Justin Trudeau removing his umbrella at a war memorial frames him as the antithesis to Trump

Correction: An earlier version of this article framed a year-old video of Justin Trudeau as current. The headline, along with the article body, has been updated throughout.

PARIS , FRANCE — President Donald J. Trump was scheduled to appear at a ceremony to commemorate the end of WWI and to honor dead American soldiers in France this Saturday, but canceled due to poor weather conditions and safety concerns. Legitimate excuse or not, he was the target of a huge social media backlash, and an old video of Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau is going viral.

Trump was scheduled to pay tribute at a ceremony at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, about 85 km (50 miles) east of Paris, with First Lady Melania, but his last minute cancelation had his critics slamming him for “dishonoring” the dead. At a ceremony in Compiègne the same day, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, clasped hands in a solemn show of unity. Trudeau was on hand for the occasion, but it was a speech he gave in August of last year at a WWII memorial that ended up getting all the attention.

The year-old video shows Trudeau taking down his umbrella, folding it up, and handing it off. The rain poured down on him as he continued to speak.

“As we sit here in the rain, thinking how uncomfortable we must be these minutes as our suits get wet and our hair gets wet and our shoes get wet, I think it’s all the more fitting that we remember on that day, in Dieppe, the rain wasn’t rain, it was bullets,” Trudeau said.

As Trudeau trolled Trump from the past, people in the present piled on as well.

“On the Marine Corps’ 243rd birthday, President Trump has cancelled, because of light rain, his long-planned attendance at the ceremony at Aisne-Marne, where Marines who fought at Belleau Wood are buried,” Weekly Standard Editor at Large Bill Kristol tweeted. “The [White House Chief of Staff] and [Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman] will be there. The President couldn’t be bothered.”

“Of all the ‘imagine-if-Obama-had-done it’ stories, Trump’s failure to honor the fallen Americans in France because of (light?) rain may be THE most ‘imagine-if-Obama-had-done-it’ of all,” political analyst Jeff Greenfield tweeted.

To Trudeau back in 2017, the rain was “all too fitting.”

“Today, and everyday, we recommit ourselves to the pursuit of peace and justice for all,” he said. “Today, and all days, we remember.”

Watch the video below, via CBC:

Featured image via screen grab/CBC

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.