WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to visit naval facilities in Virginia on Sunday for an early kickoff to the Thanksgiving holiday week. He plans to host a screening of the film “Wonka” and have a “friends” meal with service members and their loved ones.
The President and First Lady Jill Biden are traveling to the U.S. Naval Station Hampton Roads for a screening of the film about the early life of Roald Dahl’s eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka.
Later, the Bidens plan to help serve dinner with service members from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Gerald R. Ford at Naval Station Norfolk, the largest installation of its kind in the world, as well as their families.
A military event is also planned for Donald Trump during his visit to Texas on Sunday. The former president, who has built a commanding lead in the 2024 Republican primary, delivers a speech in Edinburgh after serving meals to National Guard troops, soldiers and others who will be stationed at the border Mexican-American for Thanksgiving.
Trump is promoting tough immigration proposals that he says will better secure the border. He and top Republicans have long criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to crack down on people entering the United States illegally.
For the Bidens, offering support for the nation’s military has a personal connection. Their son Beau served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard. He died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46, while Joe Biden was vice president.
Last year, Joe and Jill Biden helped serve mashed potatoes and other sides as part of the buffet meal at Cherry Point, North Carolina, home to more than 9,000 military personnel and approximately 8,000 members of their families.
In 2021, the Bidens visited the Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina for a Thanksgiving meal in a hangar for about 250 service members and their families. Troops received chocolate chip cookies bearing the presidential seal.
The president and first lady plan to spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts.
