Trump Orders Four Mile Military Parade for His 79th Birthday
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27899425
Just some North Korea shit, nothing to see here. Move along.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-orders-four-mile-military-parade-for-his-79th-birthday/Open linkView original on lemmy.world738
Comments149
Just some North Korea shit, nothing to see here. Move along.
You have been banned from Lemmy․ml
Federation be like let a thousand flowers bloom
Doesn't have to be this way though, wide defederation is the answer for toxic propaganda spreading instances
Sometimes, you just need to kick out the weeds
Let's be sure the best parade balloon ever created is part of it.
Omg please bring this back 🤣 it was such an incredible troll move, and it very obviously got under his skin
I saw a couple people carrying smaller versions of it at the Handsoff event. 😂
You can buy balloon versions online if you're looking for one.
Your tax dollars at work
Picture of efficiency
Trump doesn't give a shit about anyone but him. They just cut $55M intended to fund training for rural teachers (because who wants educated educators?) and now he wants to spend more than that on a mile long military parade celebrating his birthday. And it's not even a milestone birthday, just a birthday.
From the article, Trump wanted to do something similar but, presumably smaller, in his first term but backed off after the price tag came to $92M. He instead opted for an event that ONLY cost $13M. How much do you think this one will cost? What will get cut to fund it?
Fucking narcissistic traitor... He'll probably figure out how to grift a few tens of millions from this by selling tickets, too.
four-mile-long*
Don't show up, even to protest. He'll just say everyone showed up for him. Let him have his audience-less parade like a retarded North Korean despot.
how about a nearby protest with the goal of gathering more people than the parade itself? that would piss him off
A protest with signs that point out how much trump hates the military would be good.
The "Real America" protest
An 8 mile nearby protest.
Eminem wakes from a dead sleep covered in sweat
“It’s about to go down!”
palms are sweaty
Let that man be a grandpa for like 5 mins...
We've got one shot, one opportunity
An 8 mile protest in the way.
This is the correct response.
ETA: and I strongly suspect this will happen somehow. So, his birthday is June 14th, so those who can should start making plans to be in DC around then (actual day of parade may be different, so don't lock in specific dates until there's more info).
Meanwhile, get ready for your local May 1st protests. (More locations will be certainly be added to that map as the day gets closer).
And until then, there are lots more opportunities to get out and protest.
How protesty!
Tangent!
Hey are you able to use their map on mobile without issue? It’s the worst I’ve used in years. It might treat one finger like two, or none at all. Too tired to email them right now but certainly whack on the latest iOS on a new phone.
Yeah, zooming and planning around works fine for me on android.
Would a protest that involves protesters blocking the parade from moving result in an american tiananmen square?
why would i want to stop Trump of making a fool of himself towards the civilized world? when we can troll him on the issue he cares the more about, after grifting: crowd sizes
Maybe protest and block the parade. This parade feels like bait to start riots. They want riots.
Better to protest in peace and ignore the parade. Just drawing a larger crowd and some good media attention will troll him enough. Concentrate on signs showing ways the money could have been used for good.
What if everyone lined the streets and silently faced the other direction?
We should throw our own parade someplace else. Maybe even call it the Obama parade.
Some people are mentally deficient. Trump shares some common traits with them. That's the way the world is. You don't need to police other people's comparisons.
I understand why you think it's not OK to say and I disagree. Call that what you like. It makes no difference to me.
It's not bait to say that I think you're distracting from an important conversation by trying to play morality police on behalf of a group of people who didn't ask for help restricting the language used on the internet. You took that upon yourself and decided that this was the time to try to shame everyone else into thinking the same way you do. Quit virtue signaling about ancillary bullshit and get pissed at your government.
Hmm, aren't over-the-top displays of military forces a sign of something? What could it possibly be, certainly not fascism or something silly like that . . .
hey kim got a 3 miles parade, vlad got a 2.5 miles parade, who's donald to have a shorter parade than them for his birthday? They'll laugh at him at the next villain con
In fairness, also of Communism and Military Dictatorships.
Don't forget insecurity and narcissism.
Absolutely valid reasons too, and also a mix of some of all of those. LOL
Trump crafted the idea for a military parade after witnessing a lavish Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017. Top US generals and officials were less thrilled about the idea. At one White House meeting, when Trump addressed his idea with Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, then the second-highest-ranking general as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Selva suggested the idea was reminiscent of something often seen in dictatorships. When Trump asked Selva what he thought of the parade, Selva said he grew up in Portugal, which "was a dictatorship — and parades were about showing the people who had the guns." "And in this country, we don't do that," Selva said. "It's not who we are." Trump then asked Selva whether or not he liked the idea, to which he responded: "No." He added, "It's what dictators do."
Spain, under Franco had a yearly massive parade. When Democracy was reinstated, the tradition continued, but instead of celebrating the victory of the nationalists in the civil war, it became a celebration of the armed forces. It's still held, but it has steadily been downsized, to a mainly ceremonial and testimonial level.
He won't attend a veteran funeral in favor of going golfing, but he wants a military parade for his birthday.
While a man he admits is innocent continues to sit in a prison in El Salvador
Unless he's already dead. Which is probably, given the resistance of the Trumpist regime to getting him back.
Is there a way to report things to DOGE? This seems like an easy cut.
Oh he’ll just sell corporate sponsorships for his little man-child parade.
Where’s DOGE?
Cutting VA benefits.
"You want your money? Then get out there and march!"
Vets: ok
It's like poetry, it rhymes.
Slashing social security to fund this and golfing.
Anywhere but here. Wouldn't want to jeopardize the many billions in contracts that the muskrat's companies have with the department of defense.
Cutting programs to find funds for this parade
did he also order spectators to cry of happiness?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ce_954P20I
Where is DOGE? This is like Charles Minor coming down on Michael Scott. Trump is just a huge fucking cry baby that needs constant validation. What a fucking loser.
I want the military to maliciously comply with this.
One Army solder marches by
One mile later one Marine marches by
One mile later a lone Navy sailor marches by
One mile later one USAF pilot marches by
One mile later a member of the USCG marches by.
Why do people think the military isn’t on his side?? He is the commander in chief lol
There are a ton who are not. Hegseth fired the black General and woman leaders. Many service members are black or female and saw this. They see brown people getting rounded up, many in the military are Latino. And apart from that, people are 50% non-MAGA anyway.
50% of the general population. I’d be curious to see polling of just the military, both of officers and enlisted. I’d imagine they skew higher in his favour.
The higher up the chain you go, the more left it becomes. Never 100% or anything, but it's there.
Higher in his favor than the general population? Probably. More than 50%? I doubt it.
But he is purging the leadership. If he purges it enough he will erode the effectiveness of the whole force. Which might be for the best when he invaded Greenland, Panama, and Canada.
Not sure. There's a full blown white male military guy I know through work. He's an openly hateful and racist person. Like not even pretending he isn't. He still is pissed at Trump over being incompetent and disrespectful to soldiers.
They're under oath to serve the republic, not some hateful, treasonous muppet.
Good thing oaths are things that people never bend or break.
Being elected "commander in chief" is not a magic spell that makes the military suddenly love someone. President is a more temporary and unstable position than high ranked military people.
Because they aren't robots.
I recently attended a lecture by retired Admiral James Stavridis, who among other things was the NATO supreme allied commander for 4 years. He explained how every soldier swears an oath to the US Constitution, and in many cases more than just once. Each time an officer is promoted they swear that oath again, so by the time you make something like admiral you’ve likely sworn that oath around ten times, and administered it countless times to others.
Even when Trump fired those members of the Joint Chiefs, those who replaced them will renew that oath if they receive promotions to fill that role. Stavridis also said that the JAG officers who were recently fired would be replaced through military promotions, triggering even more oaths.
While the military may indeed humor Trump with a parade, I’m not worried they would blindly obey an illegal order. If Trump ordered them to deploy across the US, to invade Greenland, etc. I think you would see the military leadership act in a way nobody in modern times has ever seen. I’m confident they would honor their oaths and not violate the law.
You seem to know a lot more about this than me but I struggle share your confidence.
Everything I know about military service I have learned from popular media, but it seems like "following orders" is a foundational principle. If orders contravene an oath you made to the constitution that would present a conundrum, but I suspect that "following orders" will always win. That's the whole idea of an "order", you're not supposed to think about it and figure out whether or not you want to follow such a directive, and surely this is beaten in to servicemen and women every day ?
The gist of it is, the military defends the US constitution, not the president whims. Obviously, some may not see it that way, but if the general army changed direction each time the president changed, it would cause some problems.
If the court says the presidents whims are constitutional then what happens?
Canada might crack the military into the faithful to the constitution vrs the loyal to maga.
Panama or Greenland I figure they would try to minimize loss of life but they would just do it. Blowing up your career for a symbolic gesture or risking civil war in a mass revolt wouldn't be worth it.
(Some might give up their careers, the ones with high integrity, maybe a lot of command. But they would be replaced with loyalists)
Media is not a good place to learn about military life. If you are in the States, you might have a local VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars). The old guys in there will likely talk your ear off about their experiences, just don't press for details about specific combat experience unless they broach the subject.
If you want to learn more about the military and their oath, from popular media sources, NCIS is the show to watch. It's relatively accurate in it's display of service life, and they cite the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in what seems like every episode. Now that is the real bread and butter of a military members legal guidance. Every military member is keenly aware of that book, especially when deploying.
Source: A military veteran and friend of multiple military peeps from multiple branches, backgrounds, and countries. The depiction of mindless drones is far from accurate. They exist, just like you have shitty people at any job, but as someone else pointed out above here, the higher up the branch you go, the more left-leaning the soldier is. That's why tRump had to appoint a complete dunce to DoD, and not someone with military background and scruples. You know that if tRump could get military support from upper command that he wouldn't hesitate to post soldiers around him for every presser. He is a weak-man's idea of a strong-man.
I mean isn’t the military flying the no due process death camp flights out sometimes at least? Is “to the death camp” a legal order? Seems like a slippery slope from there.
I believe the flights to El Salvador were private charters, not military. The earlier flights to Guantanamo would have been military, but even that isn’t clearly & blatantly illegal. Trump claimed legal authority based on an existing legal precedent (I forget which), and since military pilots are not lawyers they followed those orders. The flights stopped in part because of all the legal challenges in court (but also due to costs and other legal issues).
If anything, when ordered to fly these people to Guantanamo, the military probably turned to their JAG officers, who are lawyers, to ensure they weren’t illegal. They likely would have said the flights should go until the courts ruled on the matter.
Greenland is hard. They'd likely do it. It's a legal order under the War Powers Act. They would probably do it in a completely different way than going full explodey like they did with Iraq, but it would happen.
Now they could drag their feet, super telegraphing their moves, effectively giving Congress time to use the WPA to shut it down. But it's not guaranteed by any means.
Canada would see mass desertions though. And Mexico or Panama are actually the most likely targets. The military would invade those places without a second thought.
I want them all armed to the teeth by the thousands, then halt, turn, aim, and fire.
Don't forget Space Force!
Hey, we gave him a 5 mile parade when he only asked for a 4 mile one!
Over deliver, just like the administration. Hell could be 6 if we throw in the Salvation Army.
And a flyover with a crop duster.
OA1K is a crop duster
It's all we can afford now that elon made everything so efficient
That's a useless show of disrespect. People we need in place would be fired for taking over one news cycle. Worse it could kick a purge of officers into high gear by giving ammunition to conservatives that the military has "gone rogue".
JFC, what an asshole.
Jesus Christ, America...
So a perfect time for a military coup? 🤞
In case you haven't figured it out yet, the military is fine with trump.
Please, I have only so little hope left
As much as we would love to believe the officer's oath (and the enlisted oath, diluted as it is by the president clause) carries water and protects us, the historical precedent of militaries says troops are loyal to their paychecks and, to a somewhat lesser extent, benefits. As long as the soldiers continue to be financially compensated, they won't rebel and will actively work against rebellions. When they stop being compensated, they'll become passive and will step aside for a rebellion. Some may even defect and join the rebellion, but only if they think its success will benefit them. Sorry to be cynical, but without a strong charismatic and revered general or admiral to follow, troops will never self-activate to "defend their oath."
Look up the fall of Samuel Doe in Liberia or the Vodka rebellion leading up to Kerensky's coup in Russia. The military is ever just hired goons. If the military were truly a circuit breaker against illegal autocracy, then they'd be doing exercises and drills to train for the day they'd have to "defend the constitution" from a domestic threat. To my knowledge, no such "uncoup the coup" drill has ever been conducted.
Didn't they all just see their retirements get obliterated before even becoming vets?
Yeah, he just gutted the VA along with everything else.
How so? As far as I know, the 20-year pension plan is still in place. And yeah, the TSP equity funds were affected, but you'd be surprised how ignorant and apathetic a huge portion of military members are about the TSP and completely unaware of vehicles like the Roth IRA. Plus, that's all future money, in some case far future. Much less personal impact, as it's easier to think only about the present. That's why many aren't getting all worked up about loss of earned benefits that will only matter years from now once they've been discharged. Plus, many Jr enlisted don't have enough discretionary income to even contribute to a TSP on a meaningful level.
Why would it be expected that you would have knowledge of such a thing?
I'd wager my odds of knowing are better than that of the average person, but it's true, lack of knowledge does not represent lack of existence. It would be nice if some special units somewhere train exactly for that scenario.
I don't think that's an accurate statement. Maybe most of the enlisted people are, but a very large percentage of the officers hate him. He is their commanding officer, and they openly insult him. They ridicule him constantly and talk about how terrible his decisions are. They joke about how stupid the SecDef's plans are. And they do all this in front of their superior officers.
The officers make an oath about defending the constitution, but they also hold very strongly to their duty to protect the people they command. Trump puts those people in jeopardy for no damn reason, so many hate him for that.
They hope someone will else do it for them.
Oh, yeah? Me and what army?
Do a headcount of which citizens are on which side. Rationality and empathy exist in bubbles, not a sea. Most of the population is really just that plain dumb and/or sadistic and apparently has grown in numbers and magnitude since last time. The side you’re rooting for also will almost always pull their punches whereas the other side simply doesn’t. Give me a deus ex machina fairy tale dream to cling onto because those in power with the big guns and tanks and bombs lust for hurting people and they’ve got the majority of the masses tricked into happily getting themselves and others trampled upon.
He doesn’t look a day over 136.
Ha ha ha Sargent bone spurs reporting for duty.
*cadet bone spurs
To be Sergeant you have to have actually accomplished something.
It’s okay, he means he’s going to Four Mile Parade Landscaping on his birthday.
Great idea. All soldiers just love being told to march in birthday performances for draft dodgers.
Next up, the goose step, with jackboots, will be used when marching past the main stage. Over $11 trillion lost and the stupid fuck wants to play army.
It's called a goose-step and I can't imagine it's not too long until he orders the military to do it in his honor
What a man baby.
Is he going to be sad again when military still can't roll tanks down the streets, or will he let them tear up the infrastructure this time?
The latter. And I'm sure the repair bill won't be paid for by the federal government, but whichever state was hogtied into hosting the parade.
Hashtag just dictator things
Sounds like a great place to do massive civil disobedience.
If enough people show up wearing all black, like it’s a funeral, and boo the entire time, my heart would swell with pride.
Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a surprise bday protest. Imagine everyone doing as expected one minute and then suddenly all the signs for freedom of speech expression go up in glorious unison! The bigliest bday protest ever!
Twenty-one bum salute.
Hahahaha all the people that didn’t vote in the last election can kiss their voting rights goodbye. Muah!💋
Shameful
what a perfect opportunity to establish a military coup and take back control of our government from fascists.
opportunities don't get much better than this folks.
I don't have the statistics, but generally, the Police and the Military are turned toward far right. I'm pretty sure most of them voted for Trump and are happy with everything that's going one. And the financing of both haven't decreased
My immediate reaction to seeing this title was split between happy AF "oh maybe he thinks he won't make it to 80" and then "but what is he saving for that birthday?"
I have never honestly, purely, maliciously, and actively wished death on somebody currently alive (I've done it before for certain people to happen right before they did "the thing" they did) than I do now about him. Well, them. Him and the co-president.
And for once I feel no moral uncertainty in hoping it is the most terrifying, embarrassing, humiliating, depressing, public, well-captured (for historical purposes of course), and agonizing things ever experienced by a single human. By a huge amount.
Hitler may have tortured 6 million, but Trump is making 300 some million lives worse. Significantly worse. And if we end up in a war, then 100% of those deaths will be directly attributable to him, as will all the LGBT people that harm themselves under his reign.
Hitler hasn't tortured 6 million. 6 million is the most likely number of holocaust victims - the total headcount of the war and the civil repressions is far more than 30million.
You right, I should've said killed there
How 'bout NO
A lot of soldiers going to be on sick leave that day.
I have some questions. Will the soldiers all be white cis males? Will they be wearing orange makeup and smell like dirty diapers?
I doubt he will live that long. Alzheimer will get him like his father.
Unfortunately hate has a way of preserving people, I hope you're right though.
Yeah but Sudafed and McDonald's every day may say otherwise
I for one, am glad he's planning this.
At some point, the top generals are going to have to make a choice of who to support.
It's actions like this that cost Caligula his life.
I mean... I despise trump just as much as most people here, but it could very well be a coincidence that his birthday and the 250th year of the US army fall on the same day and that it's not for his birthday specifically. This article seems like a shit-stirring one unfortunately, this is bad because it muddies the waters of the actual bad shit he's doing behind the curtains.
Parades are for weak little men. Pathetic.
Quote by Eisenhower (totally word for word)
All hail King Fathead the Orange.
Wild.
Expected. This ain't the first time he's tried this.
That doesn't make it not wild though, imho.
Can we somehow convince MAGA that it's super patriotic to consume a bunch of exlax about 30 minutes before the parade?
Though on second thought, it might accidentally improve the smell.
He is doing it as a loyalty test for the military
That's tin-pot dictator shit.
Where archive
Will he be shooting a rifle in the air for the entire duration?
Someone might.
No, he avoids guns.
"Let's put on a parade for this great leader" as opposed to "I want a parade!" (for a greatly, less great leader).
Sounds efficient.
soft pay wall, are there any full versions of this
President Donald Trump is making plans for a military parade in Washington, D.C., on his 79th birthday, according to a report.
A source in the capital told the Washington City Paper that Trump has earmarked June 14—which is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army—for the event.
The display of military might will march around four miles from the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, to the White House, the D.C. source told the publication.
The report said that local officials are only now hearing of plans for the parade and that no formal request has been made for their assistance.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser estimated the parade plans are in their “early stages,” adding that either the Department of Homeland Security or White House reached out to the district’s special events task force, reported Fox News.
Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis told the City Paper that the White House had given the county a “heads up” about the parade on Friday, with only 10 weeks until the event. The White House told Fox that “no military parade has been scheduled” for Trump’s birthday, but stopped short of saying outright there would not be one.
He said “the parade’s scope ” was “unclear” and that no firm details were disclosed.
Trump said in his first term that he would like to see tanks as part of a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue. Bowser said she did not want to see military tanks on the streets of Washington unless it received millions in extra funding.
“Military tanks on our streets would not be good,” Bowser said. “If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads.”
Other unnamed officials told the paper that a big military parade will require a huge amount of coordination between the six branches of the armed forces, along with several federal agencies and regional officials.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
President Trump previously pushed for a grand military parade in 2018 during his first term in the White House but was stymied by estimates the event would cost $92 million, according to the Associated Press.
The event had been slated to include tanks, fighter jets, and historic military planes.
The plans emerged after Trump’s 2017 visit to France where he witnessed the Paris Bastille Day celebrations which included displays of heavy military machinery. Trump said the U.S. is “going to have to try and top” the French display, according to the AP.
When that parade failed to materialize, Trump pushed for tanks to be displayed in D.C. during Independence Day celebrations in 2019. The inclusion of military vehicles in the “Salute to America” pageant contributed to the event costing taxpayers over $13 million—double the cost of previous celebrations, according to Politico.
No tanks were included in the same event the following year.
When the parade is over, he is going to salute North Korea’s Generals (again)
Is he still pushing for his face to be added to rushmore?
God, this guy ks hilarious. It would make me laugh if it didn't make me so concerned.