You’ve probably heard that The Creature has decided that U.S. military personnel are his personal trained monkeys and has demanded that the Pentagon give him a big military parade “like the one in France.” He’s referring to a Bastille Day parade he saw last year.
France has had Bastille Day parades since 1880 to commemorate one of the world’s most significant populist uprisings. If France wants to do that, it’s fine with me. But what does Trump want to commemorate other than “I got a bigger military than you do”?
France’s Bastille Day parade, which has persisted through two world wars and a Nazi occupation, has also been used to emphasize a very different message, which could be summarized as: We are only strong together. What Trump may have missed while watching the Paris parade last July was that its organizers have frequently invited foreign troops — from Morocco and India to the United States, Britain and Germany — to march alongside French soldiers or to even lead the procession. Instead of the French flag, French soldiers sometimes wave the European Union flag, even though the political bloc does not have its own army.
And Trump?
On a continent where Trump has never had many supporters, defense analysts worried on Wednesday whether the president’s possible misunderstanding of military traditions was a sign of a broader problem. “At what point does healthy appreciation for the military turn into unhealthy obsession?†asked German defense expert Marcel Dirsus. Brian Klaas, a fellow at the London School of Economics, referred to Trump’s plan as a “strongman military parade†and an addition to “Trump’s wannabe despot checklist.†…
… “Trump plays with the subject so carelessly and recklessly as if it were some kind of video game,†Aaron David Miller, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars who has advised several secretaries of state, said on Twitter. “My head’s exploding.â€
The way Trump discusses nuclear weapons echoes a pattern observed among military officials in the past, researchers have noted. They were referring to a 1985 study by Carol Cohn, who analyzed military remarks that compared nuclear war with “an act of boyish mischief.â€
Cohn said that those kinds of remarks were an expression of a “competition for manhood†and “a way of minimizing the seriousness of militarist endeavors, of denying their deadly consequences.†She concluded that they posed a “tremendous danger†in real life.
The next question is, how much would the damn thing cost? NBC News:
President George H. W. Bush held a military parade in Washington on June 8, 1991, to mark victory in the Persian Gulf War. The cost of that parade was $12 million, according to a C-SPAN report at the time, which amounts to about $21 million once adjusted for inflation. At the time it was called the biggest victory celebration in Washington since the end of World War II, with a crowd of around 200,000.
I doubt that Gulf War parade measured up to what France does every year, so it wouldn’t be big enough for Trump. The NBC News story quotes politicians of both parties expressing queasiness at the potential cost as well as at the appropriateness of tanks and big weapons, possibly nuclear, being paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Pentagon is exploring the idea of holding Trump’s Parade on November 11 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. That would make it less political, they think. But that’s all wrong for the Armistice plus 100, I say. For the end of World War I there should be lots of children with doves and flowers, not military stuff.
I say the Pentagon should tell The Creature to blow it up his ass. If he wants a parade, he can hire these guys:
Or, if he’s so taken with France’s Bastille Day, maybe we can round up a few hundred thousand people and re-create it by storming the White House? If someone else wants to organize that, I’m in.
Who will show up? If we spend 30 million?? (who knows how much – as long as it’s not his money President Bone Spurs will be lavish.) The Democrats and residents of DC will boycott. How many phony soldier wanna-bes are going to watch tanks churn the asphalt of Pennsylvania Avenue to sand?
This is a real problem – Trump will recreate the low turnout of his inauguration but multiplied – rows and rows of empty stands for his fans who won't spend money for a feel-good moment with the POTUS. (Check the cost of a hotel room in DC lately?) I'm looking forward to seeing Trump publicly humiliate himself.
Again.
I thought he had his parade last year in Charlottesville VA
Tanks? How about a missile or two. After all, they are phallic symbols.
When I think of the money, 12 million and the billions he wants to spend on the wall, I get sick. How far would that go toward our infrastructure or helping out people who really need it? I'm no economist and I can't think in figures that big. My thoughts are usually dollars and cents because I am living on social security only. I'm not complaining because if I had been wiser in planning, I could be in better financial shape and I don't feel poor. I have food, shelter, warm clothes and my soulmate, Mr. Spock. (my dog) My needs are simple. But I really feel for people who have to work for minimum wage and raise a family. Or people who are sick and have to depend on the insurance companies. I long for the good ol' days. Maybe they weren't so good but they seem to be to me and I'm told perception is everything.
But what does Trump want to commemorate other than “I got a bigger military than you do”?
Trump doesn't want to commemorate anything. He wants to stroke his ego with an honor he never really earned. It's pretty clear that Trump has some need to identify with those of us who have undergone the military experience. Yet it is something he can never attain because he never went through it.
I'm not trying to espouse some sort of military worship or imply that those of us who did serve are in anyway better or more deserving of any adulation. We are just as flawed as individuals as the rest of our fellow countrymen. But there is an element to the military experience that is invaluable in understanding the experience..
When I went through basic training, in our first week, we were stripped of any external signs of individuality. Our heads were shaved,our clothes and jewelry were taken from us and we were issued ill fitting dark olive drab and wrinkled fatiques. We were given a manilla card attached to a string that we had to fasten to our belt loop. On the card we wrote our name and when asked what our name was by an instructor we had to go through the motion of reading our name off the card, like we couldn't be trusted or weren't capable of knowing our own name.
The design in that humiliating exercise was to make us understand that we were nobodies. Government property without any achievement or worth. We had to understand that any value or accomplishment that could be attributed to us as a person would have to be earned. through honest endeavor. We couldn't con or bullshit our way to a higher rank or circumvent the system by being connected to an outside influence.
That is what Trump has missed in his life. That sense of personal security where validation of who you are isn't dependent on someone outside yourself. You know within yourself that you measure up and any power you might possess is already in your possession.
Here's something that I just read recently that might explain what I am trying to convey, but in different terms. Similar principle.
http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_the_drum_major_instinct/
I found a hearty laugh while reading the above link with Trump being the object and focus of interpreting Dr. King's message.. Dr. King's reference to strive for moral excellence came off as humorous.
Simple response: organize a “resistance Pride†parade, along the best parade route, city permission or not, same day. Women, LGBT, every minority the Creature has “dissed†(all of them). See who gets the bigger crowd. Hint: it won’t even be close, especially with Sean Spicer gone.
Trump better tell the Pentagon to get on the stick and get that parade going before the Mueller investigation closes in on him. Time is of the essence!
When it comes to military parades ya gotta admit that the North Koreans do a pretty good job of it. And not to sound un-American, but I find it more pleasurable watching the Moranbong band than the watching the Marine Corp band. Maybe it's the nice legs and the hot keyboard player?
I'm in too!
I hate to to say this, but I can understand where tRUMP is coming from.
I think every 10 year-old boy loves go to parades – especially parades involving the military.
But like all other normal, non-Authoritarian, boys, I outgrew that phase.
That orange skin-bag full of festering meat and junk-food never outgrew childish ways. Or childish whims.
And so, the emotionally challenged boy who loves the military but was too chickenshit to serve when called, wants a military parade.
He says it's to honor and thank our military.
But in reality, it's to honor his narcissistic self. And to stiffen his tiny 'dicklette.'
https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-kelly-calls-aide-facing-224947677.html
So now wife beating is an acceptable behavior for members of the white house staff? I mean, really. When do we hit a bottom?
It’s a change – during Bush’s reign the French were hated (my car was keyed) and now with Trump he would like to be just like us. He does not understand that the parade on the 14 July is part of a big French cultural celebration. It is not to show French mighty strength. It started in the late 1880s. We begin with little parades in cities, towns and villages and end up with a popular ball. There are free concerts, games for children, military personnel are invited to dinner in people’s homes, etc. The “défilé”/parade is to celebrate our revolution against the royals and the church (don’t forget the church that was ½ of the reason for the revolution.) Then we celebrate to show that we have maintained freedom all those years, because of our citizens, and because of our friends, too. We celebrate our “solidarity.” It would be as incongruous for the French to have a Thanksgiving Day parade with high school marching bands (we don’t have bands in high schools.)
When I was little my mother would take me to the Champs Elysees to watch the parade. I loved looking at all the different military troops and bands. After several years I could sing “Le Boudin” the official march of the French Foreign Legion, and also the “Chant des Partisans” that pay homage to Free France and the Resistance during the war – I know all the lyrics. During the year French people do not hang flags on their houses or cars, or wear the flag on their lapel, but on the 14 July we do place the flag out, to show we are all together, civilians and military. (Anglophones call it Bastille’s Day, we call it Le 14 Juillet.) Every year the parade has a theme and we invite civilians and military people from different countries. On July 14, 2014, for example, we invited soldiers and workers from 80 countries who took part in World War 1 – and 79 countries sent representatives who marched down the Champs (China sent her regret.) On July 14, 2016, we invited Australia and New Zealand to take part in the parade to commemorate the Battle of the Somme (where they had lost over 30,000 casualties and France had not forgotten) – they came, including the Prime Minister of New Zealand . Maori Warriors leaded the parade and they looked amazing (photos on my post here https://avagabonde.blogspot.com/2016/07/australia-and-new-zealand-invited-to.html. In 2017 the USA were guests of honor with 145 US troops marching ahead of 3700 French military personnel. You can’t copy this. Plus we invite these foreign countries with their flags – just think what the US public would say if they saw foreign flags being saluted in their parade or marching ahead of their military men!! (USA! USA! Non?)
D. Trump is just like a child who has seen a shiny new truck and wants one too, a larger one. If he’d like to imitate France, I think he should copy the health system there. My mother had Parkinson’s disease and her treatment in Paris was paid by the state. My husband here in Nashville, a US Veteran by the way, cannot get any help for his Alzheimer’s disease. Or Trump could put the money saved on finding ways to help the environment and rejoin the Paris Climate Treaty. That would be a much better help for this country and use of tax payers’ money than imitate foreign historical parades.
Trump has hit on a secret formula to satisfy his "green beret" wannabes and the Democrats. He's going to have our military dress up in pirate costumes and throw beads to the crows from Abrahms tanks and from atop nuclear-tipped missiles. Something for everyone!
At the military parade, would it be treason to not wave swastika flags? Would the Stars and Bars do?
https://twitter.com/votevets/status/961034722775203840
He hit the nail on the head..It's not about saluting the military..it's about having the military salute Donald J. Trump… aka..the big bag of shit, or the orange tufted shit bag.
If the parade does come to be I wonder if Trump will wear his Golden order of the Caliphate medal that Saudi's awarded him? I mean, you wouldn't want to show up as the Supreme Commander of a military parade given to honor you without having the glittering trinkets and adornments that testify to your greatness.
This disgusting creature who couldn't bother to serve in the military when he had the chance now wants to use or service men and women as an opportunity for him to be worshipped? To have the military parade by and salute this man just to date his ego when he couldn’t bother to serve is a dishonor to those who did.
And where are the so-called "Christian evangelicals" to tell him that idol worship doesn't find favor with God? Oh, that's right, they're not Christians either, just a bunch of hateful bigots for whom Christianity is nothing more than a talisman to their hatred. Shame on them.
Vagabonde, I want to thank you for the information about Le 14 Juillet, and the link to your blog. My wife and I are both trying to get a better grasp of France, its language and its culture. So, your blog might be very helpful. I've never been in Paris at the right time for the festivities, but, I've been trying to get my wife to make a couple Phrygian caps so we can get in the spirit, here in the rural south. (Maybe I can do that on my own as a surprise.)
I do recall sitting in a park near the Ecole de Mars when two cadets, a young man and woman, rode by on two very fine horses. They were rehearsing some of the more difficult moves of a dressage routine. It was really quite impressive. This was back when Dubya and Rove were blathering about the American Empire. I thought of how admirable it was for the French to have found something else to be proud of.
Well, I'll shut up before I reveal too much of my ignorance.
Thanks to all for some insightful comments.
Spent some time today talking to millennials. I can do a manual of arms. They do not know what that is. I can ( lips and ambrosure too old ) (my band teacher taught me that word)
A is for abundant, your cheer knows no bounds.
M is for munificent, for you are extremely liberal in giving.
B is for bygone, never forgetting golden memories.
R is for relax, you know how!
O is for objective, always impartial
S is for sensitive, another side shows.
U is for upstanding, the honorable way to be
R is for radiant, it's your personality!
E is for empathy, and your consideration for the feelings of others
Play the Washington Post March without music. We called it by heart. I can spit shine boots. I can dress right and cover down. They, the millennials, have no idea what that is all about. They have none of those skills. Fine. I am trained in parade skills, but I am not teaching anyone and I am not goose stepping for an embarrassment.
I did march and play for a small JFK parade in my early teen years. I think that is my parade high point of my life.
Kinder, gentler "goose stepping" 😎😎😎