President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 6 after the U.S. fired a barrage of missiles into Syria. | Getty Trump breaks precedent by blessing the whole world

After announcing that he’d ordered U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian airfield in response to a chemical weapons attack on civilians, President Donald Trump closed his remarks with a refrain that has been common among presidents since Ronald Reagan: “God bless America.”

But he didn’t stop there. Instead, he went on, adding, “and the entire world.”


Richard Nixon appears to have been the first president to use the phrase “God bless America” in a speech, though it later became a common closing line for Ronald Reagan and his successors.

George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all closed each of their state of the union addresses with some variation on the line. None extended those blessings to the world.

The call for blessings on all humanity was a surprising move from Trump, who rode a nationalist wave and an “America first” message to the White House. But Trump’s remarks Thursday night, delivered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, were infused with an internationalist message and an appeal to shared human experience.

He seemed for the first time to seize the responsibility all modern American presidents have taken on, as leader not just of the republic, but of the free world.

Trump’s remarks, delivered from a teleprompter, came in subdued tones as top aides—including strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and daughter Ivanka Trump—looked on.

“Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types,” Trump said. “We ask for God's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed, and we hope that as long as America stands for justice, then peace and harmony will in the end prevail.”

