Today, we honor our fallen heroes who gave the last, full measure of their devotion so that we as Americans may leave freely.
How do the presumptive 2016 and 2012 Republican nominees commemorate Memorial Day on Twitter? Let’s see who wore it best.
First, thoughts last Memorial Day from presumptive 2016 nominee Donald Trump:
I would like to wish everyone, including all haters and losers (of which, sadly, there are many) a truly happy and enjoyable Memorial Day!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2015
Now contrast this with the message from the 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney:
“Today is the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will ever have to die for us again.” – Ronald Reagan
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 30, 2016
From this we see that Romney’s instinct is to highlight something greater than himself. Trump, reality show star and known bully, can’t help but make this day of sacrifice about himself.
It’s no wonder that Trump stiffed veterans of the $1 million he promised them earlier this year, reportedly paying only after he was called out by a Washington Post journalist.
Twitter didn’t take kindly to Trump’s sentiment:
@iowahawkblog @realDonaldTrump He’s just like Ronal Reagan…minus a single ounce of sense or decency.
— Pradheep Shanker MD (@Neoavatara) May 25, 2015
@ChampagneKitty @margaritateresa @SimonMaloy @realDonaldTrump Indeed..Personally I find him the “hater.”
— Melinda D. Collins (@mdcolliM) May 25, 2015
@HOUmanReporter <–Geez! Had to make it about you, huh? @SimonMaloy
— Ella Wigginton (@Ella_Boo_Bella) May 30, 2016
@mdcolliM@margaritateresa@SimonMaloy@realDonaldTrump Very very tacky.
— ChampagneKitty (@ChampagneKitty) May 25, 2015
It’s no wonder then that so many voters are fed up with the designated Republican and Democratic candidates and are very open to a third-party alternative.
To our fallen soldiers this Memorial Day, we salute you, unconditionally.
Photo by The U.S. National Archives
**Update** Several commenters have pointed out, as correctly cited in the original post, that Trump’s Tweet was from 2015, and Romney’s Tweet from 2016. This is irrelevant, given the fact that Trump made the Tweet mere weeks prior to launching his presidential campaign and just prior to insulting war hero Sen. John McCain for his military capture. While serving in uniform, McCain suffered horrors that most of us will never know at the hands of foreign enemies.
Also check out Romney’s 2015 Memorial Day Tweet, which speaks for itself:
Thankful today and every day for “heroes proved in liberating strife.” #MemorialDay
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 25, 2015
Gloves Donahue
May 30, 2016 at 4:14 pm
Romney is an adult, a decent and capable man who would be an excellent president.
Trump is a lout.
zeph
May 30, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Romney is a duplicitous piece of shit and criminal. Trump is a true patriot constantly under attack. Pretty gracious, considering.
Dancing Queen
May 30, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Yet Romney is actively working (along with CoC) to turn this country into a 3rd world shit hole with open boarders and starting wars and importing “refugees” from said war.
Actions, not words, matter.
ron
May 30, 2016 at 10:34 pm
Romney is an imature lying spoiled turd who cares more about himself than the country just a white obama
Sara Paterson
May 31, 2016 at 3:42 pm
Romney is a sore loser, psychotic conn man, not with a ounce of credit-ability or honesty in him,
jules
May 30, 2016 at 4:26 pm
Did anyone notice Trump’s tweet is from 2015?
Kyle Lyles
May 30, 2016 at 5:07 pm
Yeah, I’ve been following him since 1980, this is very typical speech from the draft dodging coward.
zeph
May 30, 2016 at 5:11 pm
Prove it, TROLL.
themooniac
May 31, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Uh, just Google it.
Dancing Queen
May 30, 2016 at 6:31 pm
PSST: Romney dodged the draft
TTASS... (° ͜ʖ͡°)... Indeed !
May 30, 2016 at 7:23 pm
Clinton went AWOL!
HROÐGAR RÁÐÚLFR
May 30, 2016 at 10:22 pm
And Bernie was a conscientious objector. More like a Communist sympathizer, but whatever.
HROÐGAR RÁÐÚLFR
May 30, 2016 at 10:24 pm
George W. Bush served in the National Guard during Vietnam and didn’t meet his full requirements, and everybody knows that only kids of the wealthiest and most powerful got into the “champagne” unit to avoid going to Vietnam.
Lilytiger
May 31, 2016 at 1:04 pm
And Trump bravely fought in that same war, as I recall, and didn’t dodge the draft at all and he avoided capture too because he’s a winner. Didn’t he defeat 5 Vietcong in a ninja battle to the death?
ron
May 30, 2016 at 10:32 pm
Are you a billionare how long did you serve
Jerry Yates
May 31, 2016 at 4:28 am
You had twitter in 1980?
daisy65014
May 31, 2016 at 6:26 am
he was and is never draft dodger u are a troll….his number was high and never came Trump has said that many times…and the pettiness on putting that crap out on a day we remember our dead soldiers…is unforgivable…
Well Done
May 31, 2016 at 1:23 pm
You are full of shiite, you rancid bee itch.
jmarie
May 30, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Good eye! This is this year’s Memorial Day tweet:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump May 29
Honor Memorial Day by thinking of and respecting all of the great men and women that gave their lives for us and our country! We love them.
14,890 retweets 38,455 likes
Lou W
May 31, 2016 at 8:34 am
Notice they “updated” about the incorrect dates, but DID NOT publish the 2016 Trump tweet…typical! Thank you jmarie for informing readers.
Lilytiger
May 31, 2016 at 1:25 pm
Well, of course–that’s what he writes when he pretends to be presidential.
TTASS... (° ͜ʖ͡°)... Indeed !
May 30, 2016 at 7:23 pm
It’s a fake tweet!
That guy.
May 30, 2016 at 8:36 pm
Don’t let a little thing like facts get in the way of a chance to tell us Trump is the devil.
Lilytiger
May 31, 2016 at 1:07 pm
What he says when all eyes are on him in 2016 vs what he said in 2015 when they were not says a lot about Trump.
Well Done
May 31, 2016 at 1:26 pm
Snivelling about a year-old tweet shows the sour grapes Trump-haters use to make their whine. Speaking of a third-party Libertarian candidate shows Trump-haters are really Hillary agents.
Lilytiger
May 31, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Beautiful whine/ wine tie-in–you must’ve been practicing that one all day. But more importantly, are you saying that libertarians are spies for Hillary?
marinababe
May 30, 2016 at 11:03 pm
thanks
Ronda S
May 31, 2016 at 12:23 am
that speaks volumes about these peoples credibility. they’re just trying to bring him down-won’t happen.
drphibes
May 30, 2016 at 4:43 pm
Romney was and is an example of pale pastels, not the bold colors called for by Reagan. His losing bid was fundamentally dishonest.
Kyle Lyles
May 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm
While Draft Dodging Donnie’s color is black. The color of dead brain cells.
drphibes
May 31, 2016 at 12:53 pm
Ad Hominem pap.
zeph
May 30, 2016 at 5:11 pm
I’d characterize him in dinge brown.
Lilytiger
May 31, 2016 at 1:10 pm
I’d say Trump is a puke green
Cameron Sly
May 30, 2016 at 5:04 pm
Keep crying losers!!!!
Kyle Lyles
May 30, 2016 at 5:09 pm
2016 will hail in our first Third Party President thanks to the two brain dead Liberal New York Democrats.
TTASS... (° ͜ʖ͡°)... Indeed !
May 30, 2016 at 7:26 pm
You mean the Libertarian party that had one of it’s Presidential candidate strip naked in front of the crowd at their convention?
Not likely.
David M
May 30, 2016 at 5:30 pm
On this day remember Sessions, McConnell, Rubio, Ayotte, Toomey … soldiers all for Trump! Remember the fallen GOP.
Tom Allsup
May 30, 2016 at 5:30 pm
I like that Mitt, unable to come up with anything respectable just cosigned a much greater man’s thoughts. “Hey look at me, I’m just like Ron!” Nice try, Mittens.
ArtStoneUS
May 30, 2016 at 11:37 pm
I remember Ronald Reagan, and Mitt Romney is no Ronald Reagan
Lilytiger
May 31, 2016 at 1:08 pm
He’s too busy drafting his acceptance speech for a third party run.
cmztrav✓ᵀᴿᵁᴹᴾ
May 30, 2016 at 7:13 pm
This is a trash article. Notice the dates.
That guy.
May 30, 2016 at 8:39 pm
“Several commenters have pointed out, as correctly cited in the original post, that Trump’s Tweet was from 2015, and Romney’s Tweet from 2016. This is irrelevant, given the fact that Trump made the Tweet a mere weeks prior to launching his presidential campaign and just prior to insulting war hero Sen. John McCain for his military capture.”
Yeah, it kind of is relevant. If you’re going to ignore Trump’s 2016 tweet, then you need to ignore Romney’s, too.
ElSid
May 30, 2016 at 10:21 pm
You could at least be honest about the tweets, and use tweets from the current year.
USDC
May 30, 2016 at 10:29 pm
Mitt Romney could not win dog catcher election any town in Massachusetts. Just saying
ArtStoneUS
May 30, 2016 at 11:35 pm
Neither could William Weld
marinababe
May 30, 2016 at 11:02 pm
no, they didn’t realize it was an old tweet because the media, including kristol are the silent germans
Jonnie Griffin
May 31, 2016 at 3:49 am
As you cast your vote for a third party, remember that you just gave Hillary a vote to replace the next Supreme Court judge. Our country will be changed for the next 100 years….if we survive.
Ali Gori
May 31, 2016 at 6:22 am
Shame on Trump for not pandering for politics
Cliff
May 31, 2016 at 7:15 am
What a joke of a story. And all for what? Do they oay you people for this trite? You want more lefty damage on our nation. You think it can take even more degeneration.
2015 tweet before Trump was candidate. Romney was candidate. No image of yesterday’s tweet. Trump is right – DISHONEST!
Cliff
May 31, 2016 at 7:16 am
*Do they pay you people for this trite?*
John Richter
May 31, 2016 at 10:19 am
Jindal last election,-“We have to quit being the party of stupid”. Trump this election,- “I love poorly educated people.” Obviously Trump knows what works.
Greg Burton
May 31, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Last year’s tweet? And you never show this year’s tweet? SHAME ON YOU SHEFFIELD
Sara Paterson
May 31, 2016 at 3:27 pm
What an interesting week of events, the timing schemes of all involved. A manufactured day where the Hillary Clinton E-mail scandel was reported by a (Democratic Picked) IG State department of when she was SOS. The timeline of how it fell on a holiday weekend, The dishonest reporting and spins on all major UM Major news stations Fox, CNN, MSNBC. Then you get this Idiot Bill Kristol inject himself into the Politics of the events and announced that somehow they found a SuperPac that will fund a Independent contest for the White-house and he will announce shortly who it is but its going to be someone Big. How Pathetically Assassin twisted that this news comes out now after the Deadline to Launch a bid Passed up in like 8 States. Who is pilling the strings, Purse Strings for the super pack? Who is donating for this Super Pac? Is it a shady or dirty money from Foreign governments? Then you got people pulling Bill Krisrol strings to now stick his 2 cents in and you also to Say compare the 2 different Memorial Texts one from Bill Kristol the other from Trump. Since he list his Presidential Bid in 2012 by choking out the last 8 weeks. This Cycle Romney is a clown who seeks the attention from anyone who will give it to him. Romney plagiarized Ronald Regan in a Memorial Holiday Tweet. Donald Trumps was Original, Real and was appropriate, because a lot of Haters been hating on him and it’s very clear that he does not talk like a regular disbarred trial Lawyer trying to take a swing at Politics, In other words he does not talk like he s in a courtroom all day. He talks like he is a builder and developer with vision into the future on projects and talking to the contractors doing the job. I just get so sick of the Spin and the Sociopathic style News Reporting and tag teaming Trump with Intelligently Dishonest arguments.
killuminati
May 31, 2016 at 4:54 pm
McCain is NOT a war HERO! Only right wing neocons believe he is a hero. McCain sold out his friends for safey. He is the same one who has funded and aided terrorsts in the middle east. Guy should be charged for treason, along with Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Graham, Romney
cynthia curran
June 1, 2016 at 1:03 am
Gee, that sounds like the left, they always wanted Bush, Cheney, Graham to be charged with treason.
killuminati
May 31, 2016 at 4:56 pm
Just to show you how biased media is. They showed a tweet of Trump from 2015 and did not correct it until people called them out on it. Your attempt to correct yourself is lame. If you want to go back to everything people say in past, why dont you quote Romney for calling Trump a great smart business man??? Oh wait, was that only good when he was accepting money?
Roughriderz
June 1, 2016 at 2:48 pm
Carrie Sheffield, you are terrible at your job. For even an idiot like me it took all of about 2 seconds to see that Mr. Trump’s post was from a year ago…..nice try but maybe you should reconsider changing careers.