A Parade to Poop On...and Marches Across the Land!
Well, last weekend’s “parades” went as good as they could, considering that the “big” one “celebrating” Donald Trump’s birthday shouldn’t have happened at all. The No Kings protests – which happened in over a thousand cities and towns across the country – drew more than five million participants. The San Francisco event topped 100,000. The last time I experienced that many people on the streets of San Francisco was in 1990, at a march protesting the build up to the Gulf War.
San Francisco wasn’t the only ‘burg that had a huge turnout. From Boston to Birmingham to Butte, Montana streets, squares, and parks saw more people protesting Trump, his immigration pogrom, and his authoritarianism regime than the sets of protests that preceded Saturday’s. And, as the mainstream media seemed loathe to report, incidents of protester violence were nil. That doesn’t mean that Saturday’s protests were violence free.
In Los Angeles, sheriffs officers on horseback forced crowds to disperse by herding them down city streets. When protesters didn’t move as fast as the police wanted, the cops started swinging and then launched tear gas into the crowds. Rather than report LASD’s aggression as police violence, the mainstream press went with “violence” and even “protester violence” (i.e. protesters throwing tear gas cannisters back at the cops and defending themselves), thus perpetuating the Trump lie that “Los Angeles is on fire.”
In San Francisco, Riverside, CA, and Culpepper, VA, “alleged” Trump supporters attacked protesters with their cars. In Nashville, a “counter protester” was arrested after he flashed a gun at No Kings protesters. In Utah, a protester died after being shot by a security person who was attempting to shoot a man who was aiming a rifle at protesters. The man brandishing the rifle was arrested and charged as the instigator of the shooting. I’m sure that there were more incidents of attacks on protesters, but given how the media has slanted ICE protest coverage against protesters, particularly by airing footage of a few drone-taxis on fire over and over and over, there could have been much more…
…or could there? Flash to the main event, Trump’s military parade. What Trump and his cronies experienced was certainly not what he wanted. Trump’s dream for a military parade was something Soviet, with a dash of North Korea’s synchronized shock-trooping and the PRC hit “Ladies Dancing With Guns.” What he got was a rolling history lesson, one during which the Sunsetter in Chief seemed to nod off to. And none of this was a surprise.
As I’ve written before, pretty much no one in the US military loves a parade, especially a big parade, organized for months, held at the whim of a politician. Way back when I attended Coast Guard boot camp, the bitching and moaning by CG active-duty personnel tasked with organizing small, weekly parades for graduating recruits was consistent and loud (and directed at recruits, as if anyone of us wanted to march one more foot).
Later when, I had to participate in what were pretty much troop revues, which were significantly bigger than the grad ceremonies. The overall attitude from commanding officer to seaman’s apprentice was “Let’s just get it over with,” and we were looking at only four weekends of drilling. Given the flat and nearly casual performance of the troops in Trump’s parade, I’d say the soldiers greeted Saturday with less enthusiasm than we Coasties could muster.
And, props to the Army, seriously. They played this one exactly as they should have. Trump and the Pentagon tasked them with holding a parade and so they held one that was as no frills a parade as they could get away with. Instead of focusing the spectacle on Mighty, Mighty Might, they centered the parade on the Army’s history, complete with a narrator committed to making the story as boring and hacky as possible. The extras – such as the flyovers and fireworks – were less than what you’d see at San Francisco’s Fleet Week or during the Super Bowl. Bravo!
Not that many people saw the damn thing. Check out pictures and videos from Trump’s parade. The crowd in front the the reviewing stand? As packed and enthusiastic as fans were for Spinal Tap’s Jazz Odyssey. The parade route was crowded one person deep, with plenty of room to stretch out. And when the parade passed by? Silence cut by smatterings of applause and the grinding of tank tracks ripping up pavement. Few Americans wanted Trump’s parade and few back Trump and his immigration crackdown. Trump’s approval on him and his policies is down in the 30s. Enthusiastic support for Trump is even lower.
Fecal Midas wanted a party for himself and what he got was a very bad day, which cost us $40 million, the same amount the Republican congress cut from funding research on military veterans suffering from job-related spinal injuries. Priorities.
To recap: Trump got his parade but not the spectacle that he wanted. The Army gave him something as apolitical as possible, with no reference to Trump. Public attendance was miserable, simply, because unlike in North Korea or the PRC, citizens are not compelled to worship Dear Leader by gunpoint.
Meanwhile, across the country in big cities and small towns, millions willingly turned out to protest Trump and his insane, cruel rule. Protesters hit the streets after a solid week of mainstream media fear mongering, saturation coverage of a few things set on fire, and repetition of Trump’s lies about the whole of Los Angeles being in a state of anarchy. Just as with Trump’s 2020 crackdown on Portland citizens protesting police brutality, Trump/Miller’s LA assault has backfired, stirring up far more active opposition to Trump than frightening people, while boosting the opposition’s morale and determination.
Saturday was a very good day.