Trump really didn't want to give a speech to the troops, he says during speech to the troops

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images )

President Trump didn't want to be torn away from his golf club in New Jersey, where he spent the weekend, but a persistent congresswoman persuaded him to fly to upstate New York to address the troops.

Trump delivered a speech to recognize his signing of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, somehow managing not to use McCain's name at all during his appearance. The defense spending bill's signing ceremony was in Fort Drum, New York, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) had apparently been working hard to bring Trump to her district for the occasion.

"She called me so many times," Trump said of Stefanik. "I said, 'I don't want to take her call.' She wanted me to be here, I said, 'I won't be able to, we'll have to change a lot of scheduling.' But that didn't suit her, she didn't stop, and here I am. Here I am."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

While publicly acknowledging that he didn't particularly want to be there may have seemed like a risky move, Trump's speech garnered applause from the troops in the audience and a warm handshake from Stefanik herself. Watch the moment below, via Fox News. Summer Meza

See more

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Summer Meza

Summer is news editor at TheWeek.com, and has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Santa Clara University, she now lives in New York with two cats.