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Trump’s Military Parade Idea Sets Up Democrats for Another Fall
Trump was inspired by the Bastille Day parade he attended last summer in Paris.
President Trump and the Pentagon are quietly planning a grand military parade to roll through Washington DC later this year:
The inspiration for Trump’s push is last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers — complete with fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.
Aboard Air Force One en route home from Paris last July, aides said Trump told them he was dazzled by the French display and said he wanted one at home.
It was still on his mind two months later when he met with Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Trump told reporters. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.”
Seated next to Macron, Trump added: “We’re going to have to try to top it.”
Military parades like this are uncommon in recent history, but certainly not unheard of. Presidents Truman and Kennedy featured military hardware in their inaugural parades. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton had fighter jets scream through the sky for their inaugurations. The elder Bush also had a DC military parade to celebrate victory following the Gulf War.
The Washington Post broke this story about 90 minutes ago and, ever since, social media has exploded in outrage.
A man who dodged the draft 5 times, from an entire family of people who never served, making the military give him a parade. And we're paying for it. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) February 6, 2018
One step closer to the autocracy. All hail #KimJongTrump. https://t.co/SmbQSHRITq
— Leonard Pitts, Jr. (@LeonardPittsJr1) February 6, 2018
Spoiled rich boy demands he be able to play with his toys if he can’t even use a small nuke for fun. The good people of a once proud nation continue to watch and hope this doesn’t end in dictatorial rule. https://t.co/ctchQfOjyL
— Ian Livingston (@islivingston) February 6, 2018
Things that dictators do… https://t.co/W2bCn5eskS
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 6, 2018
Since this is Trump’s idea, I think we all know how it will go down. Nearly everyone from political and media castes will deride the parade, comparing Trump to Hitler. In an effort to impress their woke friends, several prominent voices will go too far by savagely denigrating the military itself. Then the American people will be polled and we’ll find out that they like the idea.
It’s the NFL protests all over again.
I’m a veteran who’s not thrilled about a big parade. Everyone on earth knows that America has the biggest, baddest military the world has ever seen — we don’t need to brag. And with a $20 trillion debt, I’d rather the money not be spent on chest-beating hoopla. But the average American doesn’t care about our shaky finances and adores our military.
A grand military display is poor economics, but I predict it will be smart politics heading into the midterms. Trump is once again Lucy from Peanuts setting up the football and the press is Charlie Brown, falling tail over tea kettle into another puddle of mud.
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Published in Military, Politics
And that is exactly why the military should refuse to participate in order to protect their long standing tradition of being apolitical. It would be nice if a parade were not political, but Trump surely intended it that way, and even if he didn’t, the dems have taken it that way. There need not be a culprit; it is what it is. The military should not be used to promote one party over the other.
The military is already ‘Republican’. If you noticed, they increased funding for the military in the Senate budget deal, but only by giving the Dems corresponding increases to domestic spending. It’s been that way for years now. The military is Republican, welfare is for the Dems.
No it’s not. There is no requirement to be republican, and there are a lot of officers who are bleeding hearts, who tend to get promoted to general when a democrat is in power.
I agree that the military tends to skew towards conservatism (which is not the same as republican) but the difference is not what the individuals think, but that the institution knows to not get involved in politics in such a public manner. Even if the military skews conservative, or even republican, it should be trusted to leave politics to the privacy of the voting booth, and the people should trust them to follow orders no matter who is in charge.
It sure is funny how the idea of holding a big parade for the military wasn’t political until Donald Trump suggested it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41XtpbWKs9s
I think the opposition is more about the man suggesting it than it is about a – you know – parade. If Donald Trump said holding a Presidential election in 2020 is a great idea – lets do it, you would hear howls from the usual suspects about “How dare Trump suggest that! We need to cancel the election!”
I’m not saying members of the military are conservative, although I suspect most are. I’m saying the military as an institution is perceived as conservative, because only the right cares about funding it. The military got two rounds of large real cuts during the Obama admin, while every other department except NASA netted out at large gains. But to address that, you still have to bribe Democrats with increases to the already bloated domestic spending.
I’m sorry, but that’s just not accurate. The Republicans are the party of the military and domestic spending. And the Democrats are the party of domestic spending and the military.
The Republicans are the party of big government and the Democrats are the party of big government.
Yes, funny and completely unfair. But it has happened. That’s the nature of politics. Until our people are united we can expect more and more perversions of what were once universally regarded with pride. We no longer can count on universal pride, so let’s not lose the universal trust.
Republicans are the party of supporting military capability, democrats are the party of supporting military benefits, especially for spouses who aren’t being shot at.
If you have an example of Republicans not supporting generous benefits for service members, you’re welcome to present it.
Nah. Given that attitude universal trust is gone, anyway. Might as well hold the parade in that case.
I think this is true.
If we hadn’t had a long tradition of military parades, would we have so many Sousa marches? Did you you know he used a different meter for people marching (4/4) at 120 bpm (disco tempo) than horse soldiers (6/8)? He also wrote marches for the Navy. Perhaps the most used march for parades on parade grounds is The National Emblem, not written by Sousa. The European marches have a slower tempo, The Mad Major and March of the Belgium Paratroopers are good examples. Parading is not a uniquely commie habit.
People love flyovers and air shows. Military folks tend to march as part of basic training. It is rare after that. There is an art to it. It takes practice to get block of people with heads going up and down in perfect harmony.
Bagley’s National Emblem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSq7koSJlBQ
Lilting 6/8 Sousa march https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdaulitLikk
March of the Belgium Paratroopers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZh0jByyAU
Norwegian Valdres march https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRGGn3f_pbs
Alford’s (British) The Mad Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAns_4gaZ7w
The Washington Post March?
Composed by Sousa from a commission by the newspaper. (The Washington Post was not always Progressive scum. They used be a patriotic and reputable news organization.)
You’ve answered your own question. In the period you are describing, most parades are on parade grounds, not on the national mall.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the 82nd Airborne does a division parade every year. President Trump is welcome to visit if he wants to see a parade.
No one disputes that the military has parades or that they parade in public or that local cities often invite the military to join their parade.
What sets this apart is that it has become political. It’s not the military’s fault that this suggested parade has become political, but it has. Therefore it should tread very carefully to ensure that it is not used as a pawn for one political party over another. The military fights to defend republicans, democrats, independents, libertarians, and yes, even communists. Oh, I mentioned the democrats twice, sorry.
I didn’t include any of the traditional Sousa 4/4 marches. I was giving examples of the ones that are not standard 4/4 120 bpm marches. The Washington Post is one of my favorites.
Dems made it political.
Yes, most are on parade grounds complete with squadron commander, duck walking adjutant, and pass in review, but street parades are not the solo realm of the commies, as the left has claimed. I have no feelings one way or the other, but do believe the folks least likely to enjoy it would be the ones marching.
Trump should have been more tactful in how he introduced the idea. He trolled them. They are scum, but predictable. He knew how they would react and he wasn’t careful with the military’s reputation.
Yes, as @spin said on facebook, parades are for the generals, not the soldiers. The soldiers want to be left alone with a case of beer.
I said earlier in this thread that I hated the annual division parade. Hated – with a passion.
The parade itself could be fun, depending on the weather. It’s the miserable sergeants major and first sergeants who make you practice it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And then you take a lunch break and do it and again and again and again and again and again until the next day and you start all over again.
I don’t mind trolling Dems. Keeps them from going on the offense.
Think of the comic relief as we officers had to assume the leadership position and guide our columns through the maneuvers.
A) Marching in formation for long distances simply isn’t fun. Anyone who says differently simply hasn’t done it much.
B) As I said earlier in this thread, this is the military, they take this stuff seriously.
I would suggest that ‘it’ hasn’t become political – we have.
Moreover, the reason is because of neglect. Acceptance of military parades, open carry of weapons (and probably lots of other manly things) has been lost through lack of use.
When a body’s muscles are atrophied the choice is whether to rebuild the muscles or accept enfeeblement and disability.
We’ve won some wars. We’re still in some wars. We have a kick ass military.
Let’s drive some tanks around; we have to fix potholes anyway.
Actually, I mostly remember fuming as the dumb as a rock (well, not all of them were) sergeant major kept the entire officer staff in thrall while he made us do it over and over and over. Most often the troops would have less to do and only came to later rehearsals.
Good points. But the consensus of patriotism and also the trust in the military cannot be forced, it must be adopted by the individuals and shared by them. A parade at this point is too “in your face” to expect that those we have civil disagreements with will accept anything as a consensus of patriotism and trust in this manner.
How was Trump not careful with the military’s rep?
And no one has posted the best military parade video?: