SerpApi.Org
The president is facing major backlash after pictures taken at the dignified transfer this afternoon appeared to show him failing to bow as a mark of respect.
Trump attended a dignified transfer at an air force base in Delaware for four U.S. service members who were killed in the Middle East over the past week. The deaths came amid a renewed escalation in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Trump was joined by top administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
As they stood in a row, cameras captured them bowing their heads in a show of respect for the fallen soldiers, as the coffins of Army 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Army Staff Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, Army Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad and Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, were transferred.
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As the solemn moment was captured, people immediately pointed out that Trump was the only person in the line-up who did not bow his head.
“No awareness. No respect. The man is a delusional puppet,” one user wrote in response to the image. Another added, “He can’t even bow his head?”
Other users were even more outraged by the incident, with one calling him “disgraceful” and another asserting that he is an “embarrassment to the country.”
In other images, shared by NBC News, Trump can be seen turning to face the coffin and salute as the U.S. Army team carried the transfer case.
Earlier in the day, Trump spoke to the press before boarding Air Force One, and said he was going to the dignified transfer to "honor our heroes."
"It’s one of the hardest things to do, for me, it’s one of the hardest things to do as a president, but has to be done," Trump told reporters, who asked what he would say to the families of the young soldiers who gave their lives in his Middle Eastern war.
"We love you,” Trump said. “We love your child, and that’s what they are to them. They’re their children. There’s no games, no nothing. That’s their child, and all you can do is throw out your heart."
Three of the deceased were killed in an Iranian missile strike on a military base in Jordan, while the fourth was killed during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone in northern Iraq.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump gave no indication that he would be easing up in the war that has now stretched across six months, with no end in sight. He issued a brutal warning to Iran that the U.S. would destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
