This story didn’t get a lot of attention at the time and where the right-wing media picked it up at all, they naturally made a huge (negative) deal out of it. Given the daily torrent of bad behavior emanating from Donald Trump’s presidency, it’s good to remember what presidential “scandals” used to look like.
When Pres. Obama boarded Marine in May 2013, he forgot to follow a tradition: saluting the Marine who was standing at attention waiting for him to enter.
In 1981, Pres. Ronald Reagan began the tradition of saluting Marines who worked around the White House. From NPR:
[Reagan] asked Gen. Robert Barrow, then-commandant of the Marines, if he could salute the Marines working around the White House.
Barrow responded with what now seems pretty obvious, “Sir, you can salute whomever you want,” according to Carey Winfrey, former Marine and former editor of Smithsonian Magazine.
President Obama, upon realizing his error, immediately turned around to go shake the Marine’s hand. The Marine, smiling, said “Thank you, sir.”
Of course, Trump would never disrespect the military right?
