rest we have no relations with, let alone allied with them.
"The American moral collapse personified by Trump...", this coming from people who support the murder of babies?
3
Thank you Roger. You captured my feelings, my embarrassment, that this infantile narcissist, responsible for tearing down so many of the bonds developed in the post war era, is representing the United States at this gathering.
13
As water flows downhill, Trump flows toward a degeneracy that up until this presidency the GOP has eschewed as evil, not benign.
He is a coward with a sense of relative morality that the men and women who served this country and the free world on D-day would find repugnant and eviscerating of the very constitution he has sworn to uphold. He has denigrated this country in the view of the world at large and in the much more important view of our allies.
I only hope that our democracy survives his narrow views and that we can someday soon again hold our heads high in the sight of the free world.
10
@Matt:
Your comments are excellent.
However, I have grave concerns that we'll recover any time soon from the Buffoon-in-chief's time in office: unfathomably a frighteningly large percentage of our citizenry actually believes in him and his policies.
The next Presidential election will likely be one of the most important in our history, determining whether we'll continue to slide ever deeper into the toxic morass the current administration has wrought, or the restoration of some semblance of sanity.
I'm not optimistic.
Sad. "Bigly" sad.
5
Good thing it wasn't raining, or Trump probably wouldn't have shown up at all.
9
Oh PUH-leeze, the great orange infant thinks everything is about him. Always has, presumably always will. Now, the question remains what any human being could find appealing about him in any way.
And Charles in Georgia, he read the speech without a single hint of sincerity. Three years for handlers to move him ahead to that point?
Borrowed/lifted from the comment of Judith McLaury of Lawrenceville, NJ, speaking about our citizenry's failure to provide education to our population on what Freedom means: "Just listen to Trump as he speaks, you can feel that failure in his words, actions and deeds."
My thanks Judith, for excellent point clearly stated.
10
Unfortunately lots of voters are captive to conservative media and their hatred for Democrats as peddled over multiple outlets for many years has taken deep root. Trump is the result. Reasonable Americans must get out and vote this circus out of office. It is the Democrats responsibility to choose the candidate with the widest possible appeal. This is not the time for the "Red-Hots" as LBJ used to call those who pushed the envelope but lacked the votes. It's about counting votes. Dems, don't ignore the responsibility to save the Nation from the Trump Circus. This can and must end in 2021.
14
That jerk thinks everything is about him, doesn't he?!
9
I was born while my father was fighting in Europe, he did not expect to come back and left my mother with 2 children and and another on the way (me) to fight for what he thought was right, along with two of his brothers.
He came back, and rarely talked about what he did. After he died we found his war diary (written as he went to be returned home to his wife should he not). I told of simple actions, jokes among the men and the effects he saw. Nor did he mention the commendation from Gen. Patton that was in his file. He just came home, took back his life by the bootstrap and moved on. My Dad went from bankrupt after the war to building a strong small business that keep us all feed, put all his grandchildren through college and left a university a great collection.
Never flaunted his success, taught me that if I could afford it and the other side of the deal could not, then you took the hit. Wish somebody had taught the brat the same.
13
Ironically the children of the Greatest Generation, the Boomers, are primarily responsible for Trump's election and support.
4
....c'mon....he is in the Reform School Hall Of Fame.
Actually, he dominates the roster.
2
Both of my grandfathers were immigrants who served in World War I. One of them bought a home in Atlantic City. It was stolen by Cadet Heelspurs and is now a parking lot at an abandoned casino. My father and both his brothers served in World War II. I served in Vietnam and retired after 25 years of active duty. I have no respect for a draft-dodging, lying, cheating. narcissist. He could care less about anyone or anything. He is destroying our institutions and our integrity. He must be removed.
17
Stolen? Details, please!
The absolute saddest thing to think about and read in the many thoughtful comments is that the fascism that these brave men and women of WWII fought to defeat and died for is now thriving again, in our very midst. Let this be a call to action to end the rising tide of authoritarianism and fascism (by whatever name it is now known, it is fascist) in our own country. Congress, do your duty and impeach Donald Trump. And everyone with a conscience who cares about preserving the freedoms that these brave Americans and others died for during WW II, please remember their memory and this day and vote this man and those in his party who have tolerated and promoted him out of office. Elections have consequences and the next election must restore America to the greatness of its past, not the shame of its present. Yes, we must TRULY make America great again; greater than what it has been diminished to today.
10
Just wait until the 4th of July!! D-Day will be only a minor memory.
1
No doubt...the donald will turn his July 4th celebration into the military parade he tried to choreograph and was denied a year ago.
1
My. Cohen, I do agree with your opinion. Sadly, I expect things to get much worse, and perhaps with some wars in faraway lands and at home!
4
Mr. Cohen: I could not have said it better. Nothing to add here. Thank you.
9
The tragedy of Trump's election is that he was voted into office by the color of his skin and not the content of his character.
11
Trump was voted into office because of the correctness
of the policies he espoused, and the belief of his voters that he was not lying, like most politicians do, about whether he intended to try to carry out said policies.
And he did not lie: where the Democrats did not foil him,
he HAS implemented the policies he ran one. And those policies are good for the citizens of the USA.
5
@Doug McDonald Realy!
1
@Doug McDonald
Wow. All I can say. You really believe all that you wrote? Integrity and good character matters. Where is trump’s?
3
Trump is only a symptom of America's moral collapse.
Economic stratification breeds anger and resentment. We have allowed too wide a divide between the haves and have-nots.
Adversaries, both internal and external will take advantage of these divisions--as they are now.
We must close the gap. The US has $2 Trillion in deferred infrastructure. Tax the rich more. Create GOOD jobs by rebuild our crumbling roads, highways, bridges, dams and levees. Invest in k-12, colleges and vocational programs for all communities so that everyone can participate in the new economy.
If we fail to active decisively and soon, the nation will tear itself apart with continued assistance from Russia.
19
@Michael Collins
I agree with your suggestions. However, the very people you want to tax more are the ones who will resist any attempt to help the poorer members of society. Truth be told, they'd be very upset if you asked them to pay up. You see, they're not really interested in social justice and the prosperity of the working class. If they were, the US wouldn't have voted for Trump because the liberals would have already made sure that ordinary people were sharing in their good fortune. Instead, they kicked the ladder from beneath them to keep their places at the top.
When trump said that back then, no one ever heard of Vietnam, I realized how singularly faceted the man is.
8
Nancy Pelosi is correct! The only thing keeping Donald J. Trump from a prison cell is the fact that he occupies the high office of the presidency.
On that thought, don’t believe for one iota, that “The Donald” would be seeking re-election for the betterment of America. Should his re-election bid fail him, as a majority of Americans hope, don’t put it passed him to attempt to pardon himself on the way out. However, should he succeed, a self imposed presidential pardon only covers any pending federal charges, and won’t cover any state charges from New York, related to him or his family businesses, currently being investigated by the SDNY.
Donald J. Trump should have stayed a private citizen and not have let his deep down inner hatred for President Barack Obama get the best of him.
16
So very well-said. Thank you, Mr. Cohen for eloquently stating what so many of us feel.
21
AMEN!!!
9
These commenters are funny. They talk about Trump's narcissism but then proceed to tell about their own connection to D Day - "I was born on June 6", "My great uncle was", "My mother knew a guy..." and on and on. Look in the mirror people. Trump is YOU.
5
Nonsense. Those who have a family connection to the sacrifices of D-Day are honoring the soldiers they lost. Trump only honors and commends those who compliment and flatter him. Your attempt to smear the relatives of veterans is disgraceful.
3
Nope. I had all my shots.
Next he’ll read the Gettysburg Address and take credit for the edits.
8
And I keep reading reports where a majority of the country believes this maniac will be reelected in 2020. God (or whoever) help us all!
13
This President, his mooching family, and every single state visit he has done, are a total embarrassment to the US and all of us who call it home. Truly sad.
25
Sad day for America as understood by the valiant of D-Day. The Lord of Lies is on the world's stage proudly proclaiming his ignorance of this country's values and virtue.
No one can doubt why he wants to keep his academic record, financial dealings, and "the truth" under wraps. He is above the law and beholding to Mr. Putin's financing. Electorially a traitor. The sad remainder has yet to proven, but Congress will get around to it, God willing.
7
If people who have no psychological contact w/their heterosexual-biological identity can “identify with” their disordered emotions, then Trump can think of himself as a patriot. Whats good for the subjectivist goose is good for the subjectivist gander. The nihilist subjectivism of Leftists is gathering steam. See the Weimar Republic for its direction. And the only current alternative is religious conservatism, with all of its historical horrors that the rational Enlightenment briefly came close to ending.
The radical alternative to subjectivism and mysticism is Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. But who among current public voices wants to focus his mind onto reality?
Hilarious, given that Ayn is a very strong contender for the “Biggest Literary Narcissist of All Time Award.”
That’s a tough league, too, but I think she’s got a real shot. It’ll depend on whether anybody with a brain can get through John Galt’s 200-page dingbat speech without exploding into terminal laughter.
1
Yes. Exactly. Thank you.
5
Thank you Roger Cohen - so well articulated
5
One of the best columns you have written Roger.
8
Well, Mr. Cohen, you finally did it. You made me cry for my country, for its reputation, for the burden we are carrying for having elected (in a bizarre form of representation) a man for whom "ugly American" was invented. For me to miss Eisenhower is for me to recognize that we are truly in the soup. I wish I could think of one positive thing to say about Trump and his family and the whole administration, not to mention the traitors in the Senate, is simply impossible. Can we please get someone really young and fresh -- and I'm old and worn -- to represent us to the world? Kudos to Biden and Sanders for providing so many years of faithful service, but how many of us were kids when a young-ish man who could actually speak and who was actually witty and smart was elected? I do. I'm begging for my faith to be restored.
23
Donald Trump thinks that EVERYTHING is all about him. That is what his supporters like about him. They don't want to think about anyone but themselves and Trump gives them permission to do that.
However, the Constitution of the USA says that the president is supposed to put the wants and needs of We the People above the president's wants and needs. No one is perfect, but that should be the president's aim and they are supposed to hide it when it is are not.
Trump uses blatantly uses his own personal wealth and power at the measure of his success as president and that means that every decision he makes is an act of official corruption because the intent behind the decision is not based on the Constitution.
Trump is a walking High Crime because he is convinced that the Divine Right of Kings has shone its light on him and anything that stands between him and the U.S. throne is a threat to all that is good, which is of course Trump.
The really sad part is that 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence a third of the country is still Royalists who are unable to cope with the responsibility of a democratic Constitutional Republic and would rather just have a king again.
It you compromise with them, you help them
Make America Grovel Again
4
Our troops landed saw their shadow and we had six months of summer, no mystery.
My fear is Trump getting a charge out of seeing all those graves at Normandy. He will want his turn at being a great leader commanding troops into battle and to their deaths. He will want graveyards full of HIS soldiers to be remembered by history as having made the ultimate sacrifice for ... President Donald J. Trump. It could be the biggest and most phenomenal graveyard ever built, centered around a beautiful statue of himself.
9
Thank you Mr. Cohen. Your column is spot-on. I am going to put this on the refrigerator until November 5th, 2020.
11
"Trump has stripped his office of dignity, authority and values."
Good work Roger. Sad but true.
As I watched the family Trump strut around I couldn't
help thinking of the Beverly Hillbillies, all dressed up
to have tea with Queen Elizabeth !!!
17
President Trump gave a moving speech that was perfect for the moment. I wish the media would give up on this hatred of the President. The American people will decide in less than 2 years.
7
@Julia
Moving speech that someone else wrote and that he can barely read.
The bar is so low.
5
@Julia He spoke the words of someone else, those were not his words he can't put a sentence together without hurling an insult, it was a flat monatone speech with absolutely no feeling whatsoever.
9
@Julia. "moving speech?" It was like a seventh grader reading a term paper his big brother wrote.
Most of us know in the UK that America is "much better this" and I'm personally prepared to respect trumps visit, on the grounds that not to do so would be "disrespectful" to your great country. Unfortunately its difficult to watch someone born into such wealth and privilege, who managed to avoid the draft and has condemned so many immigrants to the USA as drug dealers and rapists, speaking on the subject of the sacrifices of the D day heroes. Hopefully in a couple of years both trump and this awful brexit will be behind both our nations and we can get back to some sort of normality
7
3,000,000 Americans had their votes neutralized. We are still a country of immigrants who want better for the world's children. We are still a country whose warriors sacrificed everything to make sure we still had a place where we could learn to do better. Trump is a blip. An aberration. A warning.
We are not Trump. Trump is not us.
3,000,000 American voters were not heard.
We need to be louder.
4
Trump's appraising glance reveals his shallow and misogynistic thoughts. His glance says, "not interested."
3
The sneer Trump is wearing in the photograph tells all.
14
My heart breaks to see Trump mouthing words of which he has no understanding or comprehension at such a sacred place.
He, by his mere reptilian presence, has robbed us of our moment to share this feeling of pride and sacrifice with our friends and allies. Instead, we feel shame.
32
The delivery of the solemn words he spoke reminded me of a sharks’ eyes: dead, lifeless
5
Thank you for sharing what so many people the world think, including a majority of Americans. It is truly astonishing that any single human being can still put a knot in peoples’ gut on a daily basis. When he started this job, ‘the emperor has no clothes’ came to mind. It does now more than ever. To consider that this man ‘represents’ the United States is pathetic. I am ashamed of what we’ve become.
23
When asked about his avoidance of the draft in the Vietnam War, he said “I was not a fan. It was so far away”.
What a travesty that President Bone Spurs is anywhere near a D-Day memorial.
26
As a friend of mine just wrote in response to this incisive op-ed piece:
This is a perfect commentary.
Trump is an obscene, petty man in every sense.
He has no knowledge of history or the complexities of global strategy and cooperation that have taken place in the years after two world wars in order to prevent a third.
It's a disgrace that he represents our country at these events, accompanied by his infantile insults and braying, with his wannabe royal family in tow.
16
Today I once again received my monthly receipt for payment to The New York Times Co. I’m smiling every time!
9
I agree. Thank you Mr. Cohen.
6
The Donald assumes EVERY day is all about him, not just D-Day. The sun can't rise until it gets Trump's personal OK.
4
Not only since WWII.
My great-grand uncle was killed in northwest France in WWI. He died after being wounded by the Germans and then cared for in his suffering unto his death by the people of a small French village. Generations of my family have provided philanthropic aid and maintained ties to the village ever since. We are now restoring a monument in his honor there. His grave and those of his American and European brethren who fell with him are still tended.
My grandfather, father and four uncles served in WWII.
All recognized, honored, and sacrificed to establish and maintain the rule of law, fairness, peace, and comity around the world — those ideals for which the Western democratic nations have cultivated for a hundred years.
Mr Drumpf is not fit to represent them, their ideals, or their service.
May God give us the courage, wisdom, and fortitude to stand against the tempting evils everywhere around, and in, us.
And to learn and teach our history.
16
Trump believes everything is about him
1
“America is much better than this...”. Scant evidence thus far, given that Republicans in Congress kowtow to Trump and Democrats refuse to hold him to account for his criminal acts.
4
When West Point graduates, who pledge not to lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do, decide to work for Trump or run for office as Republicans, you know that the state of moral decay has gone well past the surface. America is in trouble.
11
@Agilemind, thanks A, on a similar but less critical note; true golfers do not lie, cheat, tolerate those that do. Golf is in trouble as well.
Very valid posts by the article and responses. There's a lot to go around that is wrong. Can't argue, what's been said about the GOP. They are not only being led by Trump, but the religious evangelicals, who are only interested in control (Mostly woman's bodies, from what can gather). The Dems. are certainly not Innocent. When Wikileaks demonstrated, they were conspiring against Senator Sanders, instead of admitting their egregious wrong, they simply cried Russian Hacking and swept their lies under the rug. We've got problems on in our Nation folks. Problems from both sides, that are not being addressed. Expect another Trump in the future if it's not going to get fixed.
1
Many of those of us who did not vote for Donald Trump wait in frozen horror and embarrassment for him to leave the world stage. Every single public act of his is a lesson that illustrates how not to speak or behave as a responsible adult. How did this happen?
14
I thought I couldn’t be shocked by him, but his interview with Piers Morgan left me gasping for air. Asked about his meeting with Prince Charles, a noted environmental advocate, our president appear genuinely stunned that the prince—although he, of course, has nothing to worry about—really seemed to care about the effect that climate change is having on “other people”. On D Day
11
Growing up in the fifties and sixties, I had a regular barber who was also a family friend--a modest, soft-spoken, bald, friendly man who always inquired about the family and my friends while he gave me a Butch cut or, when I was in high school, tended my pompadour. He never talked about himself. As far as I knew, he had been born cutting hair. Only after his death did I discover that he had landed in the first wave on Omaha beach. Far from ever bragging about it, that real-life hero never mentioned it to me or anyone else. And yet we owe everything we have, all that Trump would take away, to those who landed on those beaches and fought their way inland and especially to those who gave their lives heroically on the beach. The Greatest Generation, for sure. How microscopically puny, in every sense, and how repellently ugly, in every sense, Trump is by comparison.
21
Terrific column. It should be widely distributed.
14
Bravo, Mr Cohen! Very well stated. It will be in the best interest of America to purge this stain in our history forthwith! 70,000 plus votes and an electoral college close victory, (not by popular vote) doesn’t give this duly elected POTUS or his followers, a mandate to govern our great country in their twisted image as they see fit! The great powers of the presidency wasn’t meant to be totally abused by such a small, shallow, vile, human being, as Donald J. Trump.
6
Cohen is ridiculous. Trump is President and by virtue of his office represents us at events like this. Expecting him to beg off an appearance because he did not serve in the military and because his foes at home are doggedly pursuing him for political reasons and to win in 2020 is something only Cohen and his fellow never-Trumpers would argue for.
If Cohen wants to get into Trump's character and his alleged shady dealings, he should first answer why the media never questioned the Kennedys for stealing the 1960 election and being in cahoots with the mob to do it, and never questioned LBJ about his blatant criminality, for which the Kennedy's were about to remove him from the 1964 ticket. Trump is a choir boy compared to that crowd. The moral indignation here by Cohen and others is highly selective and self-serving.
9
Interesting allegations, Al. And ones I’d never heard before.
Care to cite any sources?
14
The Kennedys were no angels, and the way Johnson got to power was nothing to crow about, that’s for sure, even if the mob stuff is just stupid.
But Jack, Bobby, and Lyndon were fifteen times the men Trump is in his very bestest day and their worst, not least because the Kennedys lost their eldest in the War not long before D-Day, their second son got permanently crippled in the Pacific during the same war (that’s why he was so often in that rocking chair), and then suffered two assassinations in the service of their country.
I won’t even get into Johnson’s oassing Medicare and all the major Civil Rights bills, or the fact that as wrong as he was about Vietnam, in the end he stepped away from power to try and help bring peace.
But do feel free to explain what Trump’s done to come up to any of that. Or explain away that $600 mil he borrowed from China, the hush money payoffs, the palling around with the KGB colonel, the...
6
@AI: Well, he begged off last year because he didn’t want to mess up his hairdo.
Small, petty, cheap, tasteless, tacky, and a crook.
I really, really hope that America did not get the president it deserved. I really do hope trump is just a freak occurrence.
17
Nah! As tasteless "President" Trump is he was elected by our Unsophisticated citizens. We get what we deserve. Trump will be re elected and by a bigger margin. Bad as you think Trump is the Democrats can't get a decent candidate. Why?
Amen.
7
Bravo! This guy is THE Ugly American - a true incompetent and embarrassment. How we ever stooped this low still confounds.
6
We should all be ashamed that TXXXP - this imbecile infantile ignoramus griffter and impostor shamelessly gave a teleprompter speech which he didn't understand. He does not represent America.
I hope for better days ahead.
8
I recommend reading Ernie Pyle's reports that he made after the landing and during the fighting in France rather than talk about a president who is unworthy to observe June 6. In those reports you will find a well-written, true and emotional report of the costs of war and the toll on those who have to fight. Trump is everything you say, but what matters today is for us to try to understand the Hell of war and how it damages our fellow humans. Let's stop making
Trump the center of attention.
459
@John the Grouch I can stop easily making 45 "the center of attention." And, it will truly assist my effort toward that goal when he is out of office -- and the nuclear codes and America's global reputation as a measured and rational partner to our allies are returned to the care and cherishing they deserve!
29
@John the Grouch If only. The root cause of the problem is that HE makes himself the center of attention CONSTANTLY, no matter the occasion, no matter how glaringly inappropriate, no matter how heartless and dishonorable.
It's about CONTRAST. He steps onto hallowed ground (15 minutes late!!), and his very presence is an insult of historic proportions to those that sacrificed everything for US, not HIM.
40
@John the GrouchErnie Pyle describes like no one else . Read Ernie Pyle in england. Nothing can compare what war in england was like before Americans finally decided to intervene . Amazing man. Brilliant corespondent .
18
Mr. Cohen,
You have captured the essence of Mr. Trump, & what most of us in the country think of this pathetic representative of the US. He is a huge embarrassment, that’s fittingly identified by a huge farting baby balloon!
If only our citizens would participate in the actions that our closest allies did!
Thank you UK!!!
6
President Trump is the Constitutionally elected representative of the American people. It is perfectly appropriate for him to represent America at the D-Day 75th anniversary event. His comments were respectful and they honored those who gave so much on the beaches of Normandy. Too bad some cannot set aside their hate for him and join in honoring the men and boys who gave so much for the rest of us, a sacrifice that keeps paying dividends every day we enjoy the freedoms that we Americans enjoy and that are envied by people worldwide.
5
@Dan Bruce
Let Trump set aside hate first, and others may follow. After all, he's supposed to be a leader.
8
@Dan Bruce
You notion of Constitutionally elected is novel. Trump was elected with the help of a Russian conspiracy, in the everyday sense of that word--a conspiracy that almost certainly influenced the vote totals. Moreover he is an unindicted co-conspirator in a campaign finance law felony, which also, funny thing, surely influenced the vote totals.
11
Stop insinuating that those who comment on Donald Trump representing the U.S. are not patriotic or are not reflecting on the valor and sacrifice of our soldiers. Its not an “either or” situation.
3
D-day may have been the beginning of the end. It ushered in the cold war, preceded the slaughter at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, HUAC, the McCarthy era, the Korean war we are still fighting to support Samsung, the rise of Trumps forerunner, R.M.Nixon. The Korean war metastasized into Vietnam. Nixon ushered in the Southern Strategy to to transmogrify southern racist Democrats into Republicans, and was artfully employed by Ronald Regan and matured by his epigones. The collapse of the cold war and the Soviet Union ushered in the risible belief that we were witnessing "the end of history". America uber alles , the last hegemon, the horror and waste of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And thus D-day has been translated this year into Donald's day as we slink into our fortress America.
3
@diderot Are you saying you'd have preferred a Hitlerite Europe? Don't reduce history to one blinkering bias.
This cheap nonsense dishonors those brave men.
1
At least I haven't heard of him trying to wish anyone "Happy D-Day!"
9
I was surprised what what Trump did not say at Normany.
My fear is that he would say, "I don't like people who invade. I like people who stop invasions. Those are the real heroes. If Germany had been smart, they would have built a wall."
It would have been a fitting remark for our bone-spurs president.
9
It is right to criticize Trump.
But, the other aspect one should really criticize, the reason for Trump, I think, is: White Privilege in the United States.
It is, I think, the only reason a person like that can get into such an office.
Racial privilege allows a person with a poor education, a poor business record, a racist, to overcome all that and be president.
And, say and do the things he has done so far.
No other race would get away with it.
To me, the thing that always strikes me when he expresses his arrogance, which is whenever he talks, is how he feels so confident that he can get away with it.
It's his racial privilege: the knowledge that he's secure in his utterances because the secure the support of the majority of people in the United States, by appealing to their racial insecurity.
He's so confident in his support built on racial appeal that he feels he can say and all but do anything.
And, he's probably right. If he can essentially get away with possible criminality and conspiracy, as evidenced by the fact that Mueller couldn't clear him, then, surely he's right to feel so confident about his place.
So, really, to criticize or understand Trump, i think, at the very least is also to criticize and understand the privilege that allows him to be who he is.
I think he begins and ends with the support he has built through racism and racial insecurity.
6
If he thinks the Fourth of July is about him, it's not surprising he thinks D-Day was, too.
5
Oh Lord, what have we become when one of our parties selects actors and TV reality stars to lead us? Who knew we could make America great again with a tweet? Is it any wonder we are mimicking Germany of the 1930s? I fear to think what allies will come to our aid if this or another incompetent republican takes us to war. Ignorance and a willful forgetfulness are still our greatest enemies.
7
The photo of Trump looking haughtily at the queen sums him up perfectly for this article. He is royalty, too. Just ask him.
I'm glad my father who fought in WW II didn't live to witness the corrupt, despicable presidency of Trump.
But I wish I still had him with me.
12
We believe in equality here. Americans don't bow down to the Queen. What should be expected?
Yes, yes, yes,.... Mr. Cohen!
My British friend likes to remind me about when we met. Years ago we stayed at the same lovely b&b on the coromandel coast of New Zealand. I came down to breakfast crying because George W Bush had been elected president ... appointed by the Supreme Court.
Neither one of us could imagine a worse American president.........
10
My twin uncles died 13 days after the invasion, at age 19, when their landing craft struck a German mine off the shores of Normandy. Their remains were reunited last year at Normandy American Cemetery. It took seven decades and the ingenuity of a high school student in Nebraska, who researched their service and deaths, to bring that about.
This morning I was up early, and when I saw our president about to give his speech on that hallowed ground, I had to turn off the tv. How could I possibly watch this abject man give tribute to something he will never understand?
More importantly, I am constantly struggling to understand those people who call themselves Americans and who attend his "rallies," and utter some version of, "Lock her/him/them up."
Why are you aligning yourself with a proven liar who cares about nothing but himself? Since when do integrity, compassion and intelligence not matter in our president? And, one of you, please, please tell me, when did our pocketbooks become more important than the fact that a hostile foreign government inserted themselves into our election process, and this man has done absolutely nothing about it?
In short, what in God's name are you thinking?
For everyone else: for all the families who lost loved ones in this war and for the families of those who continue to protect our nation, please do not let their deaths and service be in vain.
26
Bravo! The following is in memory of my Uncle Charles Kapner, Jr., who died less that two months shy of his hundredth birthday two years ago this past March. His regiment was a participant in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the follow-ups to D Day, and subsequently liberated Dachau. He never spoke of his war experiences; it was, I surmise, too painful to dwell on.
But, as the 60th anniversaries of VE and VJ days approached, surviving veterans of combat were encouraged to write their war memoirs. It was his first go at a word processor, full of typos. It remains the most painful and ennobling piece of autobiography I have ever read. The Baal Shem Tov said we are required to remember.
7
I am weeping as I read this and so many of the comments. My father was interred in Arlington with full honors, a silver star and two purple hearts from his service in WWII. The son of immigrants, it would break his heart to see what has become of the country he so loved.
11
Are we better than this? The man has still somehow has the support of a third of the country and may win reelection.
7
Mr. Cohen, thank you for expressing so eloquently the thoughts and feelings of the majority of the people of the United States.
Part of our nation, represented by Donald Trump, seems to have become what those Americans we're now commemorating were fighting against.
13
Beautiful column. I hope 2020 will show that we still keep the values of the Greatest Generation.
7
As the son of a WWII combat veteran [ 3rd Army], I was struck by the contrast between the draft dodger in chief who used imagined and ever so painful bone spurs to avoid Viet Nam and the true patriots and heroes seated behind him.
I cannot imagine a more hellish thing than what each and every one of those and thousands like them faced 75 years ago.
But they did so and asked for nothing in return for that valor.
When they returned home they possessed a quiet dignity and returned to life as best they could.
They represent all that is good about America and we would be wise to embrace their values.
Thank you for your service.
18
@South Side Irish
Among the veterans have been many who supported right wing conservatives including Nixon, Reagan, both Bush Presidents, and Trump. They share a lot of attitudes with Trump, even some of the more egregiously intolerant ones. The point is that honoring the deeds of those who made sacrifices must allow for discordant attitudes towards the President at the time of the ceremony, and leave them aside.
2
The comparison of Trump's conduct with the conduct of the leaders and people who struggled to win against the Axis powers is fair enough. But to be fair and true to reality, the President does not represent himself but the country, and not just the country today but the country as it was in 1944. Whether he as a person deserves to represent us is not relevant. He does represent us as the President. His conduct was appropriate to the occasion, and that is as much as we can expect.
2
@Casual Observer
You likely missed his interview not yards away from that sacred ground, not moments before the ceremony honoring our heroes where he trashed and lied about long time American public servants. That was inappropriate conduct in my book and most of the worlds. He is an embarrassment no matter what grand words he recites without emotion and feeling.
9
Casual observer
A bit too casual a comment, to my mind.
Donald Trump is President, but he does not represent the diversity, dissenting opinions, and respect for the process of debate that is a high aspiration for our democracy.
He is mentally and morally incapable of sustaining all that the best of America promises. He's shallow and instead represents what's ill and intolerant in our nation. He lacks capacity we should expect in any national leader.
6
@Deb
I did miss that.
I am convinced that Trump is incompetent and utterly disgraceful as a person. He is unfit to be President, but he was legitimately elected, so he is.
His behavior did not sink into his usual self obsessiveness in the ceremony, and although he spoke of things which are quite unlike his own behaviors, it was about the people who all were their to honor. That's what he was obliged to do and he did it.
1
Why there's a need to get political when talking about D-day anniversary...
Instead of humble remembrance Cohen here went into diatribe of political relativism of how bad is the party at the helm and the pres that he obviously so despises... But other than hate even as eloquent as Cohen makes it, it brings nothing to what we all as Americans could relate and remember, the great effort and sacrifice made on this day.
2
@Jack It may be beyond the limit of understanding of conservative brains, but to speak of 'hate' as a 'reason' for not supporting anything Trump says or does, is simplistic, at best.
Personally - integrity, morality, and decency, and basic respect and kindness for others, are the ONLY measures of a person. Trump fails at all of these, I am afraid.
2
As the granddaughter of a WW2 vet and a life long democrat, I understand much of the howling here. But I am 100 percent sure that my grandfather would have acted with respect towards our president whether or not he had voted for him, because he had faith that democracy was sacred and worth dying for even when one does not like the outcome. I think he would tell us all to work harder to elect someone that we find more appropriate and stop complaining.
4
I think this article is every bit as petty as the author accuses Trump of being.
I think most neutral observers and even a number of notable critics of the president say he did a pretty good job with his speeches.
In any case, can't we for once think about something other than our president? My vote would be to spend the day thinking about some of the bravest men who ever lived and wondering how we can rediscover that kind of capacity and purpose in ourselves.
5
But I was thinking about it... why don’t the rest of them just treat Trump badly ?
The answer is simple : because he is the President of American people.
Their friendship is with the American people, and he is the guy the American people elected. So they are tolerant of him, because of that.
He is awful, as usual. But the rest of them, they are leading wisely. Even the Queen.
Maybe there is some hope for the future, thanks to them. Not him, but them.
11
Thanks, Mr. Cohen, for expressing so well the disquiet and disgust I have felt in watching this cheese puff of a man pretend to represent what he is too empty to understand. It's awful to feel that having an American president at D-Day ceremonies is a profanation. It's embarrassing to listen to Trump deaden words once alive with the vitality and authority of better men, like Roosevelt and Eisenhower. He really doesn't have any idea what the words mean, because he doesn't comprehend the idea of service or discipline or courage. It's really striking to hear him say to that his service as commander in chief has "made up for" his having avoided service in Vietnam which was "very far away": I believe that he really has no idea of the difference between his embrace of an American flag on the stage and the actions of people who fought and died.
I looked up Roosevelt's prayer, from which Trump quoted. Oddly, his speechwriter didn't quote fromthe last paragraph in which he asks for help " to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances." That prayer is an indictment of Trump's presidency.
So many comments have described the actions of US service members who acted honorably and spoke modestly. My own father received a Silver Star for gallantry. He never spoke about the medal; my mother told us.
Somebody should tell Trump that the emperor has no uniform.
19
It’s not?
4
62.9 million Americans voted for Trump in 2016. The decline and fall of the American republic didn't begin with Trump -- the GOP has worked to hollow out our democracy for decades. Expecting them to somehow shake off their complicity and repudiate Trump is to misread them dangerously.
65.8 million Americans voted against Trump in 2016. Those Americans at least respected and understood America's necessary role in the world.
Something like 100 million American voters sat out 2016 -- their inaction brought Trump to power.
In order to cope with GOP voter suppression efforts and gerrymandering, to say nothing of what the Russians are likely going to do again, those eligible voters who sat out 2016 absolutely need to turn up at the polls in droves in 2020, in hopes to fix what's ailing America.
The damage nationally and internationally done by Trump will endure far after his regime falls, however it exactly falls. Trump doesn't speak for America; he speaks for part of America, the 62.9 million Americans who voted for him. But the nearly 166 million other American voters who didn't vote for Trump need to vote him out in 2020, while they still can.
18
What the Americans did on D-Day is nearly unthinkable. How do you walk, wade or crawl into machine gun fire? How do you keep moving forward when 2,3,4 or 400 young men around you go down into the sea or sand of the beach, never to walk or breathe again, never to see home and family, never to experience love or the laughter of a child of their own? In a few hours, nearly 10,000 men faced death and did not turn away. If you can consider this, you can begin to understand how amazing those events were and how very far we have drifted away from the treasures of freedom that they helped preserve.
We cannot claim their bravery as our own but we can embrace the values of their sacrifices as not just our own but as the ultimate challenge for every generation. We stand in their shadows and we must never dishonor what they did.
We are a different people now. There are stories of dying soldiers in WWII, having promised their mothers they wouldn't drink alcohol, refusing the numbing effect of whiskey as they died. Many were just boys and, indeed, virgins who had not yet had a chance at life.
To call Trump shameful in his "all about me" performance does not cover it. We need people in high offices who have lived life with a wide variety of experiences, not a crass self promoter who has spent a lifetime bragging about himself.
We will do better. We will find leadership worthy of ourselves and even those who sacrificed. The memories of these current unfortunate events will fade.
19
@Doug Terry Wow. So powerful, and so true. Brought tears to my eyes.
2
My Mother, a teacher prior to, during and after WWII sent her favorite students off to die on Normandy Beach. She mourned their loss for years, because they were going to be the first ever of their families to attend college and reach their ambitions. But first, in helping to save Europe and because duty came first, they gave their lives and never reached their potential in life. Remember them, and I cry for them and others.
10
There were other ways to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war, ways that required courage. Become a conscientious object, go to jail, face interrogation and harassment trying to force you to give up your beliefs; go to Canada (it did take courage to leave behind home, family and friends, not knowing if you would or could ever return to the US). Trump chose the way of a coward, of a man with no firmly held beliefs other than in the acquisition of huge sums of money. The only thing he should have said in his D-Day speech in Normandy is, "I am humbled. . ." followed by silence. But of course, he is incapable of humility.
13
Trump, comparing sex to Vietnam, said in 1998 he should receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his many romantic interludes.
This is the person who is representing America in Normandy and "honoring" the fallen !
12
Well said, Mr. Cohen. Truth, honor and dignity are essential American values, and essential qualities for our leaders. Trump betrays each of these. Today I choose to remember these values — and those who have served them.
10
It is embarrassing to have Trump represent us. No ONE in his family has served our country in the military for 5, count them, FIVE generations. They are the elite. They are the swamp. They think they are royalty. Get out of the government and go back to your golf courses.
23
Even royals fought for their country in both World Wars. Trump family is plain coward.
3
@On The Rocks
I assume they're not the only family
@Letsdance The Trump grifters should have learned by now, that successful grifting, would work better, if you pay a modicum of respect for people who are dead.
The bravery and sacrifice this country made on D-Day to help defeat Germany should be the only topic of discussion today, regardless of who the president is. Roger Cohen's piece and the title wave of like responses are shameful and pathetic given the importance of this time in history. Shape up NY Times..
5
@JAC "Title Wave"? Yes, the bravery and sacrifice of the men who fought on the shores of Normandy should be the only topic. So please tell President Trump to stop tweeting about Bette Midler on the eve of the commemoration and stop tweeting about the stature of the mayor of his host city! Promise me you will contact the President about this.
13
@JAC I agree with Andrew Wohl. And it was a "tidal" wave, NOT a "title" wave.
4
@JAC
your words are dignified and absolutely capture the real sentiment of this occasion. It's very sad to read so many spiteful comments at a time when the world should be remembering the people who gave their lives.
1
Maybe out NATO allies really do need to step up their funding. You never know when an invasion of America--an anti-"D"-Day--may be needed to save us from our worst impulses. Even the possibility would start more careful thinking before acting.
Mr. Cohen at his finest. Thank you again for having the gift to articulate what so many of us feel.
16
I wholeheartedly concur with the opinions expressed.
Today is the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. I am too young to have personally known any of the people there that day and I don’t think I am related to anyone who was there or who died that day but I do know I will never forget their service and sacrifice.
Many of the posts I’ve seen in the last few days have spoken about celebrating the day and, yes, in most cases, I think what was meant is to celebrate those brave souls who fought and those who died. However, I truly think celebrating is absolutely the wrong word and the wrong sentiment for this occasion and for others of its ilk.
Solemnizing the 75th Anniversary of D-Day says it better, IMO. You celebrate birthdays, at weddings and on some holidays. Memorial Day, Veterans Day and all the WWI, WWII, and other war anniversaries and remembrances are reminders of solemn and tragic moments in our history when brave men and women served their country and many gave the last full measure to preserve our freedoms. These reminders should NOT be celebrated and should never be said to be “Happy.”
To everyone who ever served, in war or peace, and today, especially to the ones who fought and died on that beach in Normandy, my everlasting gratitude and profound thanks for your service to your country and mine. Bless you, every one.
9
Expect an Executive Order any day from Trump (through a tweet of course) declaring that the D-Day should stand for Donald-Day.
3
There is simply nothing good or decent about this man, Trump. Nothing.
20
How small he is! Small in spirit, in valor, in dignity, in statecraft, this American president who knows nothing of history and cares still less and now bestrides Europe with his family in tow like some tin-pot dictator with a terrified entourage.
Roger Cohen: you have said it all in a nutshell. Thank you for your economy of words.
16
Well put! Also, the boys from Kansas who shipped out to Normandy didn't know much about Europe and politics. But they didn't spew & mew like the Vietnam Dodger: "It's so far away! and I don't know what it's all about!"
8
My wife and I will watch the Band of Brothers mini-series this weekend, to help her as a recent migrant understand American history and mythology, and to enjoy the artistic excellence of of the endeavor. However, there will also be sadness accompanying this "binge-watch," as the nation that emerged from World War II is a distant and fading memory in our rear-view mirror, epitomized by our smaller-than-life POTUS who besmirches the memory of anything good -- just by being his narcissistic self. There is also powerful symbolism by the presence of actor Damien Lewis in the series, who plays the antagonist, Dick Winters, a real-life hero and leader of "Easy Company" from the 101st Airborne. Fast forward to the recent Showtime production of Billions, also starring Lewis as Bobby Axelrod, a Trumpian-like figure of "mammon" on steroids. Talk about morally-inverted bookends to American history.
3
Thanks for reminding us of how truly awful Trump is - not that he doesn't do a job of that himself, in fact, the best job in history!
9
We are living a serious political decadence.
7
To think that these two are representing my country on a day like this.
3
Character sketch in microcosm: When a star-struck veteran gave Trump his Purple Heart during the 2016 campaign, he gladly accepted it and said, “. .thanks, I always wanted one of these!” NO service member would ever WANT one. Perhaps he is still looking for a Medal of Honor supporter.
9
@RMorris
i know...i remember how appalled i was at the time, too
1
Yes, the D-Day observance IS about Trump, regardless of what he does or says. One cannot see or hear him without mentally comparing the then and now, The silent rebuke of the rows on row of headstones is overwhelming.
You'd think he'd be ashamed to show his face.
4
Well said Mr. Cohen. The problem is not everyone reads the nytimes. They can’t afford it, don’t have the time or prefer alternative viewpoints. Too bad we couldn’t make this great paper available to all.
6
The severity of Donald Trump’s narcissism does not allow him to appreciate or even recognize the sacrifices of others. It is simply an irrefutable impossibility. The words Mr. Trump lip-syncs at solemn events such as this are not his own, and do not represent his views. He is simply a man held hostage by his own insecurities.
7
@Bob
Exactly. And, as you know, these types actually thrive on the attention, noise and chaos. It empowers them. The best thing the Press could do is to ignore him.
The supreme irony in this President's honoring of the D-day fallen is his loathing down to his marrow of the very thing they fought for, the right of a people to hold their leaders accountable in a constitutional democracy.
8
Fabulous Column....sharing it with my friends. Thank you!
Thank you to all veterans, especially on this most auspicious day.
5
A democracy is a wonderful thing. The voice it gives each of us, the tremendous responsibility that we owe it. It is a special connection, that between democracy and its citizens.
A democracy is also brutally honest. If a jackass is elected, there is no way we can point at the ignominy and exclaim, “that is not us”.
The truth is Donald Trump is the representation and manifestation of us. You can find solace in the fact that it is the collective us and not the individual me that DJT represents. But, let us not put our heads in the sand.
Donald J Trump is alas where our great experiment with democracy has led us. We have a lot to learn and a lot to fix. Making sure this fool isn’t re-elected is just the beginning.
8
If Trump is not defeated in 2020 America will suffer a loss of much of our democracy as Trump/Barr will consider his re-election validation of his desire to rule as a hybrid of Putin/Kim his hero role models.
Most Americans do not realize what is like to live under a police state and Trump/Barr will attempt to establish one as TRump as indicated he likes the way North Koreans stand up "pay attention" when Kim speaks as he wishes Americans would do that. Barr could enforce Trump's cult status using law enforcement to punish dissidents ,crush the free press and encourage white supremacy policies.
9
Thank you, Roger Cohen. Your column today helped me recover from today's dosage of the appalling barrage which is the WH and the GOP. I will save your eloquent thoughts to re-read until this scourge is gone.
6
Thank you for this eloquent piece. I feel you are writing for me.
7
I don't often agree with Roger Cohen since he is a conservative, But I almost cried at his wonderful rebuke of Trump. Trump embodies everything bad about American and not the overwhelming good things that make America and Americans great.
8
Or to put it another way, Winnie, thanks for the contrib from Minitrue.
I'm sure everyone would be fawning if Obama or Hillary were there. Trump is our President, he actually represented us well and showed due respect. The reaction of the survivors was also telling, so put personal politics aside and enjoy the moment.
20
@Cool
Respect is earned. A representative of a group of people or a country, should be respectful and aware of his position. The president was not there on a personal business or family vacation. He was representing the US and we expect him to honor, respect and dignify that position because his attitude and behavior reflect on us, Americans.
51
“Enjoy the moment”? D-Day is a commemoration of the sacrifice made by thousands, it’s not a celebration. Trump lacks the gravitas and education to understand this; so do some Americans, it seems.
27
He is a political machination of a cultish minority and has made that clear from day one, not the president of the kind of Americans who fought together at Normandy, offering to sacrifice their lives. “I like people who don’t get captured” is nothing a real president would ever say in a million years to a veteran. The office has been diminished by the character of its current occupant. Our history demands better of us.
20
Here’s to the boys — and girls — from Kansas City and St. Paul, as well as the Bronx and Houston and San Francisco. And to everyone else in the alliance that fought to preserve democracy in the western world. I hope one day we will again be worthy of their sacrifice.
10
Seems the noon crew has overlooked this too, so once again for the Americans who died at Normandy 75 years ago fighting for our freedoms, among them the freedom to speak freely in the public square without punishment or reprisal:
Give me a break. I was there when Obama was there celebrating the 70th. Not just an imposter, but a fraud and a criminal. I was embarrassed for America that he stood, representing my country, where so many young Americans had sacrificed their lives for our future and freedoms.
One would think that with the ferocity that NYT Neo-Marxists, e.g., Cohen, hate and trash Trump for just being there they all would have served in the US military at one time or another.
Odds are, though, all they did was smoke pot like Obama did when he should have been serving his country in the US military. Marcuse and Gramsci taught them well.
6
@Alice's Restaurant Please list in detail all the crimes for which Obama Administration were charged and convicted.
Then tally up the number of Trump Administration charges and convictions (thus far). I'll give you extra time for that.
Neo-Marxists in the Times. A paper that advertises $20,000 Patek Phillipe watches. Or would Marx have worn a Rolex?
15
@Alices There is so much wrong with your letter that I will mostly confine my remarks to your insinuations of Obama’s “crimes.” Obama is one of the only presidents in recent history not to have charges against him. Oh please. Don’t rehash the Faux News/Barr idiocy that the FBI and Obama improperly took notice of the frequent communications between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Every president, other than Bone Spur, has worked with the FBI to protect our country from covert foreign influences and potential blackmail. Tell me this, honestly: Have you read the Mueller report? Probably not. 146 pages of Volume One contain details of the Russia/Trump Campaign communications and initiatives to mess with our election. The report absolutely does not clear Trump. It DOES speak of the documents that Trumps people destroyed to protect Agent Orange. And that’s before Volume Two detailing acts of obstruction! Why do I assume you haven’t read the report. Because no Republican Congressman has - or will admit to - reading the report. Trumps followers have put their hands over their eyes and ears lest they had to admit that they have been supporting a multiply criminal president. So much easier to appoint and strut Barr out on the stage to “summarize” lies about the report which Mueller immediately objected to.
2
@Tom Herling
Shall we start with his 60 Minutes dog-whistle to Comey, "There's no there, there."; Comey-Lynch DNC Politburo collusion on "the matter"; his use of Rice-FBI-NSA to funnel data collected on citizens to Hillary's campaign; his use of drones to kill American citizens in foreign countries without due process; his lack of oversight with his Sec. of State and her use of basement server and extortion for her "foundation"--the list is almost endless.
1
With Donald Trump as president, America must hang its head in shame despite the heroics of our government officials and military members acting heroically in fighting tyranny. Trump and his ilk stain our once honorable standing.
3
This column is spot on, and it has me in worse despair because there is a great likelihood that this idiot and poseur as the leader of the free world may get re-elected, with an even greater margin than in 2016.
4
The President represented the US well. He did what he was required to do. The ceremony was heavily scripted and choreographed, as are all British commemorations.
As far as the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is concerned, he made several remarks before Trump arrived and I don't think it unfair that Mr Trump should have the right of reply. Khan has been criticised for his running of London and for his remarks every time we endure yet another terrorist attack. He is the antithesis of what the brave men and women of WW2 fought for.
15
@Letsdanc
Mr. Trump would not be in office if he did not have defenders. They are - as usual - as clueless as this gentleman.
20
@Letsdance
Trump should be spending his time running the country as well as he can, not watching TV and getting caught up in school-yard taunts.
12
@Letsdance
No Trump is the antithesis of what DDay stands for. He thinks it's about him because it starts with D. He mocks veterans and war heros , past and present.
He has zero knowledge of history.
He and the rest of his criminal family's are a blight upon the USA.
My uncle was an Army captain who stormed the beach that day , as his best friend was killed next to him.
Uncle Tony is rolling in his grave
10
He gave a very moving speech and this is what he gets? No small wonder that the media is losing so much respect.
10
@ Hank, it is about time Trump stuck to his speech and hit the right notes. I was terrified that he would once again embarrass the US giving a speech on foreign soil. No doubt Cohen wrote the opinion piece before the speech was given, but his arguments still hold water either way. Trump shouldn’t get points from the rare times he is presidential. He should always be presidential and represent democracy, equity, and freedom. But he very very rarely does, as Cohen argued so perfectly.
20
Agreed. I think he deviates from intended speeches so often because he 1) struggles to read and 2) has the attention span of a gnat.
16
@Hank
His reciting "America First" at his rallies - when this was the rallying cry during WWII of isolationists who did not want us to interfere with what GErmany was doing at the time - pretty much nullifies his reading a speech off of the teleprompter today that he never could have written himself....
... and wouldn't have.
7
For now, we can say that America is better than Trump. We can say his election was an electoral college oddity; an abnormality and not reflective of the true America. We can say that until he's reelected, after which the moral collapse will be complete and probably irreversible.
7
Donald Trump is a lesser President who tried today to act as if he could understand and appreciate the valor and sacrifice of the men who landed at Normandy 75 years ago. He put on a fairly good performance but it is clear by his actions, statements, and policies that he has nothing in common with the Americans that came to fight and free Europe from the Nazis. His own statements and his 'America First' agenda echo the words and deeds of men like Lindbergh and Joseph Kennedy who urged FDR to stay out of the fight. They were the original ' America First' crowd. He is clearly on the wrong side of history today and would likely have been on the wrong side of history during World War II.
4
It's such an irony that the man who is presiding over the dissolution of the North Atlantic Alliance should preside over a ceremony that celebrates the beginnings of that alliance. It's worse than irony that he should feel more comfortable with virtual dictators than he does with those who head the some of the remaining functioning democracies of the world. He defines our relations with our traditional allies in terms of money. With apologies to Oscar Wilde, this man knows the price of everything and the value of nothing
9
The problem here is much more than just Trump. The entire GOP is implicated too for continuing to support him. If the GOP had a spine based on the ideals embedded in the US Constitution, they would never have nominated him for the office of President in the first place.
7
When you give the key of the Oval Office to someone, you not only give him the key of your present.
You give the keys of your past and of your future.
6
Trump is an illegitimate president elected in a a corrupted process. Hillary should be our president. It feels like we are living in the Twilight Zone.
One thing we should all take away from Trump's example: The President has way too much unchecked power.
5
Roger Cohen also thinks that D-Day is about himself and his petty complaints.
In fact, it's bigger than any individual.
Let's remember and respect that.
7
@John OK, let's do that. And please pass your message on to our President! Thanks!
Trump thinks that everything is about Him. Therefore to honor our POTUS in the way he appreciates Impeachment proceedings should begin today and continue until Nov1, 2020, when the Senate Republicans can weigh in under the leadership of Traitor Mitch McConnell.
2
And those D-Day vet that were able to make it to the ceremonies cheered Trump all the same.
3
@Rocket J Squrriel I am sure they were polite, unlike Trump.
Both my parents served during WWII - my mother in the Red Cross in England and my father as a pilot in the Army Air Force first in England and then North Africa. I can barely imagine what they might think of Trump on this D-Day.
For whatever it was worth, I felt compelled to send an e-mail to the Mayor of London's office offering a personal apology for Trump's boorish behavior.
5
@Fred the mayor of London is savvy enough to separate the political what from the chaff, or maybe you don't think he is capable of it?
Well said and exactly on point. How I wish Mr. Trump would read this. Unfortunately, the readability level is beyond his ability to comprehend.
5
Amen. Thanks for so well articulating what so many of us feel. WW II was a epic battle between Democracy and Fascist military dictatorships in Europe and in Japan. At the time there were no guarantees about who would win.
Who would have thought that only 75 years later we would be fighting that same battle again. This time with the US wearing the black hat of fascism.
5
Eisenhower was a great general and leader, but oh how memories are short. For all that we Americans want to scold Iranians for creating their own problems, Ike, the champion of preserving self-government, was the one who ordered Operation Ajax, having the CIA depose our democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadeq in favor of a brutal dictator in the Shah. There are lesser and greater evils, but as far as I'm concerned Trump is just an inheritor of horrible, unwanted foreign interference owned by every U.S. president going back to Washington. That Eisenhower also helped, especially in World War II, is remarkable, but let's not wish for the forgone era of saints as leaders that didn't exist
1
This is a lovely, stirring piece that reminds me of how much we are losing with the pretentious Clownish impostor in the White House.
I cringe that we are so poorly represented on this solemn occasion commemorating such a momentous event. I am pierced to the quick by my sense of loss as I listen to Dwight Eisenhower deliver his D-Day speech to the troops in advance of the D-Day invasion.
We can do better - we must do better, and send this impostor out to pasture in 2020, so that, God willing, only the sheep will hear his bleating.
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for reminding us of our loss, and re-summoning the better angels of our nature.
2
Thank you. Perfectly articulated, sadly spot on observations of this tiny, tiny subhuman. In moments of compassion -- which grow fewer and farther between -- I wonder what must have happened to him as a child, how unloved must he have been, how abused to have turned out like this. I would disagree with you on only on thing. I would say some of America is better than this. Maybe most of America, still, but I'm not sure. And the most tragic element of this whole nightmare is the ills that this ignorant, self absorbed, selfish poseur has unleashed on this country and the world by opening Pandora's box. And sadly, this is not just about Trump. Trump is the culmination of 40 years of the GOP's carefully cultivated strategy -- first, turning our once admired public education system into a joke, then arming their newly dumbed down, hate-filled cult with literal guns and anger and resentment and bigotry and intolerance and xenophobia and sexism. And we are now at the crossroads where many of us don't recognize our fellow countrymen. And many of us are not so sure we have the strength or the courage to stick around to see how this nightmare ends. I mourn for my country, and for it's still sane denizens. But I may be forced to leave it if we don't manage to wake up from this nightmare in 2020.
6
America; The land of "Gimme - Gimme - Gimme Spoiled Brats"!
At 67 years old, a child of immigrants, I have witnessed many changes in our country.
Growing up in the 50's & 60's, the notion of the American Dream was very real and possible to achieve.
We all grew up knowing friends and family who had lost loved ones during WW2.
There were great words spoken with great sentiment.
JFK's words "taking us to the moon" and Reagan's words at Normandy are immortal.
We raised our hands with joy and lowered our heads with sorrow -
NOT because we were told to - the weight of the words inspired us to do so.
Of course Donald Trump is an embarrassment to America, the World, and Humanity . . .
However, he is the president of the United States and the notion of him being re-elected is far too real.
How can this be, how can there be so many to go out and vote for this "man" again !
Will he need the help from the Russians as he cherished the first go-around ?
Or has his base - those being directly hurt by this presidency - and the GOP which is completely blind to their responsibilities to those who elect and re-elect them - good to go without a second helping of help from our enemies !
This week at Normandy, has demonstrated just how far from grace and greatness we fell.
Who will have the courage to match the sacrifices we honor and move us back to a caring country, a country who cares and invests in democracy around the world - as we once did.
996
@Leonard Dornbush - We, you and I, are the majority. On this day, we should value our freedom and right to vote more than ever. We owe it to these young soldiers who died for our freedom. For the youth of this country, and/or those who don't think engagement in the political process is worth their time, you've had your wake up call - a wake up nightmare - his name is Donald Trump. He is the voice of a (dwindling) minority who won and wields unchecked power because of foreign interference, GOP shenanigans with gerrymandering and similar contortions of representative elections, an outdated voting system (electoral college), and GOP's complete disregard for the Constitution. When the majority speaks up, protests, and votes, with resounding numbers, we will take back our country and restore our values. And, we have to make sure that the likes of Donald are never allowed to retain the Presidency, and specifically spell out in the Constitution that the President IS NOT above the law, and is not immune from indictment.
96
@Leonard Dornbush
I'm so moved by this essay and your response. It's heartbreaking to see this pompous and ignorant ass align himself with our world leaders during this time of commemoration and long held respect for these dear men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. It's a relief for me to know that my father, who served in WWII as an officer with the RCAF is no longer with us to have to witness such a display. I feel for our American neighbours. May you muster a powerful collective intelligence to get him out of office as soon as possible. Never give up! The rest of the world is counting on you!
91
@Leonard Dornbush
I blame all Republicans..
I will never forget and plan to hold their feet to the fire..
29
Every American voter should be required to read this column before the next election. And this should be the the eulogy of the Trump presidency, if not the man himself. Thank you Roger Cohen for so succinctly writing what so many of his feel.
9
My father also in WWII, fought in Germany and then was on a ship filled with soldiers on his way for the invasion of Japan, when news broke about the bombs and the surrender of Japan, who knows how many of those men would have died if the invasion occurred, would I be here today, writing this.
I can't help, when thinking of Trump and then the thought of impeachment. At best would result in a reshuffling of the Trump deck. At worst, may boost him to 4 more years. How important on a day like this, to remember those who sacrificed for others, as opposed to our President who sacrifices others to help himself.
6
My father was a holocaust survivor. My mother is a German Jew, whose parents were forced to flee to Argentina where she was born. I owe my very existence to the brave soldiers of the Allied armies, especially to those who fought on D-Day and beyond.
10 years ago, I travelled to Normandy to visit many of the famous and not-so-famous places where so many lost their lives, or sustained grave wounds fighting for those not able to fight for themselves. It was, and still is, the most overwhelming experience of my life.
Thanks can never be enough to offer in gratitude for their sacrifice, but it's all I have.
Thank you.
12
No, what's wrong is for The New York Times to publish tripe on this solemn day of remembrance, and Roger Cohen's objection to the commemoration and honoring of those selfless heroes by anyone.
Furthermore, what you wrote is petty, dripping with malice, i.e., "...with his family in tow like some tin-pot dictator with a terrified entourage." What head of state doesn't travel without an entourage? And it goes downhill from there wrong on several points.
The referendum to leave the EU was held in the UK, not the US and had nothing to do with Donald Trump - or you. If you're such a such a staunch supporter of freedom and self-government, you would applaud the UK's decision to regain total sovereignty and leave the EU. And, by the way, Europe is NOT "whole and free and at peace because of NATO and the European Union...". Neither existed in 1944; it is whole and free because it was bought with the blood and sacrifice of those others of us are honoring on this day.
You should be deeply ashamed that instead of that you chose the irrelevance of petulant politics and personal resentment. #NeverForget
10
@Adele in Texas
Yes. Completely correct.
But let's forgive those who are blinded by their own hatred and bias.
4
Someone needs to do some reading in the area of history, more precisely WWII and it’s aftermath. Rick Atkinson’s trilogy would be a good start.
Perhaps the President should visit other memorials during this visit abroad, too. Those who died at Normandy did not die in vain. But those interred near the Somme, Ypres, Arras, and other World War One battles did die in vain. That was why leaders of my fathers generation established the very institutions Trump and so many Republicans are trying to destroy: NATO, the United Nations, the European Union and many others. We ignore the lessons of both World Wars at our peril.
12
@Ian Bowie
NATO is a joke. The majority of members can't defend themselves let alone another country. German, the linchpin of the alliance, barely has a military anymore. They proudly have said they will not meet the 2% spending requirement and will actually pay less.
Will allies like this why do we need to be in NATO?
2
Eisenhower publicity took responsibility before the D-Day invasion for the potential failure of the event, showing leadership and courage in the face of adversity, a beautiful reminder of the greatness of the United States.
11
So much wrong in this opinion piece, but let me restrict my response to one point.
Europe is not free after WWII because of NATO. It is free because America has spent Billions on the defense of Europe and placed 6 figure numbers of troops permanently in Europe and an array of defensive hardware, military aircraft and missile defense system. All the while most of the European countries were AWOL on their NATO commitments. Not just in terms of money spent (or rather not spent) on their own military capability but on their military readiness. For example just ask how many military aircraft Germany has that are in a state of mission readiness. (the answer is between 6 & 8). LOL..
NATO has been broken for decades and completely carried by America with some help from the UK and a little from France. Prior Presidents asked for more European assistance in NATO and European "Leaders" basically laughed at them while all the time enjoying the peace and security American citizens have paid for.
9
@ian.jardine1 Just curious how AWOL it is to let foreign troops establish permanent bases on your country's soil, among other things making that country a target for nuclear weapons. How many foreign bases are on American soil? Can you imagine how well that would go over? Many Western European nations have or had conscription for many years after World War II. How is that being AWOL compared to a nation like ours which conducts its wars using unmanned drones?
7
@ian.jardine1
NATO should've been honorably retired after the Soviet Union fell and the Russians went home. Today its a dinosaur that doesn't really work in this era.
The Euro members are all members of the EU. Why can't the EU protect itself and not depend on the US?
2
@Tom Herling
So, you support closing U.S. bases in Europe?
If so, we are in agreement.
3
I truly hope John Bolton doesn't lead Trump to start the next world war. That will be the end of us all.
7
Deeply offensive was the Trump clan's presence at the 75th D Day anniversary today. Seeing them as "tourist gawkers" on this hallowed ground clueless. Touring Churchill's WW II bunker was another insult to the Brits and this veteran. The Brits hosting this president was a mammoth mistake and embarrassment to both them and us Americans.
8
@Frank Jay
Hey Frank, I guess you must have forgotten the Electoral College, as did the Clinton campaign, and also did not notice our President was elected fairly thereby. I am a Vietnam veteran and was proud to see our President take the time to honor Churchill and the British by touring the bunker and thereby draw more attention to it and what it represents. Same for Normandy. Just imagine the fury of the Left/Dems if the President has just mailed in a tribute rather than attend on behalf of us all!
6
@Frank Jay
Oh please.... Presidents always take family and hangers on with them on trips like these. And yes, they do act like tourists. Even Obama and family.
2
You'd think that the ultimate sacrifices of those young soldiers and sailors lost on D-Day would, at a minimum, create in our elected representatives enough respect to always act with judgement, empathy, fairness and justice -- the very qualities that helped enable the U.S. to beat back Nazism, Fascism and communism.
Then I am reminded that the two most powerful politicians in America today are Trump and McConnell. How did we get so off course?
8
I was sick all night and stayed in bed this morning so I could have watched the coverage of the D-Day ceremonies. I made a conscious decision to skip it and read about it later online or see the summary on television. I'm glad that I made that choice. The hypocrisy and dishonesty of a draft-evading authoritarian leader making a speech written for him by someone else from a teleprompter is disgusting. After just over two years of Trump's America, I just can't do it anymore. I'm seeking out honest commemorations of this historic day. I've been to the Normandy Beaches and Cemetery. They are special, mystical, holy places. They are not places for a man who has no idea about sacrifice and patriotism to speak.
17
Bravo on your article, Mr. Cohen. You eloquently speak for most of us suffering this malignant imposter and a Senate that protects him and his band of grifters (the ones who haven't been jailed as yet).
6
Please just for once just lay off the man. He is abrasive, mercurial, and many times embarrassing, but isn’t there any one else that angers you? Also were your sights dialed in this tight on Obama? Or did he just get a pass because you voted for him?
7
@M Maybe if trump would stop his actions that bring on such scrutiny. We have a president that "tweets" slander against the Mayor of the town he is getting ready to land in! We have a president who, while in another country, slanders our politicians here at home. Nancy Pelosi is the 3rd person in line for presidency. You would think he could show a little respect. The man is incapable of anything decent. It is time all Americans call him out!!!!!
7
@M Your joking, right?! Did Obama, for one second, ever conduct himself in such a boorish, petty, immature, nasty, mean and contemptible way?
5
Never! Always the dignified leader we needed then and now.
1
"T" Day has arrived and The Donald expects the world to show gratitude to him and grovel.
2
His incompetence and inhumanity should have been evident during the campaign, if not much earlier. Remember when Kzhir Khan, the Gold Star father, asked what trump had ever sacrificed, and trump responded that he had made a lot of money. That’s his idea of sacrifice.
10
Trump’s foreign policy is about far more than tariffs. Perhaps Mr. Cohen is unaware of economic sanctions as a form of war. For instance, U.S. sanctions (which it literally compels other nations and non-U.S. corporations to obey) against Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and Russia are designed to cause sufficient misery and dying amongst ordinary citizens of those nations that they will force an overthrow of their own governments. Sanctions are an especially pernicious kind of national bullying that falls just short of military aggression, and they are entirely consistent with Trump’s bullying nature.
2
@Rob Yes, and the law allowing these sanctions (CAATSA) passed the Senate 98-2 and the House 419-3. So its not all about Trump.
1
You are absolutely right. Democrats as well as Republicans are equally complicit in the economic strangulation of targeted nations.
Outstanding column. May I just add: it's still astonishing to realize that NO ONE in Trump's family has served in the U.S. military, EVER.
In some ways, I can understand seeking a bogus deferment from service in Vietnam. That war was an unpopular outlier in American history, and many otherwise patriotic and honest men sought to avoid fighting. (Some even thought it was their patriotic duty to dodge the draft!)
But it's incomprehensible that any family wouldn't have had at least one member who felt some responsibility to fight in WWII, when America had been viciously attacked and democracy itself faced an existential threat.
There is nothing special about my family, but just for context: my grandfather and his three brothers fought in the South Pacific. Two of them died there. My mother's father volunteered but was denied entry into the military because of his advanced age. He felt deeply ashamed that he had to stay safely at home while others fought and died on his behalf, and told me so several times.
What kind of person watches the bombs fall on Pearl Harbor and watches the Nazis enslave Europe and feels no call of duty? I think Trump provides an answer, day after day.
5
Thank you for a fantastic, moving essay!
2
Outstanding article. In Donald Trump's mind everything is always about him. It is the only way he knows how to roll. He is such an embarrassment to the country and to the presidency. It is disgustingly shameful. We have a criminal for president. And what an idiot. The way he throws around the word treason. Remember, when the said Democrats not applauding him at the State of the Union address was treasonous? My God!
3
Bravo. I love it when the gloves come off and you expose this fraud for what he really is. Keep it up!
3
As they say in Texas, Trump is all hat and no cattle. A privileged draft-dodger exploiting a solemn moment. I used to be patriotic.
1
@David
Can we finally end this 'draft dodging' stuff? He, and a lot of other men, avoided going to that mistake of a war. Good for them! Of the ones that did serve I thank you for your service but also wish you never had to do so.
1
Why if he was so righteous and political did he not declare his self as a conscientious objector? No he had a foot ailment? Lied even then. Doesn’t seem to stop his golf game.
3
@David if something like this causes you to waiver on your patriotism (which means you care about the country and want to improve it), then I would question your so called self described patriotism.
Someone dodging the draft would not waiver a strong sense of patriotism.
That's why I call him the Totally Underwhelming Revanchist Demagogue. I use the short, more easily remembered acronym most days.
2
On D Day, an inspiring message from one who fully appreciates--and precisely articulates--the ghastly magnitude of Donald Trump's minitude!
2
I get the feeling you dislike Trump. Well your historical predilections are replete with inaccuracies. Not surprised considering the source. I look forward to seeing you cry on Nov 7 2020.
5
The only objection I have to this column is that it restates the obvious. We know all this already, because we're confronted with it every day.
Thank you for detailing once again this President's shortcomings. It's hard to imagine laying them out more plainly.
1
Trump's presence in Europe reminds us that the heroic fight for freedom and human dignity is not a thing to be relegated to the past. He epitomises the failures of western society and education and his presence in the white house especially reminds us that we must remain vigilant in the face of self-seeking, destructive ignorance.
2
That an ignorant TV clown Donald Trump was sent to represent the United States at a D-Day remembrance speaks words about the Republican subversion of our democracy and the failure of our highly flawed electoral system.
President Obama has courageously borne the heavy burden of being the first black president in America, a country whose politics still display the scars of the Civil War. The GOP has relentlessly pursued racial bias with its Southern Strategy dating back to Richard Nixon. The day President Obama was elected Republican racist dog whistles paved the way for their chosen leader, Donald Trump, who built his political career and voter base on fraudulent Birther lies.
In addition to the backlash to Obama's election we must recognize that the minority Republican Party has systematically undermined the fundamental principle of one man, one vote.
With a shrinking voter base, for the Republican Party stealing elections is their only mode of survival. A systematic gerrymandering strategy was launched after Obama's election financed by massive amounts of Citizens United dark money. It involved the capture of state legislatures and governorship for the sole purpose of sophisticated computer-driven gerrymandering that undermines voting by Democrats. The GOP has also worked hard to gut the Voting Rights Act with significant support from Supreme Court.
Add in Russian election interference, the outdated Electoral College and even a Donald Trump can be made president.
8
Imposter is a lovely I word. I prefer the other I word.
2
This should surprise nobody. No matter the issue, he will do something or attempt to do something to make it about him, regardless of how despicable it will make him appear.
2
Thank you Mr. Cohen.
This highlights Trump's utter depravity.
2
Both my parents were WWII vets, my dad a captain in the infantry (Europe) and my mom a first lieutenant in the Army Nurses Corps (Walter Reed). My son deferred college, although he had a couple of scholarships, to enlist in the Navy where he served six years. The DOD considers him an Iraq war combat vet, but he would never say so since he understands what real combat is about. (He's now a college grad, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.)
Of course, President Trump is special and much better than either of my folks were and my son is--and everybody else is, for that matter--, simply because he is Donald Trump.
A national disgrace.
4
Disgrace also begins with D.
"To have Trump commemorate the Normandy landings is to understand the word impostor."
No. To have Trump commemorate the Normandy landings is an obscenity. Not because he did not fight in Viet Nam. Neither did Clinton. And Obama did not fight in Afghanistan. The obscenity is the man himself. My hat is off to Nemoknada's comment: so much better expressed than all 1224 of us whose comments have so far been published.
2
This is an important, even sacred, day of remembrance.
Sadly, Mr. Cohen and his sycophants feel the need to politicize it.
Please give it a rest.
5
@John I can't wait to see how Trump politicizes the Independence Day celebration during his speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
This is an impossible situation. I do not like Donald Trump. I never have and I wrote passionate pleas to my fellow conservatives not to vote for him during the primaries. I agree that he is monstrously ignorant and has the emotional maturity of a 5-year old. I still can't believe that he is President of the United States.
However, I also believe that we should not allow illegal immigrants to enter at will. Unless we vote for the dissolution of our nation-state, we should have borders and we should enforce them. Vigorously.
I believe that life begins at conception and that we should not kill children in the womb.
I do not believe in "income redistribution" either. If you want money, earn it.
So what am I supposed to do? I really mean this. I cannot vote for Democrats who support open borders, abortion on demand and high taxes. But how can I vote for an ignoramus like DJT? A 3rd party or write-in vote wastes the only vote I have. It is agonizing, and I see no answer.
"I do not believe in "income redistribution" either. If you want money, earn it."
Please tell Donald Trump and the Republicans how much you don't like the income distribution that is the result of his only legislative achievement, the tax cut for the wealthy and corporations.
3
Meanwhile, his base is so giddy from all of this, they almost can't stand themselves.
Good morning Roger!
Thanks for the most erudite, scathing, apt, accurate takedown of the big fool I've ever read.
Poetry.
If you told any American that a president of the United States, on the eve of a solumn
D-Day remembrance, would be sending out petty messages about Bette Midler(!), they would scratch their head and think you had lost your mind.
Maybe we have.
And, maybe we all realize it at this point.
And, I'd say we are tired of the nonsense.
Ready to purge ourselves of the orange infection in 2020.
Let's count ourselves lucky he didn't say in his public comments that "there were good people on both sides."
2
And when did Mr. Cohen serve in the military? Oh, that's right, it was prep school & Oxford and traveling about the globe with friends is the way he spent the Vietnam war days, the closes he ever came to a battlefield was as a journalist covering the Balkans...real hero he is!
5
@Joe I didn't know one had to serve in the military to write an opinion piece!
1
Wait to July 4th, where he gives his speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial complete with armed forces parade; to celebrate himself.
For a person who evaded service in Vietnam, he is not only want to create more wars, and send people in harm's way, but uses rhetoric that makes it look like he is another Eisenhower. Lest we forget, that he continues to condemn John McCain, a Vietnam war hero. A hero that is a much better man than Trump would ever be.
Now, he is defacing Normandy, to fuel his own ego. Lying in graves across northern France are true heroes. Heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice 75 years ago today. All heroes that Trump will never be.
Remember all dictators, bullies and autocrats are cowards. Be it in government or the work place. Those who died 75 years ago today, died to prevent people, like Trump, to repress people. Heroes toppled Hitler, Tojo, the USSR, the Berlin all, the Iron Curtain, the Shah, Hussein, Qadaffi, et. al.; heroes will topple Trump, Xi, Putin and Kim.
1
Absolutely the best, most succinct, and true accounting of what a miserable small-minded (if any minded) man Trump is. Also covers the entire lunacy we are boiling in; the depressed, wildly frustrating mental state most Americans find themselves suffering, all because of one maniac let loose on our psyches, our economy, our culture and our total way of life.
Republicans MUST join forces with Democrats NOW to impeach, to castigate and to shame this horrible man back into this tower cave alone, forever alone in his own fantasies where he cannot harm anyone but those few remaining sycophants that will still be nearby.
2
How low we have fallen, Thank You Mr. Cohen, Yes, Trump is as President and he represents The United States, that’s the problem I have now.
1
Dwight D. Eisenhower declined to attend the 10th Anniversary of D Day in 1954. Why? Because he was concerned that the focus be on the men and yes, women who gave their lives to give the world a second chance for Democracy; and not on the leaders who sent them into battle.
5
I was born on D-Day. Shortly after, my father, a young lieutenant in the infantry, landed in Normandy. He came home, but badly wounded. On my 60th birthday, I visited the Normandy beaches and a French family came up to me and thanked me for all the Americans had done. I cried. And I cry today to think that Donald Trump, this imposter, represents my father and his generation on this sacred day.
2654
@Jim Mingle If it is any consolation, I think that most Americans and the rest of the world recognize Trump as the Ultimate Ugly American, and not representative of the rest of us. I don't think that Trump even thinks of himself as a representative for the rest of us because that would require him to consider that other people existed besides himself.
252
@Jim Mingle As a Brit, it breaks my heart to see the genuine pain poured poured out in the comments pages of many articles in the NYT and the loss you feel as you look at what has become of your presidency. Most Brits do not believe that Trump represents the US.
281
@Jim Mingle I was born June 14, 1944, a child of the invasion. My father heard the news of my birth in England as he waited to go to France. Unfortunately he passed away when I was 18. I wish I had him around longer to chronicle his time in the war. So many questions unanswered, I do have a boot dagger he recovered from a dead german soldier during the Battle of the Bulge. I served in Korea 68-69. We where both drafted.
Happy Birthday, Jim
134
Had Trump been alive and doing business in the 1940s you can be sure he would have been selling weapons to both sides.
7
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Cohen! I feel this is not so much opinion as telling the unvarnished truth, which needs to be shouted from the rooftop, and as often as possible. The (emperor)President has no clothes. And the GOP (and Dems , too, of course) should face that and get on the ball preserving our democracy. Thank you!
5
Why is Third Wife sitting in the front row? No other spouse is there, what makes her so special? I guess I should be grateful Ivanka and Don, Jr weren't plunked down in the front row, too.
These people make me nauseous. Everything about them.
11
Trump is not the only President who evaded the draft. Just in case you forgot.
2
I can only imagine how horrified FDR would have been to have heard his words being defiled by coming out of the lying mouth of the tool of America’s descent into neo-fascism. Trump understands nothing of sacrifice, courage, principles, or suffering, and to see him struggle to make sense of what FDR said so eloquently was to see the embodiment of the moral gulf between these two men, and of our demise.
6
There is little in history that makes me more proud to be an American than the bravery exhibited by those that stormed the beaches at Normandy. Their level of bravery is such that I can barely comprehend it, a bar set so high that I can never imagine approaching it in my own life. Conversely, there is nothing that makes me less proud to be an American than the crass vulgarity, cowardice, racism, and utter ignorance of our current president.
7
"The Donald" thinks everything is about him. In one sense as the President, he is right. What he forgets, is that as President of the U.S., everything he says and does is about us. What he fails to realize, is that he is a very poor reflection of most of us and what we believe America has stood for and should stand for again. He is a Narcissist: 1) inordinate fascination with onself; excessive self-love; vanity. 2) Psychoanal. erotic gratification derived from one's own physical or mental attributes. Websters Dictionary. No wonder he thinks everything is about him, because that how he wants it to be.
1
Donald Trump is undermining everything that those brave, patriotic American, and Allied Soldiers fought for, and died for.
He is undermining the EU by supporting Brexit. He is fanning the flames of Nationalism in the EU against immigrants who are trying to escape the turmoil in the Middle-East that GOP/Bush & Tony Blair caused by their illegal invasion of Iraq. He is thereby weakening NATO in favor of the wishes of Russia.
Keep in mind that although Russia fought Germany, they did so because Germany attacked them. They fought for their own preservation; whereas Americans fought to defend freedom in foriegn lands, and after winning, eventually help their German and Japanese adversaries rebuild. Russia instead invaded Eastern EU and the Baltics and imposed a (Mafioso) Totalitarian State (under the guise of communism), and oppressed those people for half a century.
Russia wants all of that income and influence back, and Trump is (apparently) obligated financially to Russia, and is distorting American ideals in favor of Putin's evil wishes. Read "House of Trump / House of Putin" to understand how deep Trump's relations with Russians actually go.
FOX news is facist. Trump and the GOP are fascist. The way forward for American dignity and freedom, is to VOTE THE GOP OUT.
Democrats and Independants need to Unite for the good of our country, and live up to the legacy of our D-Day heroes, and VOTE FOR WHICHEVER DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE THAT HAS THE BEST POLLING NUMBERS TO WIN.
2
I am surprise that Steve King , Republican Representative from Iowa, wasn't part of Trump's entourage. I guess his unapologetic embraced of European modern fascists wouldn't have set well with the few remaining D-day survivors whose comrades in arms who are now laying in Normandy cemetery gave their lives in order to defeat fascism.
1
I feel just as violated, as a patriotic American, by this draft-dodging, grandstanding charlatan's behavior at this event, as I did when he hugged the flag with his lascivious smirk at the CPAC event.
6
"The American moral collapse personified by Trump is not “beautiful” or “phenomenal” or “incredible” or any of the president’s other clunky two-a-penny superlatives. It’s sickening and dangerous."
I'm not a fan.
Listening to him talk is like fingernails on a blackboard. I really would like to know the size of his everyday vocabulary. I would guess about 4th grade.
1
Sadly, this says it all!
1
As I was watching the ceremony at Normandy this morning, President Macron was talking about the importance of NATO and the debt that France owes to America. The camera panned to trump. And there he was in all his glorious fatness with a smug look on his face, as if he was one of the courageous, unselfish men that stormed Normandy. I cringed when he approached the podium. I doubt that he would ever be capable of understanding the sacrifice of those soldiers and their families. It made me sick to hear him speak of any of the living veterans at the ceremony. The toddler in chief, the draft dodger, the multiple filer of bankruptcies, the payer of hush money to hookers, the racist, misogynist fool had no place at that ceremony. I live with disgust for this travesty to our great country. I have two uncles who survived Normandy; but they never spoke a word about those days. trump couldn't carry the mud off their boots.
7
The longer Trump spends in office the worse off is the world...and to say the Republican Party is treasonous is to understate it.
5
Did you hear him say he was compensating for serial draft dodging on Vietnam? "But I think I make up for it right now — look, $700 billion I gave last year."
He's not spending his money. He gave nothing. And this excuse is lame, perhaps because of brain spurs.
3
As I keep on saying time and again: enough Americans voted for Trump that he won the required Electoral College votes to win the presidential election. Trump is as American as they come. He has revived the European stereotype of the "Ugly American". But Americans must like this. We must like a blustering, lying, crude, ignorant man as president. We must like having a Mitch McConnell backing him up and playing to his every whim. And we must like Mike Pence, the strong silent patriarch who can't be alone with a woman unless there is a chaperone present.
What Trump has done since he took office is to elevate lying, ignorance, selfishness and a few other unsavory qualities to new heights. The GOP was doing it without his help during the Obama years and earlier but Trump has put the cherry on the sundae with his behavior. Many of his actions and statements are closer to that of a petty tyrant than president of a democratic country. The worst however is not how he is behaving on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It's the fact that he may be re-elected.
6/6/2019 12:15pm
3
As Kant put it: “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.”
He probablynever met THIS particular variety of skunkweed.
BUT he sure was prescient about his supporters!
Thank you for this clear description of a worthless president and all his "men." I see Stephen Miller, smug architect of our hateful anti-immigrant policy, smirking behind his president. What a small, nasty man Stephen Miller is. Then, if we dare to, we can watch and listen to the hollow mouthing of someone else's words as our president speaks without apparent feeling where so much should be felt. I am so sad.
2
Thank you Mr. Cohen for once again telling it like it is about the small petty know-nothing narcissist whose legacy will be moronic self-absorbed Tweets, endless lies and the end of the Republican Party.
1
Terrible moment for the USA, and the world, when a man of Trumps character is allowed to parade his ignorance and arrogance and self love through out the world. Its only because previous administrations have been able to project the strength and support of America that he is even allowed.
A man who wants to breakup NATO, be chummy with a fellow dictator in Russia, works to help, destroy the European alliance, is a well known draft dodger, tax evader and serial liar allowed to represent us?
3
This is probably overreach on my part but I want to say that even to have Donald Trump in human company is to "understand the word imposter". When and how did so much of America become so ignorant as to think that Trump was fit for this office?
4
The man whose electoral college appointment marks the greatest American mistake of the 21st century COULD redeem himself with some honor and dignity if only he were to rise to the occasion of his office. Miracles can happen. Is Trump teachable?
I'm a naturalized US citizen born and then orphaned during the War in what is now the Czech Republic, who was lucky enough to come to America at age 10 and thrive in a number of ways. I did not appreciate until later what a pivotal role D-Day and its many heroes played in the subsequent defeat of Nazism and the horrors it represented and how the conquest reasserted what is best in humanity. And now we have Trump and his retrograde and even despicable thoughts, words and actions as you so well describe. He's a disgrace and it's a true crime that he's included in the the D-Day observance. I like to keep in mind that the heroes on that day as well as others represent "our better angels" and that we will eventually return to that state.
3
Wow. What powerful writing, Roger Cohen. Eloquent and perceptive. While the truth of what you state about the disastrous temper of the current occupant of the White House and his enablers will be lost on him and his supporters, it surely has the potential to affect the majority of citizens who remain compassionate, concerned, more informed, and genuinely patriotic. Hope and confidence that things can get better is the only way out of the ugly-American morass DT and the Republicans have created.
3
Super piece of writing from Mr Cohen.
Some in Europe tend to consider D/day should not overshadow Stalingrad and Koursk.
If that POTUS had been in command in 1944, the Russians could have been very sure they would have had the whole job on their hands.
What's really amazing with the Donald is that his not mentioning the Soviets might not arise from calculus (Putin's shadow)but... from mere ignorance.
1
"America is better than this." Well, um, it used to be. I'm not so sure anymore.
2
I am 82 years old, and my heart breaks to witness and read about the emotional/mental pain that so many of us are suffering at the hands of this presidency. I came to this country in 1939 just in time to escape Hitler's onslaught. My father enlisted in the American Air Force. America was not only our new home, but became our real home. An example of generosity and kindness and morality that shone like a beacon. The goings on of these last two years have besmirched and extinguished that light. I am grieving.
10
It is heartening to read such a forceful critique of all that is Trump from a conservative columnist. This 75th anniversary of D-Day, with its ceremonies, commemorations, and photo essays, is serving as a powerful reminder of what people were willing to sacrifice for democracy, freedom, and tolerance. The contrast with Trumpworld could not be greater. I hope Republicans (in particular, Members of Congress) will use this opportunity to look into their souls, ask themselves what they stand for, and then repudiate this dishonest, hypocritical, anti-democratic administration.
3
I listened to Macron talk about D-Day leading to the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and peace...France's gift of the Statue of Liberty, and the greatness of America
and then I listened to Trump......mouth the word "allies"..with no expression of our relationship to other countries...
and I saw Macron and his wife walk deep amidst the rows of veterans shaking their hands...
and I saw Trump and his wife shake a few hands walk back to the front of the stage and stand looking out at the audience until they suddenly went back to greeting the veterans, seemingly reminded of the purpose of their visit.
What a difference in leadership!
2
Bravo. I noted the humility and selflessness of the Veterans who visited, in contrast to the ongoing bombast of our mindless president. Is not your last paragraph a description of the betrayal of our country by this President and Republican party? And if so, doesn't that define treason?
2
The ultimate juxtaposition was Trump reading a prayer/speech written by FDR. Nothing could have been more bizarre. Trump is the antithesis of everything that FDR believed, fought for and did.
3
For someone stricken with-- lets call it for what it is-- a profound narcissistic personality disorder-- to be trying to speak passionately about dimensions of the human character like sacrifice, valor, honor, responsibility, connection, empathy, alliances and so forth is simply an impossibility. I think we know this. The sad thing is that as long as he feeds intolerance, isolationism, selfishness and cultural atomism, he will still have supporters. And the galling thing about it is that they're incapable of seeing the difference between someone truly strong, patriotic, decisive, sharp, and compassion from a pathetic, prickly schoolyard bully tossing out every psychological self-defense mechanism that his mind can manifest.
5
Mr. Cohen, a cogent statement about our President. After reading your article, I felt embarrassment that Trump is our emissary to the World.
2
I took all my American step grandchildren to Normandy in their early teens as an essential part of of their 'Road to Character': David Brooks and with the aim of their understanding 'We do our part': Charles Peters. In this time of positive mis-information a further lesson is to be learned from their watching 'The Triumph of the Will':Leni Reifenstahl's film of the 1935 Nurenburg rally.
1
Served for 20 years in USMC. I never forgot those who had gone before me, with solemness and pride I tried to be as good. I turn the sound off when President Trump speaks at any veteran event, horrific. I am in tears for our country.
7
Trump's "D-Day" also stands for destroy, destruct, and defame. Seeking to obliterate everything in your path is not a road to unity with our allies. It's the road to opening potholes and fissures so the dictators of the world can ooze in and destroy dignity and democracy. It's the path to our World's decimation.
2
He mouths the words of leaders that came before him and stumbles through lines speaking of unity and friendship. Away from the ceremonies in his spare time he trolls they very people that serve as his hosts. Many Europeans shake their heads, knowing his words ring hollow.
3
It has been a long time since I have been so emotionally stirred by an editorial. I agree with everything the writer said. As the daughter of an Army chaplain, I felt insulted by the words of our so-called president! He is an embarrassment and needs to be removed from office.
4
Donald Trump should not bear all the blame for the current state of affairs in the U.S. He is who he is and never hid from this - the blame must be shared with those who elected him and still support him. I never would have anticipated that misogyny, racism and anti=Semitism would once again be in the forefront largely thanks to the words and deeds of the "leader of the free world." I am old enough to remember when our Senators and Representatives worked together and with the president for the benefit of the country, regardless of their party membership. Now they seem to work only to be re-elected. Our current president thinks that everything is about him - he doesn't care about his country's role in world affairs or the wellbeing of its citizens. He is a braggart, a liar and a disgrace. The thousands of young people who gave their lives in protection of our freedoms must be turning in their graves. Sadly, I agree with Nemoknada.
2
Absolutely the best essay on Trump. Probably ever.
I know Roger Cohen would not take it further, but I will, as have other commenters. The description of Trump can be applied almost in its entirety to the some 60 million + people who voted for him. Racist. Xenophobic. Small-minded. White supremacists. And much, much more.
And yet, even a cursory search on the internet will turn up mainstream(ish) pundits and pollsters given him a more than even chance to win reelection.
2
The look on Trump's face in this photo concerns me, and confirms fears I have about his trip to the UK. He is the least equipped to be there, the least deserving of the pomp and circumstance, but he loves it and he is so smug. And I am convinced that what is going through his head is that he deserves to be a king and enjoy all the accoutrements and benefits of royalty. I can imagine he wants a trooping the colour every year, and footmen, and a carriage, and . . . a lifetime appointment. Crikey, we're in trouble.
2
Yes Donald is a disaster writ large. But, what do we do now? We actually have an opportunity. It is called election 2020. If Donald is reelected the rest of the world will have no choice (at least that part of the world that we consider just) but to shunt us aside as moral midgets. If he is sent packing, then these countries will be given a reason to hope that the America that landed on the beaches on D-Day, while it may have taken a hit, lives on.
2
Thank you from my Dad who would have been appalled at the current potus and his outrageous behavior. My Dad was over Omaha Beach flying cover for those on the beach, he was not safe, guns firing at those planes and the flak in the sky became were shot down. My Dad did not talk about the war, but we know now that he had ptsd when he came home. Did the evader Trump have ptsd too???
The article is brilliant and moved me to tears but the accompanying photo tells the whole story. That smirk, that ooze of vanity, those sidewise eyes to the Queen. You can read Trump's mind. Not a single thought for the solemnity and significance of the occasion. He is thinking, "Look at me. These are the most important people in the world but here am I, the most important --the most powerful -- the most marvelous -- of all of them."
2
I am looking forward to another d-day in November 2020 when we elect a Democrat to the white house.
2
This is what we have come too, a bankrupt billionaire, who is a known draft-dodger, and an Atheist representing us in a hollowed place where heroes once stood. Is God still watching, or has he changed the channel and turned off his Twitter feed too ?
I am a poll worker in New jersey and at this latest election primary on Tuesday of this week, the turnout was abysmal. In my district there were less than 20 people who voted. We cannot make changes without being involved AND voting.
Thank you Mr Cohen for an exceptionally well written but sadly so accurate an observation. May it be a wakeup call for all of us.
Please, please folks don't just complain without being involved and failing to vote or we will continues down this path of the destruction of all the progress, sweat and tears and lives that we have fought for over the years.
4
Thank you for this serious and thoughtful piece on D-Day. If only it weren't preaching to the choir.
3
As a Scot, and a republican, I take exception to Prince Charles sitting down with your president as a representive of Britain, although he is unelected. No doubt Charles has as much right to his opinions as I do and many of them I agree with. However, I see that the ‘first’ daughter, also unelected, has the right to sit down in meetings with heads of state. I’m sure there are controls on the Prince but what about the American Princess.
3
I cringe every time someone says that 'we are better than this' because we are only as good as our bottom third will let us be. I wish we could say we are better than we have proven to be. We like to brag about our greatness and moral superiority. DJT is a humbling lesson showing the sharp divisions, the wide gaps, our lack of unity on much of anything. His election shows the flaws in our electoral system. We will no longer be able to put our selves up as a model for other nation's people aspiring for more democracy.
Any tin pot, backwater country could do better than elect someone like DJT.
12
You captured my feelings perfectly. Thanks.
7
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for another brilliant column. You nailed it. But we no longer are the country we were, to our shame. Who will save us from ourselves?
4
Mr.Cohen, you have written one of your best. It should be distributed in letter form to every American. Its theme and expression should be read from every pulpit and blared from every public medium. Personally, for the next election it matters little what the policies of the Democratic Party turn out to be. We,patriotic Americans must drain and cement over the polluted mire in which the Republican Party and this aberration of a President swim. Nothing less will save the Republic. Thanks for this column.
13
you claim America is much better than this, than President Trump. who's going to believe that these days? once we had friends in the world. now we have only adversaries, debtors, competitors, and customers. Trump has done a fantastic job undermining our place in the world, and, as he's always the first to boast, very quickly and cheaply.
3
November 3, 2020 is this country’s new D-Day. Let's call it Democracy Day.
How much easier we will have it than those soldiers did on June 6, 1944. We can peaceably go to voting booths and move the country forward out of these dark and disturbing times. (Of course, there are those who keep suppressing voting rights, restricting the franchise, and undermining free and fair elections.)
But everyone who is eligible needs to register and, then, cast their vote...
If you won’t do it for your own self interest or the greater good, do it in honor of those who served and those who died.
Do it to preserve our nation's democracy.
D-Day, Democracy Day, November 3, 2020.
12
Well done, Mr. Cohen. Many others are saying it better here than I, but I want to give you one more positive count.
9
Trump has a large support base in the US because he pretty much took charge and ivicerated existing political norms.
Europe has a tenuous relationship with democracy. If they fall to dictatorship, the world will fall.
It is easy to put the US first, because I live here. But European Democracy is much more important to the world than US democracy.
Ours was never able to achieve a genuflection towards God. We were always about money and possessions. It is possible to placate the population with possessions for a long, long time.
Trump is not a good role model. I do admire his toughness to some degree, but toughness has to be tempered with empathy. I don't think he's capable of that emotion.
I don't think there was any crime comitted between Trump and Putin. I'm pretty certain of this.
But people have questions that deserve answers. A trial is in order, and we know there will be no conviction.
As for the sacrifices of war, I agree, Trump has no idea.
We ask kids to assult their own soul when we send them into war. I'm afraid that if we all understood that sacrifice, that we'd lose perspective and the country. These kids all deserve medals and jobs when they get back. Good jobs, not flipping burgers.
1
I agree with the sentiment in this piece -- Mr. Trump seems intent on tearing down so many things that have made America great in the past (so ironic). However, the idea that we are better than this, or that we got what we voted for, needs a bit more nuance.
First off, we did not get what a majority of us voted for in 2016, that much seems settled. The fact that many people did vote for Trump does not mean those people consciously wanted this situation -- they were fooled, I think, by campaign tactics, false equivalences, and the exploitation of wishful thinking. Yes, Mr. Trump's status as a racist and con man was well known prior to the election, but many people voted as though they were buying a lottery ticket with the expectation of winning. Trump never did represent his voters' values, so maybe we should stop chastising them. They were unsophisticated, but not necessarily racist and such. Let's also acknowledge that a few individuals (Jill Stein, James Comey, Anthony Kennedy) and outsiders (Russia) played outsized roles in Trump's election.
As for being better than this, yes, we are better than this. Our enabling politicians on both sides are the only ones who can oust Trump. Average citizens really have no power here until the next election. We should spend our time figuring out how to reverse the destructive campaign finance system in this country; that would eventually result in more sensible government filled with people not beholden to the money.
2
The prestige of the USA around the World is enormous . We are not only the most powerful and richest Country on the face of the Earth but also the embodiment of the highest aspirations of humanity . It is sad and tragic that the man in the Oval Office is soiling the prestige that those soldiers , that gave their young lives on the beaches 75 years ago , won for our Country .
8
That was one of the best articles I’ve read about the degenerate trump. Keep up the good work, Mr. Cohen, and I hope you can get this published in many venues. America needs to read these hard hitting, truthful articles more often.
14
It's almost an axiom that good NY Times articles beget good comments. Today's fine column by Mr. Cohen has spawned quite a large number of moving replies. Especially poignant is the comparison of these stories of commitment and sacrifice with the current occupant of the White House, who delivered a few phlegmatic words, a human oxymoron. My heartfelt thanks to all of you. Do not despair good people. We got ourselves into this mess, now it's up to us to get ourselves out of it. November 3, 2020, is the date. You all know what to do.
16
Some leaders inspire us to think of something larger than ourselves, to think not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country. Our parents' generation faced great challenges and met them. We ignore the great challenges and focus on petty politics and grievances and make of a wave of desperate poor people an army reaped from dragons teeth. I am thrilled that the economy is doing well, but at least if Trump's tariffs take effect, perhaps this: finally, he will be seen for the charlatan he is, not the "stable genius" or great businessman, but someone who has always taken the money and run.
4
What I don't understand is how Britain could have let this happen -allowing the scheduling of DT to be there for this solemn event with a full state visit to boot. Have they no shame? We already know the answer to that question for DT.
1
@TWade
'Have they no shame?
Plenty of us are deeply ashamed.
Honouring Trump as royalty is simply a reflection of the right-wing coup currently under way in both our countries. I imagine that the plan is to extend it across the whole Anglosphere as soon as possible.
Much as we might type fine words (and the NYT's comments section has the world's finest), thoughtful, moderate, compassionate.... (insert progressive liberal superlatives).. people seem impotent to stop what's happening.
What will it take to turn this supranational tide?
3
One word- Brexit.
Every word true, beautifully expressed. And yet polls indicate his approval rating is climbing, and the expectation is that he will be reelected next year.
America, what has happened to you?
12
Polls say no such thing.
2
No one writing today is able to capture the horror that is Donald Trump. But Mr. Cohen, in this piece, makes a valiant effort. Thank you.
(My father was on a destroyer at Pearl Harbor, but survived that attack and the war in the Pacific. I served in Vietnam - with young men who didn’t have “bone spurs.”)
23
Just one small observation: being an evader of the Vietnam draft is not necessarily a character flaw. Otherwise, I agree with the article.
2
Thank you for not normalizing Trump's assault on the USA.
4
Anyone who fails to vote in 2020 will be complicit in this destruction of our Republic.
23
There are not enough superlatives to describe this powerful piece of writing. We Americans need to heed the points he makes here. We should all be blushing in shame for what we have allowed to happen in our country.
16
Thank you for this.
As an American living in Italy, with a son living in the UK and heartbroken about Brexit, I have been depressed all week thinking about that man and his family in Europe, my Europe, our Europe, a part of the world I have come to love as much as the United States. How embarrassing, how uncouth, how ignorant he is. I fear the damage he will leave behind.
25
Mr. Cohen,
The United States is the largest contributor money-wise in NATO. Of course, it's ok for Barry Soetoro to go on an "Apology Tour" to Europe, date night in NYC, not go to see or act on the oil spill by BP in the Gulf of Mexico and I'm still waiting for "Justice" for the 4 American Patriots at Benghazi.
President Trump gets under the liberal skins because he is not a politician and is not beholding to anyone in the swamp.
Get over it Libs! President Trump will be re-elected and the wall will get built! God Bless America and President Trump!
1
@Joe F
"The US is the largest contributor money wise.."
Would that be because the US has easily the largest GDP of any NATO member country - and the NATO financial contribution is calculated as a % of GDP?
Do you see how that works? Why America pays more than little Estonia?
Actually, the NATO membership obligation is 2% of GDP. But, the US spends more like 4% on its military. Why would that be? Why would a country like the US pay on defence almost TWICE what it needs to? And, since Afghanistan, Iraq, the Mexican border and now, potentially Iran, are nothing to do with the North Atlantic treaty, do you think that America's massive financial commitment to those theaters of operations should be counted towards its NATO requirement?
See, some people have sat down and worked out how much the USA really pays for 'North Atlantic' security. And it's quite small - not much more than Germany spends.
So, really, the questions should be 'where did the rest go?' and 'why does America expect the rest of NATO to bankroll America's reckless warmongering in parts of the world nothing to do with NATO?'.
Over to you, Ace..
7
@Joe F
Thank you for reminding us in this forum that we have fellow citizens who labor under a delusional value system.
You've reinforced our realization that Trump's supporters still don't know what they are losing in their blind loyalty to a demagogue. Media manipulation has captivated and infected these people, beginning with birtherism and culminating today in Trump's defiling of D-Day.
Your "Get over it Libs" triumphal crow only proves that to some, our democracy is a sporting event. They continue to cheer their hero heaving his bulk over the goal line even as he tramples what our WWII heroes fought for.
5
As to whether your reasoning here about why Trump, “Gets under lib skin,” is accurate or not, the better question is why so many Americans are willing to accept his lying on such a magnificent scale? The answer, of course, is that Trump has built an alternate reality for himself and invited others to participate. It worked well on The Apprentice, and was even more in evidence with his participation in the fantasy universe of professional wrestling. It doesn’t matter to him whether what he says is believable or not, just that it give the appearance of reality.
Now all politicians invite us to participate in the reality they create–it comes with the territory. Most, however, try to keep at least one foot planted on real ground. Trump is another brand altogether. The thing is he doesn’t care about the reality outside his head. It is only the appearance of reality that matters, and for him, if he says it, he knows that at least a few trusting souls will follow along. What he has stumbled on to, however, is the existence of a fantasy world where millions have gone along with the idea that wanting to believe something is true has the same value as what is actually true. This is a man, remember, who used to call reporters using a transparently fake voice to report which hot woman he was cheating on his wife with.
For him, a lie is as good as the truth if you can get someone to believe it.
3
For my parents, born 1919 and 1920, "the war" was always WW II, and somehow I seem to have absorbed their sense of a time when real national peril gave America a purpose other than maximizing its number of billionaires. When even my generation is gone, WW II will be as meaningless to Americans as the sepia "Great War." Ironically, only in Russia will "the Great Patriotic War" be recalled, albeit as a way to whip up nationalistic chauvinism. Indeed, without diminishing the staggering courage and sacrifice of the invaders, it is worth remembering that the success of their enterprise depended on the lion's share of the Wehrmacht being devoted to chewing up Soviet lives by the millions on the Eastern Front.
3
D’accord. Notwithstanding an apparently capable, appropriate and passionate speech (most likely written for him), we should not assume this marks a turning point in DJT’s character or personality. As well, we should not be surprised to hear him utter something opposite of today’s sentiments; practiced as he is at speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
2
What few people realize is if the Cold War had gone hot it was Europe that was going to bear the brunt of the ensuing destruction. Those 50,000 Soviet tanks were not going to be rumbling through the streets of Chicago or Houston.
And the only answer the allies would have had to that massive attack would have been tactical nuclear weapons. So, ask yourself, whose backyard do you think those nukes would have fallen within.
If the Cold War had gone hot it was Europe that was going to sacrifice itself to stop the Soviets from reaching U.S. soil. That’s a pretty solid commitment to the alliance if you ask me.
8
I'm also wondering why Barron Trump's not there. Is there a legitimate reason? Is he there and we just haven't seen him? My father would have made me go even if I didn't want to. He would have impressed upon me the significance of the occasion. He would have held my hand and walked on the beach with me and explained the sacrifices boys not much older made – giving their lives so that I could freely lead mine. I doubt any of this occurred to Trump or his older sons. How about you, Uncle Jared? This trip was a chance for them to hobnob with royals, and that's why so many of them are there. Barron’s apparent absence just underscores for me how the Trumps do not understand or appreciate our history or the notion of service before self, and what terrible mentors the youngest Trump seems to have.
17
@AaronI wondered the same thing. That unfortunate and tragic child Barron would have benefited educationally from this particular trip. My guess is that the useless first lady prefers that he be hidden from public scrutiny.
1
What a shame, and a sad irony that our greatest generation -- who literally saved the world in 1944 from ruthless dictators -- is being "honored" by a president who admires dictators and autocrats, and tramples relationships with democracies.
19
In a few weeks, he’ll be hosting a parade on Independence Day
and giving a speech to the country from the Lincoln Memorial.
It’s so cringeworthy.
If not now, when?
If not him, then who, Madame Speaker?
14
Well done.
2
We are at the precipice of the downfall of our country. If the 2020 elections do not right our ship, I fear we will have fallen off that cliff, for good.
9
Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
Truer words were never spoken.
5
To an American overseas:
"Are you American?"
American: "Yes..."
One of, or variations on the themes:
1) Hysterical laughter
2) "What happened?..."
3) "I am SO sorry..."
4
At least Trump didn’t add his line of “many fine people on both sides”.
9
@Grove No, but he said that the lost at Normandy were "among the best Americans". I have news for the President of the United States. Our lost warriors are THE VERY BEST AMERICANS!
4
Well, gosh Mr. Cohen, don’t you think Melania looks great in a white hat? And, the United States President’s hair never looked better. Therefore, we all should be very proud of our nation’s first couple as they represent all that America stands for today - a glittering rhinestone, a blinding beacon in these troubled times!
2
Perfectly stated. We must rise above now and in 2020.
2
Mr. Cohen, I have always admired your writing, but never more than today. My father was a 24 year-old second lieutenant who landed in the first wave on Omaha beach. Somehow, he survived while so many did not. What he and these brave men endured to save Europe and the world is beyond our comprehension. What a disgrace that today we are represented by this undeserving man.
15
As a Vietnam Veteran it sickens me to see a draft-dodger, racist, incompetent, ego-maniac represent my country on such a solemn occasion. Our country, especially we veterans deserve better...much better than some one who has never known the experience of working, earning a decent living, or even a truely fullfilled existence. Reflecting on all of the pain, agony and remorse of my Vietnam experience, it deeply saddens me that we or represented by someone who is the antithesis of what we stand for as a nation. God bless America? We we kidding oursevles?
13
I guess, technically, that America joined the war as a result of belligerence by Japan and by Hitler's declaration of war on the USA.
But, it was FDR who recognised that up until then 'Great Britain had been carrying the fight for civilisation', and that there was a moral imperative that America join that fight. Thank God, right thinking, decent Americans recognised the need for that, too.
Trump's thinking, his values, and those of the wider coterie that invest in his philosophy are the absolute antithesis of that right thinking. And, increasingly, of decency.
I continue to believe that the majority of Americans remain of the right thinking, decent sort.
6
Yeah it is! D is for Donald! A duck at Disney has been fighting the same fight for years too.
I’m 58 years old, and for the first time in my life I’m not sure who the good guys are.
1
Today was as bizarre as inventing a time machine and sending him back to speak at the 1938 encampment for the 75th anniversary of Gettysburg.
Can't wait to see what he does during the 2020 campaign to honor the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, and women's right to vote.
4
"America is much better than this..." but is it though?
6
This country no longer teaches Civics to students, there is no national pride or understanding of how important our alliances are, how they strengthen us and our allies.
I still remember learning history as far back as grade school, learning how proud we should be that we played such a huge part in wiping the scourge of Hitler off the map of the world.
Today's kids arent being taught how important history is to know so we dont repeat it.
Their parents didnt know enough to check on the past of the impostor and con artist they voted for, so they dont care for history either.
This column is so spot on it made me sad and very angry. Every word speaks gospel truth. We have learned nothing.
8
“America is much better than this, “
I don’t know that we are as a country. I suppose we’ll find out in one respect come 2020, but a significant portion of us are ok with kidnapping children from parents escaping violence in search of asylum, ok with calling today’s nazis “very fine people”, ok with all the travesties detailed in this article. We might not be better than this.
6
However it goes in 2020, we’ll have the president we deserve.
Excellent Analysis! Trump, as the malignant narcissist, has created an atmosphere among his followers who look at him with adoration, totally blinded to his giant ego. Trump comes FIRST, by a long shot , not America.
The Republican Congress, and his followers, have elected placed a monster in the White House, who keeps undermining the very democratic foundations of this country...and now they all speak of his re-election...
6
There's a lot of things I DON'T believe in, Mr. Cohen.
Capital punishment.
Corporal punishment. Especially, corporal punishment administered in PUBLIC.
And yet, sir--pieces like this! Forgive what I am about to say.
But pieces like this amount to a vigorous public flogging. Administered primarily to Mr. Donald J. Trump. And (as a kind of sideshow) administered to the GOP. The "Grand Old Party." Dear Lord in Heaven--"grand" no longer. The Republican party. A ghastly, dim-witted shell of what if once was.
It was once the party of our sixteenth President. Mr. Abraham Lincoln himself. Still seated (brooding and pensive) in that stately building near the Capitol.
"Consider," says the Lord in Revelation, "from what height you have fallen."
Fallen? The Republican party?
"Fallen" is not the word. They have turned upon their own moral roots--with savage claws, flashing fangs--
--and torn them up.
And boy, have I wandered from my subject! What I was GOING to say, Mr. Cohen--
--was that both these scourgings, both these pieces of vigorous chastisement--
--were more richly merited than I can find words to say.
All I can say is: let ALL of us Americans--and not just the pitiful remnants of the GOP--
--remember from what height we have fallen.
"Repent," says the Lord in Revelation, "and do the first works quickly."
I take these words to be addressed to myself personally.
And to all of us.
Thanks, Mr. Cohen.
We needed that.
5
Amen to all that, and well said. Grieves me so very much, the loss of my country and pride in its leadership.
3
and sadly, read some of the young people's comments today that are excusing the school guard's cowardice in not helping to protect the young lives at Parkland- "yes but he might have been killed"- "yes but it is perfectly understandable what he did"- "yes but he had no chance against an AR"- in their short lives these young people have not seen in others nor believed in themselves that some things in our lives are worth dying for- the greed and the selfishness today are just so distressingly strong; they cannot fathom an entire generation of young men that said in unison "yes I will go, send me" to fight, to help, to die
5
A fine article by Roger Cohen; his usual intelligent work. But for one thing: Eisenhower was never a true Republican in the sense of the word.
Which is why the party foisted Richard Nixon on him, a man Eisenhower despised, to keep an eye on him.
3
It's interesting that you should pointedly describe his behavior with the age of a child. It's my guess that his behavioral malady is a result of a delayed/ arrested maturation of his frontal lobe, where the executive functions of behavior are controlled.
Every day in this nation, moms and teachers support these kinds of kids with coaching. Social norms that people usually pick up without effort, require a deliberate teaching for these kids, "this is what that means", "this is the proper behavior to have in response to that situation".
It appears he had little coaching and shaping as a child. It shows in his "shockingly inappropriate" behavior every day, in the Oval, on camera, and around the world.
3
My grandfather, due to a medical condition, had to lie, wheedle and cajole to be allowed to serve in WW2. He used his privilege to get into the fight, not out of it.
8
I wonder if Mr. Trump's supporters read the New York Times? Mr.Cohen has a world view of the damage this president is doing the reputation and credibility of our country. Insulting the mayor of London before he arrived on a state visit is such rude and undiplomatic behavior. We have lost the vision of democracy and leadership as Trump tramples on our allies with his bullying tariff wars.
2
Thank you for writing so eloquently about thoughts and feelings so many similarly share about President Trump.
The only issue I have with your article is the assertion that has so oft been repeated by other writers and commentators. It’s the notion that America is better than Donald Trump. And yet, Americans elected him President. Shocking? Yes. Abhorrent? Absolutely. Shameful? Without a doubt. Perhaps the American people would be better served if, as a country in turmoil, they took a hard, honest look at the underbelly of of hatred, racism, and intolerance that exists in large pockets of the population. In hindsight, there may exist an overconfidence in just how strong your democratic values are. Until some humility and ownership of the fact that the USA may not be “without question” the greatest country in the world, there is little hope that it can right it’s wrongs. Hand wringing and bemoaning that “we’re better than this” is a false narrative that prevents real change from occurring.
5
I’ll say it again: the majority of Americans did NOT vote for Donald Trump!
1
Thank you for this brilliant analysis.
Is it possible to rouse what appears to be a moribund DNC with a Churchillian exhortation to fight Trump and his GOP lackeys: ".....fight (them) on the beaches......fight in the fields and in the streets.......fight in the hills......and never surrender."
I would redact Churchill's "empire beyond the seas", etc. in the same speech.
This should not come as a surprise because Trump thinks everything is about him.
3
This essay should be read aloud on the floor of the US Senate. Sadly, it would fall on the deaf ears of the GOP.
3
I spent the past few days writing emails to my European friends telling them to please forgive us for having to send the president be a part of this commemoration. This week has been THE lowest point of the past 29 months and counting. I hoped I wouldn't cry but I did. Normandy is such hallowed, sacred ground and he (and his entourage of children) have soiled it with, yet again, his foul presence.
6
Those who died at Normandy were led by men like FDR and Eisenhower. Now the military is headed by a draft dodger. Quite a change in effect over the years.
3
Bill Clinton also dodged the draft by going to England as a Rhodes Scholar. George W. Bush also dodged the draft by enlisting in the Reserves as did John Bolton.
Neither I nor my friends condone this person in the White House. Every day we work to getting he and his minions out of their positions. We hope and are working to change all of this and recover the great people we were and can be again.
3
A pox upon the office of President and the ideals of democracy. The boys who gave their lives at Normandy did so to rid the world of the pox of fascism of a previous era. We need to be just as diligent and brave today to protect our democratic form of government in order to honor their heroic sacrifices of 75 years ago.
1
America has a president who's never even gotten a speck of dirt beneath his nails. He's been soft as a marshmallow from day 1. What's more, he demonstrates that much of the American electorate (Trump's base) is utterly unworthy of the supreme sacrifices that were made on their behalf. They are to democracy what TV dinners are to fresh, healthy food.
2
Mr. Roger Cohen forgets that Donald Trump is the democratically elected President of the United States. His nationalistic fervor appealed to the US electorate and it is still appealing to a whole lot more people that the polling pundits want to believe. So, don’t diminish the importance of American nationalism.
It was the Mayor of London who wrote a petty article about Mr. Trump. In return, he received a good dose of what he deserved. Many British people dislike Sadiq Khan and what he represents. That is true for many Americans- those who follow world politics in general and terrorism in particular.
The sleights you sling towards the President do not matter to those who will elect him in 2020. Engage him on issues, issues the Democrats are incapable of handling.
Please move on. Hilary Clinton lost the 2016 election!
3
How many times does it have to be said: the majority of voters in the 2016 election did NOT vote for Donald Trump!!!
2
@Anaboz
If you know the rules of football, you may catch a ball out of bounds from a longer throw than 100 yards. It isn't a TC.
If the kick goes longer and higher but did not go through the goal post, it isn't a score either.
Hilary did not get get the majority of the electoral votes and so, she is working for the Clinton Foundation.
The Democrats cannot obey rules. It is a party of misguided people who behave in a thuggish way.
1
"The Donald Thinks D-Day Is About Him"
For heaven's sake, wake up Roger. He thinks everything is about him. Don't be surprised if he is actually thinking of:
“turning himself into stars and form a constellation in his image. He believes his face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun.”
1
Seeing photos of Trump greeting U.S. veterans in Normandy (with Macron's hand on his back) makes me wonder whether they voted for him. Old white men. Enough said.
1
Why? Because his name is Donald? Donald Duck deserves this day better than him.
3
I am sorry, Mr. President, the D Day commemorative is not about you. It is dedicated the memory of the thousands that died during the evasion or during the war in general. You were a coward. A coward dies 1000 times, a hero dies but once. Keep on dying,
4
I guess great minds think alike. Watching potus today, I had exactly the same thoughts as Roger Cohen memorializes, especially in the first four paragraphs of his piece. Trump sounded drugged and sedated and I had to wonder while he decried Nazism today if he still had the copy of Mein Kampf that he allegedly kept on his nightstand in years past. The whole First Family is a shameful embarrassment to America.
10
Bravo, Roger Cohen.
5
I'm the same age as Trump and one of the defining things of my childhood was the fact that all the fathers I grew up around as well as my own refugee from the Nazis dad fought for this country in WWII. But Trump's dad did not fight; he continued to work as a developer building homes for white people only. How he managed to avoid the draft is unknown but what is known is that he passed down his legacy of draft dodging and racism to his repulsive and utterly ignorant son.
I'd like to say he doesn't represent the US but unfortunately for us he does represent one very large part of the US who continue to support his every autocratic desire. He is a true descendant of the America Firsters who wanted to deny my family entrance to the US and those who shrugged their shoulders at Hitler. Fortunately for us and for the world they were in the minority then and decent humans saw beyond themselves and their own personal interests. Not Trump's family then; not Trump or his family now.
11
Let's remember that many of these young men of the allied forces were sons of fathers who twenty years earlier had fought in the war to end all wars. It was true for the Nazis also, and tragic as well for those boys who did not rally to that narcissistic cause but were fed into the war.
I remember reading that after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hitler, afraid we wouldn't pay him any mind declared war on the U.S. A personality trait playing out by our current president I posit.
3
It s time for Democrats to muster their own D-Day courage and defend democracy from this criminal and despot.
3
Trump is an ignorant fool. We already know this.
Eisenhower, however, is a huge hypocrite. For him to speak of systems of preserving self-government, we must add the caveat "As long as that system is beneficial to the US." This is the president who brought down democratically elected leaders in the Americas in favor of US business interest and the United Fruit company.
Im proud to be an American, but it is time we stop glorifying the past. We have an obligation, because we have the opportunity and power to do the right thing, to help other countries without worrying about how it benefits us. We are reaping what our predecessors have sowed for the good, bad. I for one am disgusted by the two-faced game of "doing the right thing" when the economics favor us, the US.
4
You neglected to mention that "he" considers those who walked among Nazi flag holders, rather than break ranks with them, to be "very fine people." That veterans generally, and particularly descendants of WWII veterans, continue to look the other way, will forever astound, sadden, and disgust me.
6
You neglected to mention that "he" considers those who walked among Nazi flag holders, rather than break ranks with them, to be "very fine people." That veterans generally, and particularly descendants of WWII veterans, continue to look the other way, will forever astound, sadden, and disgust me.
2
Excellent portrayal of U.S. debasement on account of Trump's idiocy and his radical dualism of perverse ignorance (by choice) with expert demagoguery and constant lying. But don't you think that expecting decency from a totally uneducated 'racist' egomaniac (like father like son) is like 'pulling teeth'? Trump is an awful bully least deserving to represent these United States in world affairs, as he tries to grab all the attention towards his ugly persona, as you mentioned his behavior, like 'rabid dog' attacks, unprovoked, and full of spite. There is much we need to atone to, and regain the trust of our friends and Allies...unless we try to resuscitate a previous Secretary of State's comments, that the United States doesn't have friends, just interests.
4
Haters gotta hate, and Mr. Cohen really outdoes himself here. Clearly, nothing that Trump could do, or not do, would please him, so the bottom line of this column, as well as so many others, is foreseeable. Cohen's attempt to turn Sadiq into some sort of victim/hero, however, is particularly ludicrous.
1
While America is better than this as an aspirational statement may be a stirring sentimental call, the hard reality is much grimmer and predates DJT. We bought the Madison Avenue campaign of American Exceptionalism decades ago. Shining examples from Normandy notwithstanding, there was Jim Crow, lynching black men as public entertainment, Shah Reza Pahlavi, ignoring the military-industrial complex, the Bay of Pigs, Tonkin Gulf, Nazis marching in Skokie, WMD in Iraq… I could go on; however, these antecedents are all well known and we did nothing to stop them. Even more damning, we did nothing to hold the malefactors accountable.
T. S. Elliott was right. It will end with a whimper, because we did this to ourselves.
4
@Billfer
Recognizing one's faults and limitations, personal and collectively. require maturity. Neither our current President nor our nation have moved beyond adolescence.
1
Thank you! So very well said.
I could not even listen to his speech.
How did we get to this point..? We really need to think about what has happened to Congress over the last several years..the Tea Party? What has happened to the NRA? It used to be an organization of responsible, good people.
Trump and all the rest really scare me and I wondered just what is behind it all!
4
Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
I feel the heat of your outrage and share it, as do hundreds of millions of people around the world.
5
Agreed - America IS better than Trump!
But the America we live in today looks very different than that of Eisenhower, Roosevelt and others who dealt with WWII and the Great Depression. Indeed, the America of today is increasingly run by corporations (think Citizens United) and power grabs by unscrupulous politicians.
So perhaps it would be better stated: Americans ARE better than Trump, but our system suffers from bad decisions giving outsized power to bad people.
We can fix this - get informed and vote!
7
I have been asking friends about how much they anticipate donating to Democrats running in 2020 Senate elections and to the Democratic candidate. Probably a very biased sample. It turns out that money ("10 times as much as I have ever given") is just a part of it. They are going to voter suppression areas and registering voters as well.
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@Emory I certainly will be donating more money. I live in California so will be donating to the opponents of the Trumpists in other states.
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But Nunes, McCarthy, Meadows and Jim Jordan high on your list, I hope. They are unbearable.
Those who support the rule of law and the right to live in freedom and freedom from fear must take the baton from the people who fought and sacrificed on the Normandy beaches in resistance to Trump and to nationalist movements around the world. They must also work on a new, new deal to ensure workers' rights and basic living standards, to disassemble extreme wealth concentration and monopolies that stifle competition and lock others out from improving their lives and succeeding.
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Imposter says it all. Trump is in no way representative of what it means to be viewed for the principles and values our republic is known for. We respect and help our neighbors because we can and it simply is the right thing to do. We are not and have never been perfect, but we also have never been as horrendously hideous and disingenuous as Trump himself. The world laughs at us for no other reason than we were stupid enough to allow such an abomination to sit on the throne. He is not who we are or aspire to be. He is not us, he is indeed an imposter.
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Watching the scene at Normandy today, presided over by our feckless President, another image flashed in mind that I saw earlier this morning. A video of the deplorable conditions in the concentration camps growing on our Southern border, filled with children being used as hostages. 75 years ago how many heroes died to rid the World of the horrors of Fascism, only to find its ugly visage creeping in again. How can people be so heartless, How can people be so cruel? Where have all the heroes gone?
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@bahcom
If you think it’s only there - a well established non-profit group home, home to my handicapped brother for the last 25 years, left one of the residents lay in bed bugs until his 80 year-old mother climbed the steps to his room and discovered it. Conditions are horrendous in the US for those for whom no one cares.
Thanks Roger, you've captured the essence of our vile president and the party that so cowardly enables him.
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