What Kind of Man Is in the White House? One Who Honors Our Nation's Veterans. Here's a Story You Haven't Heard

President Donald Trump lays a wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Solider at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 29, 2017, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump lays a wreath at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 29, 2017, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Donald Trump wants everyone to know he supports veterans — on Monday, he became the first sitting president to lead NYC’s Veteran’s Day Parade.

He’s the first to accept the invitation, even though the United Veterans War Council has asked every Commander-in-Chief since 1985.

It’d be easy to think Trump would take such an opportunity for the political currency it provides, and surely the man’s critics will do just that.

But, as it turns out, he was helping the parade long before the world was watching.

In mid-August of 1995 — less than three months before the big day, parade organizers had just $1.21 in the official coffer. They’d received nothing from the 200 corporations — including military contractors — they’d approached for donations.

At the time, parade Executive Director Tom Fox summed it up to The New York Times:

“Zippo, dada, zilch. Nothing from Northrup, United Technologies, none of them. To me, it’s a sin.”

And that’s when a certain celebrated, eccentric billionaire — who would, we seem to have been told, add an “R” to his name decades later and magically transform into a Third-Reich Beelzebub — came to the rescue.

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According to parade organizer Vincent McGowan, New York’s famed real estate mogul gave between $325,000 and $375,000.

Once Trump ponied up, other major donations followed.

The show’s budget was adjusted to $2.4 million from 2.9, and veterans got their day in the Big Apple.

Donald requested to lead the parade back then, but he wasn’t allowed because he was not a veteran.

So Monday was due time for the President as well as for the parade — time for him to be part of a great showing of American patriotism he’s believed in for years.

As noted by The Daily Caller, the parade benefaction wasn’t Trump’s first gift to vets: In 1985, he dispensed $1 million to the Marine Corps Law-Enforcement Foundation, which provides education opportunities to children of Marines and police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.

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So what kind of man do we have in the White House? One certainly flawed, yet a leader with particular qualities befitting of service to the nation.

And one of those is evident today, as it was nearly 35 years ago: President Donald Trump is a man who believes in honoring veterans.

-ALEX

 

See more pieces from me:

Trump Remembers America’s Veterans — How Does He Measure Up?

President Trump Keeps His Awesome Promise To A 95-Year-Old Veteran

During Saturday’s ‘Wreaths Across America,’ Arlington Received A Surprise Visitor; And He Came Alone

Find all my RedState work here.

And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.

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