Trump Orders Four Mile Military Parade for His 79th Birthday

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
- this is just so they can get a most of the military in one place, so that way russia’s sneak attack will be more effective
- In fairness, also of Communism and Military Dictatorships.
  
  Don't forget insecurity and narcissism.

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.

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.

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.

JFC, what an asshole.

is america great again yet?
- No
  
  maybe more tarrifs make it better.
- Jesus Christ, America...

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.
  
  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.
  
  They're under oath to serve the republic, not some hateful, treasonous muppet.
  
  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.
- 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!
- 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
- ...don't forget ~~starfleet~~ space force...
- 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".

It’s okay, he means he’s going to Four Mile Parade Landscaping on his birthday.

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.

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.

He doesn’t look a day over 136.

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!
- Fifty thousand people mooning him would be better.
  
  Twenty-one bum salute.

How 'bout NO

Shameful

Hahahaha all the people that didn’t vote in the last election can kiss their voting rights goodbye. Muah!💋

A lot of soldiers going to be on sick leave that day.

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
  
  In Turkey, the military seized control on a few occasions to protect the secularism of the state from religious whackos. It should have done the same to Erdogan, but he got his lackeys into place to prevent it.

Parades are for weak little men. Pathetic.
Quote by Eisenhower (totally word for word)

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

"Let's put on a parade for this great leader" as opposed to "I want a parade!" (for a greatly, less great leader).

All hail King Fathead the Orange.

Tear up the roads.

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

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.

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

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. 😂

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.
- We should throw our own parade someplace else. Maybe even call it the Obama parade.
- how about a nearby protest with the goal of gathering more people than the parade itself? that would piss him off
  
  An 8 mile nearby protest.
  
  Would a protest that involves protesters blocking the parade from moving result in an american tiananmen square?
  
  A protest with signs that point out how much trump hates the military would be good.
  
  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.
  
  Maybe protest and block the parade. This parade feels like bait to start riots. They want riots.
- What if everyone lined the streets and silently faced the other direction?
  
  That'd be OK if they all simultaneously gave him the brown eye.
- 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.

Where’s DOGE?
- Cutting programs to find funds for this parade
- Cutting VA benefits.
  
  "You want your money? Then get out there and march!"
- 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.

did he also order spectators to cry of happiness?
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ce_954P20I

So a perfect time for a military coup? 🤞
- In case you haven't figured it out yet, the military is fine with trump.
  
  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.
  
  Please, I have only so little hope left
- Literally the worst case scenario, idk why people want that.
  
  They hope someone will else do it for them.

Ha ha ha Sargent bone spurs reporting for duty.
- *cadet bone spurs
  To be Sergeant you have to have actually accomplished something.

Great idea. All soldiers just love being told to march in birthday performances for draft dodgers.

Will there be straight leg marching?
- 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

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.

What a man baby.

Hashtag just dictator things

I have some questions. Will the soldiers all be white cis males? Will they be wearing orange makeup and smell like dirty diapers?

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.

Wild.
- Expected. This ain't the first time he's tried this.
  
  That doesn't make it not wild though, imho.

Just more dictator shit

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.