Trump’s Unannounced Trip Was to Visit Family of Recently Slain Navy Seal

If you ever want to judge a president’s character, all you need to do is to look at one thing: how he treats the men and women who serve our country.

We got a glimpse of just how much the military means to President Donald Trump on Wednesday when he slipped out of Washington on an unannounced trip to fly to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and pay his respects to a fallen Navy SEAL who died in Yemen.

According to CNN, Trump traveled to Delaware along with his daughter Ivanka and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat. They were there to honor Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, an Illinois native who died of wounds he suffered during an anti-terror operation against al-Qaida in the war-torn Arabian Peninsula country.

Owens’ family was also at the base to meet the body, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to The Hill, Trump left the White House aboard Marine One at 3 p.m. and landed in Dover at 3:51. An Air Force C-17 transport carrying Owens’ body arrived 10 minutes later.

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The operation where Owens died killed three senior Al Qaeda operatives and an estimated 14 terrorists in total, according to CNN. It was approved by Trump, but had been in the works since the Obama administration. Owens’ death marks the first soldier killed in combat during Trump’s presidency.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the raid had given American intelligence officials “an unbelievable amount of intelligence that will prevent the potential deaths or attacks on American soil.”

Trump himself later described the military ritual — known as a “dignified transfer” of soldiers’ remains — as “very sad, very beautiful” during the swearing in of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

His presence in Dover was unusual all by itself, because as CNN put it, “Presidents don’t often attend dignified transfer ceremonies.”

Former President Obama attended several high-profile ones — most notably after 38 U.S. and Afghan troops were killed during a 2011 raid. Trump, however, did so on the occasion of the very first service member killed during his presidency. And he did it without calling attention to himself.

All I have to say is: Can you picture Hillary Clinton doing that? I don’t think so.

H/T Politico

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