HOLIDAY/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump, who has expressed regret for skipping a visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, made an unscheduled stop at the site Saturday [12-15-18] under drizzling skies to observe the thousands of Christmas wreaths left each year at military grave sites. In rainy, 53-degree weather, Trump traveled to the 624-acre U.S.military cemetery without the usual presidential coterie of advisers and staffers. He was visiting Section 60, where military personnel killed in the Global War on Terror since 2001 are interred. Holding a black umbrella in his left hand, the commander-in-chief — wearing an overcoat and red and white striped tie — strode among the grave sites. Volunteers led by Wreaths Across America have placed wreaths on headstones. The visit in a steady rain offered a touch of irony, since the White House had blamed rain for the president’s decision not to visit a U.S. cemetery in France last month, which marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.”
–Doug Stanglin, “Trump visits Arlington Cemetery in the rain, viewing Christmas wreaths at grave sites,” USA Today, December 15, 2018 4:11 pm