Trump solemnly marks Holocaust in ceremony
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump delivered a sober and uplifting speech Tuesday recognizing the Holocaust and emphasizing the need to speak out against evil, two weeks after his press secretary apologized for a series of awkward remarks about the dark chapter in Jewish history.
Trump struck a far more formal tone than usual, sticking closely to written remarks in front of a group at the Capitol that included survivors and lawmakers as part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s National Days of Remembrance.
“We must never, ever shrink away from telling the truth about evil in our time,” Trump said.
“Evil can only thrive in darkness, and what you have brought us today is so much more powerful than evil,” he added. “You have brought us hope.”
Trump told stories of American soldiers liberating death camps, warned against those who would deny the Holocaust and praised survivors who offered hope to the world, including Elie Wiesel, a writer and intellectual who died last year.
“Through their suffering they have persevered, they have thrived and they have enlightened the world,” Trump said.
Trump also pledged to confront anti-Semitism and stand by Israel.
Press secretary Sean Spicer attracted unwanted attention two weeks ago, the first day of Passover, when he inaccurately compared Adolf Hitler with Syrian President Bashar Assad, stating that Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War II. Clumsy attempts to clarify included a reference to “Holocaust Centers,” likely referring to death camps.
The administration also neglected to mention Jews in a January statement observing International Holocaust Remembrance Day. And Trump personally lashed out at a reporter in February during a news conference when he was asked how the government would respond to an uptick in bomb threats against Jewish gathering places.
Tuesday’s remarks came a day after some ArmenianAmericans criticized the White House’s refusal to use the word “genocide” to describe the massacre of more than 1 million Armenians in a statement commemorating the 102nd anniversary of the killings at the hands of Ottoman Turks.