Trump is planning the greatest Fourth of July celebration in the history of great Fourth of July celebrations (maybe ever) with choreographed tanks, war plane flyovers, a televised address featuring himself and a long, long fireworks display. Except this isn’t about celebrating “this country.” It’s about providing him with enough footage of “patriotic” images he’ll use later for the 2020 elections. Though Independence Day has been a unifying moment for the country for many generations, this year it has unsurprisingly become politicized.
Where, exactly, will the money for this come from?The Washington Post reported that $2.5 million had been diverted from the National Park Service to cover the costs for this mega parade. It seems theses park will see the funds they’ve collected from frees go to the celebration.
With the 2020 election looming, Donald Trump will take advantage of this never-before-seen Fourth Of July military parade. As President, he can do that, actually. But many, including military officials, are now questioning if it’ll still be a bipartisan celebration or if he’s undermining the apolitical spirit of the Armed Forces.
Anybody who disagrees with how he’ll celebrate it is deemed “unpatriotic.” Yet, coming from Trump, someone who dodged the military draft during the Vietnam War, it seems somewhat unfitting. Indeed, why should his version of patriotism be the version of patriotism?
You could almost say it’s not about being patriotic at all, but about celebrating himself. His recent meeting with Kim Jong Un provided plenty of photo ops for what looked like a historical moment between the United States and one of the countries of the axis of evil, as George Bush put it. Yet, again, this has come into question as no actual deal seems to be materializing.
His obsession with a parade and the usual Trump touch (huge, as big and flashy as possible) is not just another one of his distasteful moves. It shows a sting that has lingered since his inauguration.
Yet, for all of what is wrong with this –the cost, the grandiloquence, Trump’s obsession with “big” things– Trump is laying a trap for his detractors. By provoking Democrats with a huge parade, Trump invites criticism for him to later question his detractors’ loyalties to the nation. The best thing you can do, as teachers often advised when confronted by bullies, is ignore him and move on. Vote him out in 2020.
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