The way in which Greek culture formed the United States was one of the main things Donald Trump pointed out in his speech at the White House event to celebrate The Greek Independence Day of March 25th.
The American president, at the beginning of his 17-minute speech, he picked up a red hat in with the well-known motto “Make America Great Again” but written in Greek, with him reading it “Make Greece Great Again”. A few minutes later, he said, “they all want to be Greeks”.
Trump spoke of Greece as the country in which democracy was born, while pointing to the contribution of Greeks from ancient times to Homer and Aristotle and the great contributions of ancient Greeks to all sciences. He mentioned in particular in the ancient Greek word of wisdom that “the secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage”.
Donald Trump referred to Greece as the country in which democracy was born and made a special mention to certain individuals in the audience as examples of Greeks who contributed to America through its service to the US Armed Forces through sports and through hard work or personal business or service through the Greek Orthodox Church.
These people said the American President offered with their services to the family, the community and the American dream in general. “You are a people who do not give up, you have established close ties here and America is proud of you”, the US President said.
“The United States is deeply shaped by Greek culture”, he said adding that “[y]ou live with the values that are the foundation of the grandeur of America, you honor the hard work, love your families, enrich our culture, embrace the American dream”.
For his part, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios of America said it is symbolic that this event takes place in the White House, which symbolizes the freedom that America represents.