Donald Trump's July 4 spectacle just keeps getting more and more absurd

[babylonsister]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/02/politics/donald-trump-july-4/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2ixchUu2LXILW71p_n1okAUYfe0Z2yqoLRiUdZ26GRTinZhebs04b1OUA

Donald Trump's July 4 spectacle just keeps getting more and more absurd
Chris Cillizza
Updated 11:58 AM ET, Tue July 2, 2019

snip//

There's a reason that no president before Trump has turned July 4 into, well, what Trump is turning it into. And that reason isn't that they didn't love America enough or understand what makes this country great.
Instead, they understood that there is a very fine line between patriotism and nationalism. (FWIW: Patriotism is, according to Merriam Webster, a "love for or devotion to one's country." Nationalism is a "sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.&quot

Everyone draws that line differently. But I return to the fact that lots of past presidents -- Republicans and Democrats -- have had the chance to do something like Trump is planning on July 4 and taken a pass, choosing instead to keep the day entirely devoid of any sort of political statement. Was that unpatriotic? Or was it a recognition that putting tanks and other military equipment in and around Washington, DC sends the wrong sort of message to both our allies and our enemies?

The parading of military has long been the stuff of dictators and authoritarian regimes -- from Iran to North Korea to Russia. The leaders -- military and civilian -- in the United States have avoided that sort of thing because, well, the strongest guy in the gym doesn't need to go around telling everyone how strong he is. It's understood. Yes, we have massive military might. But we also believe in diplomacy, avoiding military conflicts at all costs and using force as only a last resort.

Trump doesn't seem to grasp that nuance. Or he grasps it and either doesn't care or doesn't agree.
Either way, the images coming out of Washington, DC, on Thursday night will send a very different message to the country and the world than ever before on July 4. Trump knows that -- and is thrilled about it. I'm not so sure the rest of us should be.

[redstatebluegirl]

1. Maybe he called Pence back to dress him up like the Statue of Liberty for the "event".

Wouldn't he be cute????

[Blue Owl]

3. "Mother Liberty"

[I M Charlie]

16. Are you talking about Donald Anti-Christ Trump

Please use this name when talking about him because it is his real name. Maybe some of his supporters will recognize who he really is. Other names will do nothing to hurt him, but this name might. I want to wake up some of his "Christian" supporters since nothing we do will directly affect this man who has made a deal with the devil. How do you think everything could have fallen in place so that he was elected? Think about it. He is the Anti-Christ and every day that goes by proves it more and more.

[canetoad]

22. Hey Charlie

This is Babylonsister's thread and she can call him what she likes. OK?

[I M Charlie]

23. No Problem

Just a suggestion, in general. Anybody can call him what they like.

[Gothmog]

2. Hopefully this event will be rained out on the 4th

[Brainfodder]

5. I want it to go on, looking as foolish as it sounds.

...add another log to the fire...

AND never happen AGAIN!

All the tax payer $ wasted by this guy, I want the bill paid in full with his "billions" once he's convicted, out of office.

2M per golf trip, we should be pissed off, it's at what 180 of them in 2.5 years?

The GOP should be fuming at the wasteful spending, including raising rent on the GOP Election HQ put in his building! Conservatives?!

[pdxflyboy]

4. K and R n/t

[madaboutharry]

6. Don't be surprised if Trump shows up in some kind

of a green bomber or military style jacket so he can more accurately emulate Mussolini.

[Alwaysna]

13. With his stupid red tie!

[Lefta Dissenter]

27. 😂 haha! ( n/t)

[George II]

7. "We're going to have brand new Sherman tanks"....the last one was built in 1946!!!!

[ProfessorPlum]

8. a couple of things: First, if even the rotten Cillizza can tell you are demented,

you have definitely gone too far.

Second: "But we also believe in diplomacy, avoiding military conflicts at all costs and using force as only a last resort. "

I mean, who are we really trying to kid here? That may be the message that other presidents have (rightly) tried of project (which Trump is too stupid to see the point of) but we're all adults here. We don't need the fairly tale version.

[Demovictory9]

9. It's unseemly to rub USA military might into the face of the rest of the world.

[stillcool]

10. I guess the Republicans aren't celebrating..

in Russia this year. Maybe the Russians are coming here. So much sh*t has gone down, but this July 4th has some kind of funereal tone to it for me. Turning the 4th of July into another pile of Trump-crap. Might as well change the name until we get our country back.

[maddiemom]

24. Supposedly only Republicans in government were given the "free tickets"

to distribute for the roped off front section where Trump will "do his thing." This will guarantee an adoring crowd to cheer him. He's high-jacked Independence Day for another rally! (Cue the ghost of Slim Whitman). I would like to see the rest of the area completely empty. Unfortunately a lot of suckers in MAGA hats are bound to show up. At least I hope that NO ONE ELSE will show up. This is NOT your usual D.C. Fourth of July!

[charlyvi]

11. Chris Cillizza!

Damn. This must be a jingoistic clusterf*ck! I hope our dear fellow citizens see through it.

[Politicub]

12. Trump is a nationalist. He is behaving as a nationalist would.

His racism will be on display, too. He won’t be able to resist bashing immigrants.

This seems like it’s shaping up to be a scene from a future movie. Perhaps the Lincoln memorial with be festooned with Trump banners.

[ConstanceCee]

14. How Much Will This Cost?

I think the cost of this extravaganza should be the headline everywhere.

[maddiemom]

25. He already stiffed many cities where he staged his rallies since they had to pay plenty for security

and other expenses. Why would the national government be an exception?

[Alwaysna]

15. But we can't afford toothbrushes and soap!

[Claritie Pixie]

17. Trump simply does not care - it's all about him.

To him, the U.S. is now part of his family-owned company and he can do whatever he wants with it.

[moondust]

18. Somebody tell Donny

that he would look much bigger and all-powerful if he and Melanie walked in on stilts.



Just wow.

[moreland01]

19. Call this event what it is . . .

a KKK rally. With tanks.

[airmid]

20. This fool clearly does not know what can happen during military parades. Has anyone showed him

the Sadat assassination film?

[katmondoo]

30. I did think of that, saw the film a few years ago.

[Generic Other]

21. I am hoping for a Tienanmen Square Tank Guy to put this nonsense into perspective

I made a commemorative video for Trump. I call it John McCain's Ghost.

&t=10s

[dweller]

36. that film is strangely disturbing

and yet enlightenly amusing 😆

the conga lines were a great touch 👍🏻

✌🏼️

[Generic Other]

38. Thanks for your review

It's strange because my friends were in it, and some of them are strange! Also, I had to outsource the voice of Trump to someone from India because Americans just gagged when I asked them to do a Trump impersonation.

I really worked hard to get this thing out before the big shindig and I hope it isn't a prediction of things to come. I hate when that happens.

[struggle4progress]

28. White House gives tickets to GOP donors

By Juliet Eilperin ,
Dan Lamothe and
Josh Dawsey July 2 at 5:15 PM

The White House is distributing tickets for President Trump’s July Fourth speech on the Mall to Republican donors and political appointees, prompting Democratic lawmakers to question whether the administration’s planned celebration violates federal ethics rules.

The Republican National Committee confirmed on Tuesday that it had received some passes to Trump’s address at the Lincoln Memorial, which it described as standard for presidential events. The speech Thursday will kick off the “Salute to America,” a revamped Independence Day observance designed by the president that will also include a military flyover and an extended fireworks display ...

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Sen. Tom Udall (N.M.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, in a phone interview. “No ticketed political event should be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”

Udall noted that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had yet to respond to a request he and two other Senate Democrats made two weeks ago for a full accounting of how the event would be conducted and what it would cost ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-gives-tickets-to-trumps-july-fourth-extravaganza-to-gop-donors/2019/07/02/9109a566-9ce0-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html?utm_term=.f491aa056bdc

[dweller]

35. please please puhleez

start an ethics probe ... and find him guilty

✌🏼️

[struggle4progress]

29. VIP tickets

Author: Eliana Block
Published: 4:16 PM EDT July 2, 2019
Updated: 4:16 PM EDT July 2, 2019

... “The President routinely puts...his political interests and his financial interests ahead of the American people," Donald K. Sherman, Deputy Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said. "Tomorrow we’ll see the presidents donors sitting ahead of the American People and in some ways it’s a very useful symbol” ...

"There's the optics issue of the President literally putting his political donors ahead of the American people," he said ...

https://www.wusa9.com/article/life/holidays/4th-of-july/trump-creates-exclusivity-at-the-lincoln-memorial-with-vip-tickets-for-july-4th-fireworks-display/65-1daf5870-39d1-45aa-8899-90b5c774d661

[ProudMNDemocrat]

31. Trump will surround himself with Militry Brass to show up Kim...

who is mostly seen surrounded by smiling Generals with medals that weigh more than they do. And for what Battles and Awards?

[hibbing]

32. Some serious BS in that article

"But we also believe in diplomacy, avoiding military conflicts at all costs and using force as only a last resort". This has not been true in my lifetime. We can all list several examples.

Peace

[struggle4progress]

33. A Fourth of July parade -- for himself

By John Kirby, CNN National Security Analyst
Updated 4:52 PM ET, Tue July 2, 2019

... I don't really know how thrilled the Pentagon is to be supporting this. Maybe he's right. Maybe they're really fired up about it. But that wouldn't make it right.

The Fourth of July is not a military holiday. We set aside other days to honor our troops: Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day. Independence Day is about our difficult birth as a nation, about the moral courage it took for people living in 13 disparate colonies to throw off what they called the absolute tyranny of Britain's King George III ...

... the "new guards" Franklin and his fellow Continental Congress delegates envisioned were not purely military in scope. Indeed, the founders recoiled at the idea of a standing army. When they talked about securing a better future (albeit a future that, at that time, was marred by the scourge of slavery), they were referring primarily to the rule of law, to free trade and fair taxes -- to self-rule. The Fourth of July, then, has little to do with the troops who won or maintained our independence; it's about the very idea of independence itself ...

We'll have to wait and see what Mr. Trump says when he mounts the rostrum, but if past is prologue, he will launch into boasts about what he believes his administration has accomplished. He will assail his political enemies. He will treat the crowd on the Mall like they were at a MAGA rally ...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/02/opinions/fourth-of-july-salute-to-trump-kirby/index.html

[Generic Other]

39. Why one could almost say the 4th of July

celebrates the tradition of resistance to the rule of tyrants like Trump.

[struggle4progress]

34. RNC Receives VIP Tickets; DNC Does Not

By Maggie More
Published 4 hours ago

An official with the Democratic National Convention told NBC News the organization has not received tickets to the VIP section for President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July celebration, “Salute to America,” as of Tuesday morning.

However, a spokeswoman from the Republican National Convention confirmed Monday that the RNC has already received their ticket allotment for the VIP section of the event.

This discrepancy was revealed just days before the typically nonpartisan Independence Day celebration is set to take place.

The capital’s holiday plans changed this year when Trump announced the festivities would include military demonstrations and flyovers, a different location for the fireworks, and a presidential speech at the Lincoln Memorial ...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/RNC-Receives-VIP-Tickets-to-Trumps-Fourth-of-July-Celebration-DNC-Does-Not-512118972.html

[jalan48]

37. Millions of Americans will love it.

Remember the flag waving celebrations when we attacked Iraq? We’re a militaristic Empire

[roody]

40. The tanks are a message to all of us.