President Trump put America’s bravest warriors at the center of the room Thursday during a visit to the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas.

Before delivering remarks, the President walked the museum floor and personally greeted the men whose valor earned the nation’s highest military decoration.

The scene spoke for itself: President Trump moving down the line, shaking each recipient’s hand and taking time with the heroes gathered around him.

Watch:

The visit came during President Trump’s two-day Texas swing for the Republican midterm convention in nearby Dallas. But inside the museum, the focus moved away from campaigns and elections and toward courage, sacrifice and the Americans who ran toward danger when their country called.

The visit brought President Trump together with more than a dozen Medal of Honor recipients for a museum tour, personal greetings and remarks before he returned to Dallas for the convention’s second night.

ADVERTISEMENT

The timing added another layer to the moment. President Trump’s stop came one day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and he was joined by Global War on Terrorism Medal of Honor recipients whose service belongs to the long American answer to that terrible morning.

The President called the museum an “American treasure” devoted to the best and bravest warriors in the country.

Here was his tribute:

The National Medal of Honor Museum explains just how rare that company is. More than 40 million Americans have served in the Armed Forces since the Civil War, yet fewer than 4,000 have received the Medal of Honor.

Recipients are recognized for gallantry and courage above and beyond the call of duty, at the risk of their own lives. They also hold a singular place in military tradition: they are saluted by every rank, including the President of the United States.

That history surrounds visitors in Arlington. The museum preserves the recipients’ stories through battlefield exhibits, artifacts and immersive presentations built to show how ordinary Americans made extraordinary decisions in the worst possible moments.

President Trump has repeatedly said he would rather hold the Medal of Honor than occupy the Oval Office. On Thursday, he returned to that theme with the kind of unscripted humor that instantly turns into a headline.

He joked that he had studied the matter and might simply give himself the award — then warned the room that sarcasm in politics is dangerous because the press would report the line as a serious demand.

The crowd knew exactly what he was doing, and President Trump delivered the punchline anyway:

The joke will get plenty of attention. The image that deserves to last is the one that came before it: a President standing shoulder to shoulder with men who wear the Medal, listening to them and making sure the country sees them.

ADVERTISEMENT

Washington spends most days treating fame, power and political combat as the highest forms of achievement. The Medal of Honor cuts through all of that.

It honors the moment when an American chose duty over safety, his brothers over himself, and action over fear.

President Trump’s visit gave those heroes the stage. That is exactly where they belong.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.