Trump condemned for politicising Thanksgiving Day call to troops

Mr Trump talked to military serving in Afghanistan

Donald Trump has been criticised for politicising a Thanksgiving Day call to troops, in which he condemned a court that had recently ruled against his administration’s immigrations plans.

Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to troops in Afghanistan, the president thanked the military personnel for their service, expressing his “profound gratitude”, and adding: “Your courage truly inspires us.”

But Mr Trump was condemned for then taking the call in a political direction and lambasting judges who had ruled against him, the kind of political rhetoric presidents tend to avoid on such occasions.

The president started by asking Brigadier Gen David Lyons of the US Air Force, how the mission in Afghanistan was progressing. “Well both the Taliban and Isis are resilient adversaries, but I think we’re doing well. We get after them every single day,” the officer replied.

“Our objective here is to fight the away game. And so what I mean by that, we never want this adversary to reach our shores again.”

Mr Trump seized on the officer’s comments, to say: “You said what you said better than anybody could have said, keep them away from our shores and that’s why we’re doing the strong borders.” He said the troops had probably seen the news about “large numbers” of people who “in many cases they are not good people”, that are “forming at our border” – a reference to the caravans of Central American migrants.

“Nobody is getting through these walls, and we’re going to make sure they’re the right people. That is what you and your family want, and all of your families, that’s what they want” said Mr Trump. “That is why we are all fighting. We are fighting for borders.”

He added: “We get a lot of bad court decisions from the ninth circuit, which has become a big thorn in our side. We always lose, and then you lose again, and again. And hopefully you win at the Supreme Court, which we’ve done.

“But it’s a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border, it’s a disgrace.”

The president was widely criticised for making political points during a call intended to thank the military.

“This was, sadly, predictable and avoidable,” retired Rear Adm John Kirby told CNN. “The president’s conduct on that call, the manner in which he politicised it, demonstrated an utter and complete disregard for what military service means.”

In recent days, the president has found himself in an unlikely spat with the highest levels of the nation’s judiciary after judge Jon Tigar blocked a ruling from the White House that migrants could only apply for asylum if they entered the US legally.

Mr Tigar, a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is often criticised by conservatives for rulings perceived as liberal, wrote: “Whatever the scope of the president’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that congress has expressly forbidden.”

Mr Trump criticised the decision and told reporters Mr Tigar was “an Obama judge”.

“The Ninth Circuit, we’re going to have to look at that,” Mr Trump said, adding that “every case that goes through that circuit results in “an automatic loss” for his administration. “The Ninth Circuit is very unfair.”

Mr Trump received a perhaps unprecedented rebuke for his comments from Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts, who issued a statement saying: “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.

“What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”

Mr Trump subsequently pushed back at Mr Roberts on social media, saying he was wrong. He also chided the chief justice again on Thursday, in comments to reporters, after he had concluded his call to the troops in Afghanistan. During the call to troops, he also suggested he may pay them personal visit.

“We’re getting some terrible decisions from the Ninth Circuit as usual. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a victory in the Ninth Circuit. We’ve had to appeal it, appeal it. A vast number of decisions get overturned, generally. And it’s a shame, it’s a shame. It’s a disgrace, frankly,” said Mr Trump.

He added: "I know that Chief Justice Roberts….has been speaking a little bit about it. I have a lot of respect for him, I like him and I respect him, but I think we have to use some common sense.

“The Ninth Circuit, everyone knows it’s totally out of control and what they’re doing, what they’re saying, the opinions, are very unfair to law enforcement, they’re very unfair most importantly to the people of our country.”