Dem
47
GOP
53
World War I was supposed to be "the war to end all wars." Thanks to the armistice worked out by the warring factions, the shooting stopped on November 11, 1918. And all of the victorious nations turned this date into a national holiday, meant to honor: (1) the people who fought and/or died in the conflict and (2) the "end" of warfare.
Of course, warfare did not end with World War I. There was, as you may have heard, an even bigger war just over 20 years later (or less than 20 years later, if you are Asian). Once World War II ended, with the Allies again victorious, the November 11 date was retained, but the name was changed to Veterans Day. That proved to be a fortuitously generic choice, since World War II did not turn out to be the "end" of warfare, either.
Yesterday, apparently pleased by the response to the "Gulf of America," Donald Trump made the following announcement on his meme-stock social media platform:
Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II. I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I. We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything—That's because we don't have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!
Did someone put this idea into his head (Laura Loomer? Charlie Kirk?), or does he come up with these things all by himself?
First, let's talk history. It is true that May 8 is Victory in Europe Day (a.k.a. V-E Day). Perhaps Trump is unaware, however, that there was also a war over in the Pacific, and that World War II did not actually end until August 15, 1945, which was Victory over Japan day (a.k.a. V-J Day). Some readers may have heard about it; it was in all the papers. Also, the claim that the U.S. did more than any other country to win the war is... arguable. The U.K, the U.S.S.R., Australia, Canada and France, among others, fought the Axis for considerably longer, and some of those nations paid a considerably higher price in terms of blood and treasure. Even if the U.S. actually WAS the biggest contributor to the Allied victory, it was not "by far."
Now, let's talk politics. Broadly speaking, Americans in general, and veterans in particular, are not fond of mucking around with tradition like this. (Z) lives just a few blocks from a very large park dedicated to veterans, and when it was substantially renovated a few years ago, a decision was made to change the message on the gate from "Duty, Honor, Country" to "Beauty, Honor, Country." When a bunch of veterans saw that on re-dedication day, they blew multiple gaskets. It was changed back within a week (no small feat, as the letters were steel set in granite).
Speaking more specifically, there are no living veterans of World War I. Their children are largely gone, too. So, there won't be too many people out there who will be grateful for the newfound recognition. On the other hand, changing things so that the U.S. specifically honors World War I and V-E Day shows a lack of respect for veterans of the WWII Pacific War. Some of those folks are still alive, and so too are their children and grandchildren. In fact, one of their grandchildren is writing this very item. It also shows a lack of respect for veterans who served after V-E Day, from Korea to Afghanistan, and who are about to lose the holiday that, until yesterday, also honored them.
So, this looks like yet another unforced error by Trump, in which he aggravates a bunch of voters in service of... wait, what's the benefit here, again? (Z)