Monday’s White House celebration of Greek Independence Day, a now annual event hosted by the sitting US President, had highlights galore and soundbites aplenty, with Donald Trump having convincingly returned to the highest office of the land and in good spirits presiding over a hall packed with Greek American dignitaries and supporters, as well as guests from Greece proper.
Before the main doors opened to herald the entry of the US President and Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America Elpidophoros to the strains of “Hail to the Chief”, the two men reportedly had a brief private discussion.
According to reports by BHMA, Trump and the Archbishop were also briefly joined by Kimberly Guilfoyle, whom the US President has nominated to be America’s next ambassador to Greece.
The same reports have His Eminence Elpidophoros referring to the long-standing strategic relationship between Athens and Washington, while praising the so-called “3+1” group that is comprised of Greece, Israel and Cyprus — with US participation. The latter initiative is deemed as imperative for US interests in the east Mediterranean.
Among the Greek-American honorees in the hall on Monday were Michael Kratsios, the Trump administration’s director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy; Christos Marafatsos, who served as chairman of the campaign vehicle Greek Voices for Trump; Alexandra Veletsis, director of the White House Visitors Office; Alek Skarlatos, a member of the Oregon House of Representatives who achieved prominence for his heroism, while a serviceman, during the 2015 Thalys train attack; and Lee Zeldin, the current administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
For the more studious, the gold-lined Cross presented by Archbishop Elpidophoros to Donald Trump and the former’s reference to Roman Emperor Constantine the Great echoed a type of “Byzantine diplomacy”, as its now known in the history books, one resonating from the Archbishop’s tenure as a lower ranking hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, in modern-day Istanbul, his birthplace.
The valuable Cross gifted to Trump comes on the heels of other high-profile diplomatic gifts bestowed to the US President in the past by other foreign leaders, along with copious praise for the former’s leadership.
However, the gesture that drew the most attention was not the Archbishop’s, but Kimberly Guilfoyle – a devout Roman Catholic – making the sign of the Cross in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, from right to left, instead of the Roman Catholic left to right. The gesture was interpreted as a sign of respect by the one-time Trump adviser and former fiancée of his eldest son.
One minor verbal “slip-up” during the evening was Trump’s reference to Greece and Cyprus as friendly “rivals”, leaving those in attendance to “scratch their heads”.
For the record, the pen with which the US President signed the proclamation for Greek Independence Day, and which he subsequently threw into the audience, was caught midair by Cyprus ambassador to the United States Evangelos Savvas – a good omen for continually advancing bilateral relations.
Evangelos Marinakis, founder and CEO of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp., outside the White House in Washington D.C., on Monday, March 24, 2024.
Finally, among the guests at the celebration was the founder and CEO of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp., Evangelos Marinakis, one of the few distinguished businessmen invited to the White House for the occasion, and the upcoming honorary grand marshal of the annual March 25th Greek Independence Day parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City, whose 2025 edition will take place on Sunday.
Evangelos Marinakis, center, with John Georges, left, and former US ambassador to Greece, George J. Tsunis.
