WILMINGTON, Del.– President Joe Biden will visit Navy installations in Virginia on Sunday for an early kickoff to the Thanksgiving holiday week. He plans to host a screening of the movie “Wonka” and a “friendsgiving” meal with service members and their family members.
The president and first lady Jill Biden are heading to Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads for the screening of the film about the early life of Roald Dahl’s eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka.
Later, the Bidens plan to help serve dinner to service members from the USSS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USSS Gerald R. Ford at the Norfolk Naval Station, the largest installation of its kind in the world, along with their families .
Donald Trump is also planning a military event for his visit to Texas on Sunday. The former president, who took an early lead in the 2024 Republican primaries, delivers a speech in Edinburgh after serving meals to National Guard soldiers, troops and others who will be stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border over Thanksgiving stationed.
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 about people entering the United States illegally.
For the Bidens, providing support for the country’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, when Joe Biden was vice president.
Last year, Joe and Jill Biden helped serve mashed potatoes and other side dishes as part of the buffet meal in Cherry Point, North Carolina, home to more than 9,000 service members and about 8,000 military family members.
In 2021, the Bidens visited Army Fort Bragg in North Carolina for an early Thanksgiving meal in a hangar for about 250 service members and their families. The troops received chocolate chip cookies with the presidential seal.
The president and first lady plan to spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts.