July 2, 2109: Trump Wants to Use the Military as a Prop

 

7/2/19: The president spends the day putting the final touches on his “Salute to America” parade and fireworks display. Naturally, there will be a featured speaker for the Fourth of July show. 

Himself. 

There is probably no truth to the rumor that he hopes to wear a military-style uniform, cut to make him look less rotund. His epaulets will carry seven stars. That would be more than any general in U.S. history. Trump will have all kinds of service ribbons to emblazon his chest. There will be a white and black campaign ribbon, black center, with a white, skeletal foot representing heroism in the face of crippling bone spurs. He’ll have a ribbon, alternating green and white stripes, with “oak leaf clusters,” for surviving brutal divorces, representing two divorces and the time Melania found out he was having sex with a porn queen. Trump will have a “Marksman” ribbon for hitting mostly correct buttons while tweeting. His neck will be draped with a large gold medal on a ribbon of white stars on a light blue background. This will be modeled after the Medal of Honor, but carry the words: “Greatest President Ever.”

 

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REAL HEROES have their doubts about the parade. Active duty military are reluctant to criticize the plan and risk irreversible damage to their careers. Retired officers have been blunt. 

 

“I think it’s absolutely obscene.”

 

“This looks like it’s becoming much more of a Republican Party event – a political event about the president – than a national celebration of the Fourth of July, and it’s unfortunate to have the military smack dab in the middle of that,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan under President George W. Bush.

 

“The president is using the armed forces in a political ploy for his reelection campaign and I think it’s absolutely obscene,” added retired Army Maj. Gen. William Nash, a veteran of Vietnam, the Gulf War and peacekeeping operations in the Balkans.

 

“Military displays like this are a favorite tactic of those who want to wrap themselves in the symbols of who we are rather than really celebrating who we are,” said Jason Dempsey, a former Army major who studies the military and society at the Center for a New American Security, a nonpartisan think tank. “The military is playing an ever more central role in American political life,” Dempsey added. “This fits into this larger, troubling trend of identifying America itself as a military state. 

 

Barno called the Fourth of July plans “very unusual.”

 

“I think one of the big risks is that the military is being used in some ways as a political prop,” he said. “It’s looking highly politicized by anybody’s yardstick.”

 

“I hope the speech doesn’t become partisan, because troops shouldn’t be listening to the president talk about the other party,” agreed retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré. “Presidents usually leave their party business out when they talk in front of military audiences, but people are becoming numb to it [to Trump’s braggadocio].”

 

No one knows what the total cost of Trump’s “Salute to America” show will be. Frankly, the White House doesn’t want us to know. 

Still: 

The military display on Thursday could be expensive. For example, flying a B-2 stealth bomber will likely require a journey from an Air Force base as far away as Missouri or Florida.

 

“That will be millions of dollars in and of itself,” estimated Rick Berger, a Defense budget expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

 

Berger did say a display like the one Trump has planned might boost recruiting and that would be a positive, at least.

July 4, 2019: President Trump Gets His Parade - And Gets His History Wrong

 

7/4/19: The nation awaits the kickoff of the “Salute to America” extravaganza. There will fireworks – and tanks, like Tiananmen Square in 1989. 

Only with less running over of civilians.

 

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“The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.”  

Trump describing the work of George Washington and his army

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Who knew: Air power saved Washington in 1781!

 

Not everyone is thrilled with the concept of Trump and a whole bunch of GOP VIP’s and big GOP donors watching from front row seats – reserved just for them – as Trump uses what he has called “his military,” surrounded by “his generals,” with all kinds of warplanes flying overhead. It’s all really a backdrop to make himself look less like a buffoon than he actually is. 

Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a retired four-star Marine general and former head of United States Central Command, has made it clear he’s concerned about the image this parade will send. “Put troops out there so we can thank them,” he says, “leave tanks for Red Square.” 

(Is that a “Trump loves Putin” slam?)

 

Reporters ask retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal if he’d attend if he was on active duty. His answer is instructive. “If my soldiers were forced to come on a holiday and stand in the sun to do an event, I’d want to be there alongside them.” McChrystal has been critical of Trump before. Asked last January if he’d consider working in this administration, he said no. “It’s important for me to work for people I think are basically honest [emphasis added, here and throughout], who tell the truth as best they know it.” 

Trump, of course, responded maturely, even using air quotes. “‘General’ McChrystal got fired like a dog by Obama,” he tweeted. “Last assignment a total bust. Known for big, dumb mouth. Hillary lover!” 

Trump has probably insulted more American military heroes and leaders than any other president in history.

 

Speaking of military leaders – retired, so they don’t have to worry about career damage –  who have been highly critical of the current occupant of the White House, let’s add Adm. William McRaven. He’s the man who led the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In May, he made it clear. He thought the biggest threat to the nation was not terrorists, but Donald R. Trump: 

An attack on the press or an attack on the Department of Justice, or to imply that there are dirty cops at the F.B.I. or to ignore the intelligence community, I think, really undermines our institutions. And that makes me fearful of the future direction of the nation.

 

This criticism from military leaders causes Super Patriot Lou Dobbs to lose his red, white, and blue marbles, and rant and rave about generals he says are “snowflakes” and “haven’t won a war since 1991.” 

Dobbs, of course, is one of those rabid patriots who never served, though he was a perfect age to go to Vietnam and get shot at, had he been inclined. Like Trump, Dobbs decided he’d rather not get wounded or killed if he could avoid it.

 

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Stunned British wonder where airplanes came from. 

THE BIG MOMENT finally arrives. The parade kicks off without a hitch. Trump gets to give his speech. It rains a lot. The fireworks turn out to be cool. Nobody gets run over by a tank. Our freedoms remain intact. 

We owe those freedoms to the men and women who serve, as well as past leaders who believed in the rule of law. You know: Washington and Monroe, Zachary Taylor and Grant, Hayes and McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt and Truman, Eisenhower and Bush 41, people who didn’t talk about having the military on “their” side. Guys who served when they had a chance.

 

The president does have one epic moment during his speech. Rain partially knocks out the teleprompters and Trump messes up his speech. Referring to the heroic efforts of our military men and women in 1781 (Deborah Sampson, anyone), he talks of their hard-won success. “The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.”  

Yes, the Continental Army “manned the air.” The soldiers “rammed the ramparts.” They “took over the airports.” 

Apparently, Washington’s air force bombed hell out of the Redcoats, catching Lord Cornwallis “of Yorktown” by surprise, making the stunned British wonder where the hell those airplanes came from.

 

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IF TRUMP’S SPEECH was good for a laugh, up in Alaska the people of Anchorage weren’t exactly enjoying a normal Fourth of July. The city and surrounding area were under a “burn ban” advisory. Sixteen straight months of above average temperatures had dried out much of the state. The National Weather Service was predicting that Alaska’s largest city would hit a high of 85 degrees for the day, possibly topping the all-time record. 

(In fact, Anchorage hit 90° F for the day.)

 

Daniel Swain, a University of California, Los Angeles, climate scientist, tweeted earlier in the week: 

Southern Alaska’s ongoing #heatwave is expected to intensify significantly over coming week. Strength of high-pressure ridge at mid-levels of atmosphere may exceed all-time records over much of state. Surface temperatures may also reach all-time records in southern areas.

 

A quick visit to showyourstripes.info makes clear the same trend is showing up around the world. Blue bars indicate years which were cooler than average for the period measured. Around the globe, including Alaska, temperatures in recent years are shattering records. Temperatures for Alaska span the years 1901-2018:

 

 

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FINALLY, REP. JUSTIN AMASH (R-MI) announces he is leaving the party. “Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party. No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us.” 

Trump immediately proves Amash was right to be concerned, tweeting:

 

 

 

And that’s how Trump brings us all closer together on this most American of national holidays. (See: 7/16/19.)