Today I forced myself to watch a few minutes of Trump's military parade in Washington D.C. I expected that MSNBC and CNN would cover the whole parade, but they didn't.
Probably the reason was that it was exceedingly boring. I've never seen a parade that was more listless and uninteresting than this one. Once you've seen one piece of military equipment roll by, or soldiers marching by, the rest is just repetition.
Well, actually the troops I saw weren't marching. Not in the North Korean or Russian sense. They were merely walking. Boring!
Apparently people had the good sense to stay away from the Trump parade. The stands were almost empty in this video that I saw in a post on X.
Aside from being boring, I had no interest in watching a parade that featured Trump's army. That's how I view it now. For my whole life I've considered that our armed forces belonged to the entire country. Those days are gone in the Authoritarian Age of Trump.
The speech he gave recently at Fort Bragg had a backdrop of soldiers who laughed and applauded when Trump uttered his usual insults.
During the speech, uniformed soldiers yelled in support of Trump’s political statements and booed former President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Do you think this crowd would have showed up for Biden? I don’t think so,” Trump said to boos about Biden.
Trump made other comments about Newsom and about Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, where protests against the administration’s crackdown on immigrants have been taking place and where Trump has ordered thousands of National Guard members and active-duty Marines deployed in response. Other Trump comments about the “fake news media,” transgender people, protesters in California and flag-burning also drew boos from the uniformed military members in attendance.
So we no longer can count on the independence of the armed forces to keep us safe from unconstitutional actions by Trump. The Fort Bragg commanding officers didn't instruct their troops to be non-political as Trump spoke. Looks like they have as little respect for our Constitution as Trump does.
The good news today for patriotic lovers of liberty was the massive turnout for the hundreds, or even thousands, of "No Kings" protest rallies around the United States. Organizers estimate that millions of people took part.
My wife went to the event here in Salem. She said that it seemed to be the biggest anti-Trump rally so far this year. The Salem Reporter estimates that 5,000 people attended, making it one of the largest rallies in recent Salem history. The 2017 Women's March rally was about the same size.
Thousands of people swarmed to the Capitol on Saturday to participate in the nationwide “No Kings” protests, with many expressing grave concern that the Trump administration is trampling constitutional rights and eroding democracy.
...The protest set up on Northeast Center Street, with sign-carrying protesters lined for blocks.
Signs aired a diversity of grievances with some saying, “Defend the Rule of Law,” “Dump Trump” and “Chinga la Migra,” which loosely translates from Spanish as “Screw Immigration officials.”
Some people chanted, “ICE off our streets!”
The crowd on Saturday was diverse with protesters of varying ages, ethnic backgrounds, and national origin. Families with children and grandparents were a common sight. Street vendors sold grilled hot dogs, and a group of musicians played under a canopy.
So much positive energy, a stark contrast with Trump's depressing military parade.
Hopefully the American people will continue to see through Trump's MAGA bullshit, recognizing how destructive it is to our country's values, economy, long term vitality, and respect around the world. HIs first term was the most incompetent in our nation's history. His second term is well on the way to surpassing that embarrassing mark.
To name but a few examples, rather than getting us out of foreign wars (something he promised would happen on Day 1 of his presidency), peace talks are stalled or non-existent in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts, and now Israel is at war with Iran, a war that we might soon be dragged into.
Throughout his 2024 campaign Trump bragged about deporting everyone in this county who is here illegally. Now, though, Trump has ordered that deportations be halted for undocumented workers in the agriculture and hospitality (restaurants, lodging) industries. Apparently business owners have clued Trump in to an obvious fact that most people already knew: those workers are absolutely essential to our economy.
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