Part of the problem is that Trump spent nearly two years in office without visiting a combat zone ― something his predecessors did as a matter of course.

And, of course, he just forced a partial government shutdown in an attempt to fund his border wall. He also questioned a 7-year-old’s belief in Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

No wonder some Twitter users suspected that “doing the right thing for the troops” was far down on Trump’s list of reasons to make the trip to Iraq.

After 3 days of terrible press he needed a huge distraction & this was it! Hope someone asked him why he committed fraud to dodge the draft while he was there! #CadetBoneSpurs #TrumpResign — Karen Tosado 🎅🦌🎄🦌🎅 (@marie5483) December 26, 2018

President Trump guilted into visiting troops in the field after seeing every other respected world leader do it on Christmas. --fixed it for you. — 🌊NZDIVE01🌊 (@NZDIVE01) December 26, 2018

Took him almost two years to do what is expected of him — chaos dunk enthusiast (@Ashmolekb) December 26, 2018

Y0ou mean he went all that way for a photo opportunity. He only went because of the negative press he was receiving for being the first @POTUS in almost 20 years to NOT visit troops at #Christmas — Stuart Morrell (@orlandosgm) December 26, 2018

Others suspected ulterior motives behind the visit.

It’s the only way he can be in palm beach for New Years — Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) December 26, 2018

ATTENTION JOURNALISTS:



If Trump is secretly en route to visit troops, ask if he will be returning to DC or FL.



The trip will be cover to get to Mar-a-Lago NYE party where tickets were sold guaranteeing access to the president.



He would be using the troops as a distraction. — Bill Prady (@billprady) December 26, 2018

Correction last ditch effort to distract from his disastrous presidency. It has nothing to do with the troops...Zero and anyone reporting that it does is misleading the country — C.Taylor (@TheClaudeTaylor) December 26, 2018

Surprise visit = Shamed and forced to go in the middle of the night without telling the public so as to fend off any more horrendous bad news about him. Have to remember, if he hadn't shut Gov down, he'd be golfing right now at Crap-A-Lago. — Dave 🌊🏳️‍🌈🐶 (@davecannalte) December 26, 2018

Some imagined how Trump interacted with the troops.

"And do you still believe you're fighting for freedom? Because at age 24 that's marginal, right?" — Ronald van der Putte (@w8in) December 26, 2018

hopefully it doesn't rain, and that they have plenty of shoes to throw — (((Kobayashi Saru)))🖖🏻 (@3illSweet) December 26, 2018

Others had questions about Melania.

Is she wearing her "I don't care" jacket? — blagueur (@blagueur) December 26, 2018

At least one person saw a potentially positive outcome.

Good. Better late than never. Now will someone please change the WH locks!? — Positive Change (@OptimisimLives) December 26, 2018