Ever since he was elected the President of the United States, Donald Trump has loved drawing comparisons with his predecessor, Barrack Obama.
His recent visit to Yad Vashem – Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust – starkly brings out the gulf between the present and former heads of state.
Famous visitors to the memorial typically show reverence by writing a message in the Book of Remembrance. Trump chose to write about the wonderful time he was having during his visit. His message was originally tweeted by Ian Bremmer, an American political scientist specialising in US foreign policy.
Trump’s message read:
“It is a great honour to be here with all my friends! So amazing and will never forget!”
The upbeat and self-absorbed nature of Trump’s message quickly attracted criticism, with many on Twitter lambasting him for treating the visit with the same casual irreverence as his tweets.
In stark contrast, President Obama had penned a thoughtful message during his visit to the memorial in July 2008.
Obama’s message read:
I am grateful to Yad Vashem and all those responsible for this remarkable institution. At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man’s potential for great evil, but also our capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world. Let our children come here, and know this history, so that they can add their voices to proclaim ‘never again’. And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.
Twitter users drew similar comparisons to a message written by Trump’s presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, who, like Obama, penned a sombre message that reflected the memorial’s significance.
While former President George W Bush’s message was even shorter than Trump’s, the sentiment is likely to have resonated much louder with Israelis.
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